This unit deals about the various kind of leaners´needs that can influence on the
learning process. They could be personal needs,
which refers to each student´s inner necessities that they want to fill. For
example, their need for security, support, goals,
praise, physical or psychological
needs. Those needs vary depending on the age, gender, interest, motivation, or personality. Furthermore,
we have the learning needs, which
refer to the needs about the learning process. For example when learners need a
specific language subskill for
improving writing, or some exams strategies. Unlike personal needs they vary
depending on their learning style, past language learning experiences, or level
of skill and knowledge. Moreover, we have the professional needs, which refer to the academic needs that students
have about learning English. For example, they want to know specific
vocabulary, text types and functions, which are essential for
their different jobs. As you can see these needs depend on the learner´s requirement
and vary according to their employment or education. To meet all learners´ needs is not easy for
teachers because it is necessary a long period of observation and searching of
the appropriate strategies per each individual. Something important to point
out is that most of children and teenagers have personal and learning styles whereas
younger adults and adults have professional needs for learning a language. In
order to apply this knowledge in my teaching process, I will use a variety of
strategies depending on the learner´s need. For example, if I observed that one
of my students needs security when speaking in English, I will encourage to speak
by saying “You can do it”, “It does not matter if your answer is not
correct”, and once he has tried to speak I will give him a positive feedback. In the same way, if I have a
student who is blind, I will try to use materials that are appropriate for
their physical need such as bringing a reading in braille or some recordings of
stories to the class. To sum up, to meet learners´ needs is part of being a
good teacher and found them will motivate students to make their language learning
process more relevant.
There are some links below that I consider useful and have more information
related to this topic.
·
eLearning Fundamentals. (2005). Learner Analysis: Identifying
Learner Characteristics and Needs. Retrieved from http://www.itma.vt.edu/modules/spring11/efund/lesson3/learneranalysis.pdf·Baglow, J. (2013). Meeting your Learners' Needs. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMLAgXDdL0Q
I agree with you about the importance of encouraging students to keep trying even if they make mistakes. We as teachers need to find a way to cover all students needs by providing real world examples. The links you have shared contains useful information that helped to expand my knowledge about the different learners characteristics and needs.
ReplyDeleteThe students have different needs inside the class and it is very important that the teacher has to identify which are students' needs in order to teacher help them in the learning process
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