Learning Strategies that Get Results

Author Rachael Harris discusses her latest book, Activities for Developing Learning Strategies, and how her experience teaching teens and young learners inspired her to focus on inclusive practices and the importance of strategies to boost students' performance. The conversation explores examples from Rachael's book, emphasising direct and indirect learning strategies that can be applied in the classroom and beyond.

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Key talking points

Inspiration Behind the Book
Rachael shares how her experience with teens and young learners inspired her to write Activities for Developing Learning Strategies. She emphasises the importance of teaching students how to learn, which can significantly boost their performance and confidence.

Direct and Indirect Learning Strategies
Rachael outlines the two main types of strategies covered in the book: direct strategies (like vocabulary memorisation) and indirect strategies (such as goal setting and motivation). Both play a critical role in enhancing learning and can be applied across different subjects.

Goal Setting and Quick Wins
One of the most effective techniques Rachael uses is goal setting, where students break down large goals into manageable tasks. The “quick wins” strategy helps maintain motivation by encouraging students to complete small, easy tasks when they feel stuck or demotivated.

Scientific Basis for Learning Strategies
Rachael’s activities are grounded in research, particularly a meta-analysis that shows the most effective learning techniques. She encourages her students to focus on proven methods like spaced practice and self-testing, instead of relying on less effective techniques like re-reading and highlighting.

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About Rachael

Rachael Harris has taught ELT, literature & current affairs in primary & secondary schools in Geneva for over 15 years. Up until recently, she was the joint coordinator for IATEFL Inclusive Practices & SEN special interest group. Her latest book Activities for Developing Learning Strategies is a collection of tried tested strategies, designed to help learners succeed in the language classroom and beyond.

Follow Rachael on LinkedIn here.

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References & Resources

1. Dunlosky, J. et al (2013) 'Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology.' Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI) Volume 15, pp. 4–58

2. Harris, R. (2023) Activities for Developing Learning Strategies. DELTA Publishing.

All hyperlinks listed were accessed on 30/09/2024.

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Watch the video with closed captions or refer to the transcript below.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:08

Laura

TESOL Pop season ten, episode four. Hello and welcome to the mini podcast with teachers. My name is Laura and joining me today to talk about learning strategies is author Rachael Harris. Rachel has taught ELT, Literature and Current affairs in primary and secondary schools in Geneva for over 15 years. Until recently, she was also the joint coordinator for IATEFL Inclusive Practices and SEN Sig [special interest group].

00:00:24:12 - 00:00:35:05

Laura

She loves running, reading and learning and connecting with others like we're doing today at the IATEFL Exhibition Hall [Brighton 2024]. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for your time and I’m so glad that we can do this face to face.

00:00:35:06 - 00:00:37:03

Rachael

Thank you for having me. It's great to be here.

00:00:37:09 - 00:00:54:09

Laura

In today's episode, we're going to be talking about Rachael's latest publication, which is activities for Developing Learning Strategies. So we're going to go through what inspired her to author this, as well as a few examples taken from the book that you can apply and try in your classrooms. So, let’s get started. This is a gorgeous book, by the way.

00:00:54:10 - 00:00:58:01

Laura

I love the fact that you've kind of coordinated it with the TESOL Pop pink.

00:00:58:03 - 00:01:06:11

Rachael

Yes, yes, it was. So it works out pretty well. I'm glad to. So the next book you'll have to change colour. Yes, exactly. I’ll let you know.

00:01:06:13 - 00:01:11:01

Laura

A whole rebrand. Yeah, completely. What inspired you to author this latest publication?

00:01:11:02 - 00:01:30:16

Rachael

Well, I teach teens and young learners. And as we all will see, that we have students who get it quickly and students who don't. And and as with all teachers, I imagine I want to help those that don't get it. So I've been looking at that. That's partly what got me into inclusive practice. Special education needs sake as well.

00:01:30:18 - 00:02:00:15

Rachael

And I saw that a lot of my students and I teach in a secondary school. So I see this with my colleagues as well, is we have a tendency to say, okay, here's your vocab list, go off and learn it. And one of the things I do in my job as well is, I sit in on their private study, so I would see them looking at this vocab list for 20 minutes, sort of as if it's going to, I don't know, metamorphose into their heads by by rubbing it on their body or something, and they don't actually know how to learn.

00:02:00:17 - 00:02:20:02

Rachael

So then I started doing more of this in class and actually spending more time not teaching English, but teaching how to learn. And the more I've done that, the more I've obviously seen that the English picks up and they get better at it, but also they have more confidence. And it really helps those students who just don't get it.

00:02:20:04 - 00:02:30:07

Rachael

I mean, I have a theory I read somewhere that actually maybe gifted and talented students are actually just the ones that have the learning strategies and know how to put them into place.

00:02:30:09 - 00:02:30:17

Laura

Yeah.

00:02:30:22 - 00:02:37:07

Rachael

So teaching those that don't have them, it's really what's brought up my whole class level.

00:02:37:09 - 00:02:42:01

Laura

And how wonderful that this is informed by your students is your students are practically inspired you.

00:02:42:05 - 00:02:57:24

Rachael

Completely and completely. I mean, every activity we've used in class many times. And actually, that's one of the joys of writing the book, is some of the names in the activities are my students, all of them. So they're really proud to say, oh, that's me, that's me. So that's brilliant.

00:02:58:01 - 00:03:24:04

Laura

One of the things I was wondering before we dive into examples from here, is that learning and learning strategies is such a huge umbrella term, and I know this is probably not the only book you publish for potentially. This is me hopefully saying, yeah, because we could go down if different avenues of learning from you mentioned vocabulary like learning to recall something and use it within context, learning and developing skills further up that Bloom's Taxonomy kind of pyramid.

00:03:24:06 - 00:03:28:10

Laura

How did you approach this with this book in terms of what learning is?

00:03:28:12 - 00:03:50:04

Rachael

We definitely went more for learning strategies because yes, you could write books this big on what learning is. They exist. So for us, we just went from the simple premises. The learning is understand recall all and being able to reproduce in in different situations. And we didn't go much because yeah, it's a huge, huge subject.

00:03:50:09 - 00:03:55:14

Laura

And as a result, you know for teachers this is a book that you can actually fit in your backpack. Yes.

00:03:55:16 - 00:03:57:01

Rachael

There you go. Yes, yes.

00:03:57:05 - 00:04:03:06

Laura

Let's dive into some of these activities and those strategies and how, teachers can that now start.

00:04:03:08 - 00:04:22:23

Rachael

Yeah. You say hoping that so, so for me so learning strategies have assessed for those two things. Learning strategies are like conscious actions and they are teachable, which is good because otherwise would be no point being here and no point doing it. So conscious actions at the beginning, they're more I always compare it to like tying your shoelaces.

00:04:23:00 - 00:04:47:15

Rachael

So at the beginning it's quite hard. You have to really practice and remember what you're doing, but then later they do get more automatic, but they're still conscious actions. But learning strategies have been categorized in many ways. And to me, the one I find simplest is direct and indirect. So indirect strategies are things like goal setting. How to get back on track.

00:04:47:17 - 00:05:11:07

Rachael

Developing a learner mindset. And there things that maybe we use in in our jobs as well. How to avoid procrastination. Motivation that kind of thing. And for me that just as important as the direct ones. And then direct learning strategies would be things like how to learn vocab, how to do a listening comprehension, that kind of thing.

00:05:11:09 - 00:05:31:23

Rachael

So for example, I do an example of an indirect, learning strategy would be at the beginning of the year or a New Year's Eve. We look at goal setting. So, we break it down. We have these big, huge, hairy goals, really frightening things like, you want to be an astronaut, but okay, so you've got your little thing.

00:05:31:23 - 00:05:51:01

Rachael

You want to be an astronaut, then what do you need to do to be an astronaut? I need to study physics. I need to speak English. I need to be American to work in NASA. And then what do I need to do? All that. And we just branch out until we have all these baby steps. And then your baby steps are actually actions you can do.

00:05:51:03 - 00:06:07:08

Rachael

So one of the things you can do is to learn English. You can play Wordle every day to learn physics. You can read a science magazine, etc. and it breaks it down. And then they are the actions that the students can do and look at their doing if they're doing them every week or not.

00:06:07:10 - 00:06:16:13

Laura

And then there's a switch. When you mentioned indirect, learning strategies, these are things that learners can apply across completely and beyond schooling.

00:06:16:13 - 00:06:38:13

Rachael

Yes, yes, completely. And in life, many of the indirect ones I've I've learned a lot as well. It's really helped me organize my time, organize, and especially a mentality. So one of the activities we have a quick wins. And, you know, when you're feeling down, that's the slumps, the dip. You're motivated. You started the gym. You've been four times, but then it's raining.

00:06:38:13 - 00:06:59:10

Rachael

You don't want to go and you're in the dip. So what. Let's work out ten activities. And in class we brainstorm quick wins. So that can be doing a crossword. It could be making a comment on social media in English. It could be watching a Netflix film. Can be contacting somebody playing Wordle. What can we do? And we make a list of those quick wins.

00:06:59:16 - 00:07:16:07

Rachael

And then every week I will ask them, you know, what are you doing? What are your quick wins? What is at the end of the lesson? It's a Friday afternoon and we're all like, yeah. I'm like, oh. And then everybody who can do five quick wins before the end of the lesson and boom, boom, boom. And it gets the motivation and it gets in feeling good about learning.

00:07:16:07 - 00:07:34:20

Laura

I love that. And just listening to that example that I can imagine teachers, because as teachers we often need materials that we can do multiple things with. I can imagine doing that in staffroom with fellow teachers as well as with my students. So there's a lot of things that can be adapted into training or just developmental scenarios as well as classroom.

00:07:34:23 - 00:08:12:07

Rachael

Yes. And I mean, so this was for the ELT classroom, but most of the activities can be used in, in, in other language situations or in other situations. And I've noticed my students use a lot of the things I teach them in history and maths, in learning not just other languages now. So one of the activities, one of the direct activities we look at is based on, meta analysis by J. Dunlosky et al. in 2013, and they basically studied all the different ways of learning vocab and then, worked out which ones were the most efficient.

00:08:12:09 - 00:08:36:23

Rachael

So a lot of this comes back to my students who would sit there reading that sheet and know that is the least efficient way. The most efficient way is testing yourself is regular spaced practice. So we all know it's better to learn 15 minutes every day and not two hours in the day before the test. And then there's distributed practice, which is sharing it with interleaving it with something else.

00:08:37:00 - 00:08:56:10

Rachael

So ten 15 minutes of English, then 15 minutes German, then whatever else is actually more efficient. And then there's key word mnemonics. So there's making imagery and all of that. And right at the bottom there's highlighting and reading. And so one of the activities I do is I give them all these ideas and ask them to put them in to order.

00:08:56:12 - 00:09:04:18

Rachael

And then I show them the scientific proof of what actually works and doesn't look at them to practice it. And so they see for themselves.

00:09:04:23 - 00:09:24:18

Laura

You know, I wonder what impact you've seen this have on your own learners, because I think about some of the learners I've worked with for who just come to class, who say, oh Miss I'm just not good at, you know, history or drama or English, whichever subject I'm wearing the hat for that day. And they've kind of, you know, written themselves off because they just don't have the learning strategies.

00:09:24:18 - 00:09:26:19

Laura

Have you seen a transformation in your own learners?

00:09:27:00 - 00:09:32:02

Rachael

Completely, completely. Because also they do they compare themselves to others so much.

00:09:32:02 - 00:09:32:14

Laura

Yeah.

00:09:32:16 - 00:09:56:08

Rachael

So first of all, there's that whole no point comparing yourself to the bilingual kids because their parents have been speaking to them in English, but even to the good learners. And this is one of the things I say to my students is it's question strategies. And you can become a good learner and you really can. And the science has shown that if students are taught learning strategies earlier, that's what's going to help them most.

00:09:56:10 - 00:10:18:07

Rachael

There’s a quote I love by Alvin Toffler, I believe, which is the illiterate people of today are not those that can't read and write. They are those that cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. And this links in with what we sometimes hear students say, not in English class, but in maths or biology. When are we going to use that in life?

00:10:18:09 - 00:10:37:00

Rachael

We what they need in life is the learning strategies because it's true what we teach them in school, they might not need. They won't necessarily do their first job for very long. They won't change careers. We all talk about how the career they may end up in doesn't exist yet, so what they need to know is how to learn.

00:10:37:02 - 00:10:41:22

Rachael

And if we can teach them how to learn, we're giving them the key to the universe, basically.

00:10:42:03 - 00:10:49:18

Laura

That's absolutely wonderful and such an inspiring note to close today's conversation on. Thank you so much, Rachael. It's been a pleasure talking to you. I really appreciate it.

00:10:49:24 - 00:10:51:08

Rachael

Love it. Thank you very much.

00:10:51:12 - 00:11:10:01

Laura

So if you'd like to grab yourself your own copy of Rachael's latest book, then you can go to the Delta Publishing website. There's also some free activities there for you to try out. I'm going to, as always, include these links in the show notes so you can find those easily. If you have a question or an idea that you'd like to pitch to the podcast, you can contact us on social media or the website.

00:11:10:05 - 00:11:26:19

Laura

TESOLpop.com Finally, you can support the work we do by leaving a rating, a review wherever you listen to the podcast, by sharing today's episode with your teaching community, or by even buying as a coffee, by going to ko-fi.com/tesolpop

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