How to learn a language: Co-constructing Language Learning Strategies in Adult Literacy

Summary

Imagine trying to build a life in a new country when you've never had the chance to step inside a classroom. For an estimated 25% of adult migrants in Europe, this is the reality. Due to poverty or conflict, they have had severely limited educational opportunities in the past—a barrier that often impedes their ability to learn a new language. 

How to learn a language (H2L2) focused on the process of language learning. A unique didactic approach, developed in collaboration with learners, equipped them with vital language learning strategies—the practical tools that make language acquisition faster, more effective, and deeply engaging. 

To facilitate the process of reflection on learning, a series of animated videos was developed. Voice-overs in the learners’ multiple home languages provided access to the videos’ content and facilitated reflection and discussion of the pivotal question: How do you learn a language? 

“There is a teacher before and a teacher after the project. I changed completely. It’s impossible to work with the LESSLA learners in a traditional approach anymore. It opened new ways of teaching, which LESLLA learners need.” 

Topic(s) addressed

• Developing the learning skills needed for lifelong, autonomous language learning 
• Digital skills, as these skills are valuable to support language learning

Target group(s)  

• Adult migrants learning a new language who have had had few educational opportunities in the past. 

Methodologies used

The project team brainstormed collaboratively with teachers to identify strategies that met the needs of LESLLA learners. These were grouped into strategy blocks, which were implemented in the classroom and reflected upon together with the learners. Based on these experiences, the strategy blocks were refined and piloted in new formal and informal learning contexts, following design-based research principles. Effective elements were identified and translated into animated conversation starters, lesson inspiration sheets for teachers, and blogs sharing teachers' experiences. The findings were disseminated through teacher workshops and conference presentations. 

Innovation environment

Civic integration policies focus on achieving a certain - and increasingly high – level of language proficiency. These policies ignore the reality that people are different and have not had equal learning opportunities. They also ignore how learners’ previous educational opportunities affect their language learning processes. 

H2L2 focused on the needs of learners. By developing a learner-centred, strategy-focused approach, we saw learners gain confidence, increase their autonomy, and make significant progress. 

H2L2 was only a two-year project. We cannot change the world overnight. Our follow-up project, LUME, places a strong emphasis on sustaining the approach by focusing primarily on organisational change and large-scale teacher training. 

Teachers’ role

Teachers as well as learners played a crucial role in the development of the approach. They designed classroom activities that promoted the use of strategies, observed their learners and reflected on the learning processes and outcomes together. 

They introduced more academic, metacognitive activities, such as goal setting, the use of a portfolio, and memory strategies, as well as activities focused more on empowerment and learners’ wellbeing, including working with learners’ life stories and using artwork in the classroom. Teachers reflected on their achievements as well as their struggles in monthly online team meetings. 

Impact and output

Our approach focused exclusively on learners with fewer opportunities. The direct impact on the target group can best be summarised as ‘empowerment’. The learner-centred approach allowed learners to shine  in areas where they had previously experienced difficulties. Working from their strengths (e.g. with their life stories as learning content) placed them in the role of experts, which was highly empowering and motivating. Acknowledging and addressing their learning difficulties, e.g.  problems with remembering information and strategies for overcoming them, provided relief and reduced stress. Furthermore, it increased teachers’ awareness of the difficulties faced by learners and how they could support the learning process.

Learn more about the project