1. Creating More Effective Learners
at KS3 & KS4
Isabelle Jones,
The Radclyffe School
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com
Twitter: @icpjones
icpjones@yahoo.co.uk
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2. • Why developing learners’ independence
and confidence is crucial to raising
standards in languages
• Barriers and opportunities
• Tools to support the development of
learners’ independence and confidence in
languages
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3. Why independence?
• Independence, curriculum time and standards
of learning & teaching
• Better learners, better linguists
• Future-proof linguists
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4. Factors affecting Learning and Teaching
Barriers and Opportunities
• Observations
• Exam pressure
• School context, ethos and audience (parents/
students)
• Perception of our subject within school by students
and other departments
• Teachers’ “default teaching mode”
and willingness to innovate/take
risks.
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9. GCSE Skills and Independence
ope with a greater degree of unpredictability
tudent independence: phonic rules, use of dictionary
erb tables.
nderstand and use more accurately a widening range of
abulary and structures, including some unfamiliar language
ntercultural understanding, inferences from English and/or
er known language, use of para-linguistic clues (visuals, tone of
e, bold, italics etc…), memorisation techniques.
Understand and discuss issues and opinions
=>Knowledge of a range of structures,
connectives and synonyms, linking ideas &
points of view in a well-organised way.
Give full description and accounts
=>proofreading ability, peer assessment &
support, memorisation techniques.
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AQA GCSE specification-context and purposes

10. PLTS in the Secondary National
Curriculum
self manager
independent enquirer
creative thinker
reflective learner
team worker
effective participator
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11. How can PLTS help?
• Not a new concept:
Personal, Learning + Thinking
Skills
• Independent learning skills
• Learners’ social interactions
• Making the link between ideas
• Transferring knowledge of
patterns
• Not a government initiative-
focus for good practice
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12. How can PLTS help?
Giving students opportunities for
independence
Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956)
Evaluate, judge, defend, criticise, justify, choose
Hypothesise, discuss, compare, create, construct
Analyse, organise, deduce, contrast, distinguish
Manipulate, classify, apply, modify, illustrate, solve
Explain, describe, visualise, illustrate, paraphrase
Recall, identify, list, name, define, show, recognise
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Cognitive Domain Page 12

13. Embedding PLTS the BLP Way
Building Learning Power, Guy Claxton
The 4 Rs
• Resilience: absorption, managing distractions
noticing, perseverance;
• Resourcefulness: questioning, making links,
imagining, reasoning, capitalising;
• Reflectiveness: planning, revising, distilling,
meta-learning;
• Reciprocity: interdependence, collaboration,
empathy and listening.
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14. SOLO Taxonomy
Structures of Observed Learning Outcomes
Developed by Biggs and Collis in 1982
Describes levels of increasing complexity in a student’s
understanding of a subject (depth of understanding)
With the highest level being the extended abstract level, when
students can make connections not only within the given area
but also beyond it.
Are we allowing our students to make these connections?
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15. SOLO Taxonomy
SOLO level Verbs
Extended Generalise, predict, evaluate, reflect, Number
Abstract hypothesise, theorise, create, prove, affect other
plan, justify, argue, compose, prioritise, words too
design, construct, perform
Relational Sequence, classify, compare and
contrast, explain causes, explain effects, How gender
affect
analyse (part-whole), form an analogy, other words:
organise, distinguish, interview, question, adj, poss…
relate, apply
Multistructural Describe, list, outline, follow an algorithm, Patterns
combine
Unistructural Define, identify, name, draw, find, label, Gender
match, follow a simple procedure
Verbs for declarative and functioning knowledge-
Common task descriptors for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement
(NCEA), New Zealand
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GCSE/AS/A level Page 15

16. Strategies for developing reflective
independent learners
• Introducing Meta-language to talk
about learning: mats, display
• Overlaps with AFL and SEAL:
understanding of assessment
criteria, different types of
motivation…
• Focus on developing PLTS as a
wholeschool approach
• http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2009/10/flip-cramlington-mode
• http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/2009/10/flip-approach-for-langu
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17. Developing Reflective independent
learners: Mats
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18. PLTS and SEAL:
Display/ Overlaps
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19. Speaking and Teacher Talk
• Teacher use of the Target
Language
• Opportunities for students to
speak the language for a real
purpose
• Safe environment for speaking
• Pronunciation and student
confidence: for or against choral
repetition?
• http://www.teachfind.com/teachers-tv
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20. 1 2 3 4
idée
araignée éléphant oublier
5 6 7 8
univers cochon cicliste maison
9 10 11 12
voiture lapin gymnastique manger
13 14 15 16
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France menton eau fille
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21. Je ne vais pas gaspiller
l’électricité et l’eau.
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22. Independence, Confidence & Creativity
Art: colours and descriptions, biographies, use of visuals
and 3D “hooks”
Music: rhymes, sounds and rhythm
Drama: role-play/ puppets
History: a new slant on what they are familiar with e.g. ww2
Geography: Barcelona, Paris, the environment, fair trade
Dance: cultural aspects, use movement to remember
Media studies: looking at advertising or short films
Cultural awareness and identity: celebrate
and promote diversity through using pictures,
music, the French & Spanish-speaking world…
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23. ICT support for learners:
in and out of the classroom
Online dictionary and apps vs paper dictionary http://www.wordreference.com/
Le Robert-Dixel
http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/le-robert-dictionnaire-dixel/id324277188?mt=8
Verb apps and verb tables http://www.bescherelle.com/
http://www.elconjugador.com/enindex.php?newlang=Y&langvalue=en
Recording themselves to improve accent: audacity/ phone, voki, text-to-speech,
FLA or teacher. http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/ http://voki.com/
Opportunities to practise speaking without a public
performance
Homework or extension work send via Edmodo
(free) or Doddle (subscription)
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24. ICT support for learners: in
and out of the classroom
VLE: homework, consolidation and extension work
Facebook page: Departmental/ Faculty page with links promoting
Languages
Twitter page https://twitter.com/radclyffemfl
Blog/ wiki: http://chilternedgemfl.typepad.com/chiltern-edge-mfl
http://stmichaelsmfl.wikispaces.com/
App list: http://isabellejones.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=iphone
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26. AFL and Student Independence
Self and peer assessment: proofreading/ developing students’
understanding of assessment criteria
Understanding criteria: what I am at/ how do I move on
(break it down/ beware of oversimplification)
Peer assessment: oral/ written feedback
Student learning skills training needs to feature highly in the SoLs
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27. http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/28c624b42a2f4243
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28. • Why developing learners’ independence
and confidence is crucial to raising
standards in languages
• Barriers and opportunities
• Tools to support the development of
learners’ independence and confidence in
languages
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29. Action!
1. PLTS
2. Cross-curricular contexts
3. ICT
4. AFL
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30. Creating More Effective Learners
at KS3 & KS4
Isabelle Jones,
The Radclyffe School
http://isabellejones.blogspot.com
Twitter: @icpjones
icpjones@yahoo.co.uk
Powerpoint Templates
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