How to help your language students in goal-setting

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Why should students set their own goals in language teaching? Is this not my job as a teacher, to tell them what they have to learn? Are we not using standard textbooks, and do students’ goals not have to coincide with the next exam’s content?

If you view yourself as just being part of the “machine”, faithfully applying one textbook level after another, yes. But, many of us have ambitions that go beyond that. We realize very well that excellent performance in working with the textbook and passing standardized tests does not guarantee a satisfactory real-life experience with the respective foreign language.

If you see yourself, however, more like a coach that helps each and every student acquire a new language for his or her individual needs, than individualized goal-setting becomes mandatory.

Many students themselves, at first, do not understand the usefulness of this exercise. So, I start by asking questions like this.

·        In your native language, do you feel competent to lead a prolonged and specific discussion with members of every age-, sociocultural and professional group: with accountants, car mechanics, tax attorneys, engineers, jazz musicians, reality TV “stars”, etc. etc.? Will they see you as a competent interlocutor? Probably not.

·        In your native city, imagine you had a free afternoon to spend in a café. With what percentage of the overall population would you be interested to converse two hours? With 100%, 80%, 50%, or less? Most people answer: with less than 1%.

·        What would you be talking about?

Well, in the foreign language you are learning, these proportions will be similar. So, wouldn’t it make sense, while learning the new language, to focus on becoming competent, first and foremost, in talking to that 1% about what interests you most? And if not, why should you try to achieve and force yourself doing something you cannot or do not want to do in your native language?!

Every student comes with different goals and expectations, hidden under the expressed goal of “I just want to learn English”. They learn it for travel, migration, hobbies, online chatting. If you do not uncover these underlying goals, you will set yourself up for trouble. Students may show signs of disappointment or disengagement, and you do not know why. Or, they may become seriously frustrated later on when in real-life situations.

Just asking everybody in a welcome round during the first lesson won’t do it. Better than not asking, of course, you will get mostly generic, short answers, that adapt to what the previous students have said.

What I practice and suggest is to let students write down their goals on a template sheet you have prepared for them in advance. You ask them to complete it until the next lesson and to carry it always with them. Over time, as a coach, you help them to adjust some aspects of it, how to achieve their goals at home - if you cannot incorporate much of every student’s goal list into your classroom teaching.

Here is what you could include in the questionnaire-style goal sheet:

·        What accent do you want to acquire? Be as specific as possible! (Instead of US, say Kansas or New Orleans; or Jamaica, or BBC)

·        What is your motivation for learning this language?

·        Where would you like to live in that country? What places would you like to visit?

·        What concrete person would you like to model your speech after?

·        Name x topics you would like to be able to converse about.

·        To what categories of people would you like to speak (e.g. carpenters, fellow cardiologists, cat-lovers, jazz fans)?

·        What number of specific words would you need to converse about the above-named topics?

Than you could preformat a table where students plan, approximately, how much they will learn each month. Number of verbs, prepositions, specific vocabulary, etc.. How many e-mails, small texts they intend to write, how many conversations and phone calls to have, how many pages in books, articles to read? Etc. etc.

Writing down goals is just the first step. What could follow?

·        Asking students to update them in set intervals;

·        Making conscious efforts to include their goals in your teaching;

·        Developing tracking mechanisms so that students can follow-up on their goal attainment.

Tell me what you encounter and think. Or send me your questions. If you want me to hold a live seminar for your school on the, just send me an e-mail.

If you want to read more about quality management in language teaching, please check out the other articles on this blog.

Stay tuned!

Gerhard

About the GO Method

The GO Method is a quality management system for language schools. It conforms to key elements of the ISO 9001 standard, while being more specific on teaching-related issues. Customers get access to easily adaptable document templates.

Check us out at The GO Method.

About me

Psychologist and polyglot from Hamburg /Germany (*1979). Married with children. MA in psychology from the University of Hamburg. More than 15 years of experience in quality management and foreign language teaching. Coordinator of the GO Method network, with representatives in more than 90 countries worldwide.
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