This Is a Self-Study Unit - Do Not Send in for Assessment

Unit 1 Study Skills

THIS IS A SELF-STUDY UNIT - DO NOT SEND IN FOR ASSESSMENT

At the end of this unit you will:-

a) know the importance of planning your study

b) know that there are ways of working which aid your memory

c) have set out a timetable for your course

d) have given yourself the best chance of fulfilling your potential

STUDY SKILLS

INTRODUCTION

Though we all spend our formative years studying, most of us are never taught how to study. Most people leave school with little confidence in their ability to learn; this percentage could be greatly reduced if they were taught how to learn.

This is nothing to do with intelligence or 'being clever', it is to do with using effective techniques.

People learn in different ways so you need to find out what works best for you. Much of this can be done by looking at ways of learning which you have used in the past and remembering which worked well for you. The following questions should prompt you to start looking at ways of learning:-

1. What do you find easy to remember?

2. What do you find difficult to remember?

3. What helps you to remember?

4. Do you have your own style of shorthand?

5. Is it easy to read your shorthand later?

6. Do you ever use the notes which you have made?

7. Do you read every word on a page to find a piece of information?

8. Do you study at times best suited for studying?

9. Can you keep yourself motivated?

Hopefully, by the end of this unit you will know how to improve some of your study skills and maybe you will have acquired new ones. All are aimed at making you study more effectively. This may mean that you reach the end of the course more quickly and that you gain more knowledge from the course and/or gain better grades.

Let's first of all consider why you are studying and your motivation.

MOTIVATION

In order to succeed in any form of voluntary course of study the student needs strong powers of self-motivation. In the classroom motivation is usually generated by the teacher and the group; in distance learning there is a need for the student to generate this motivation for him/herself. It is easy therefore for studying to become a second priority.

Your reasons for studying will have an effect on your motivation.

Let's look at typical reasons why people choose to study.

Tick the reasons which you recognise as yours.

1. To prove to myself that I can study.

2. I am interested in EFL.

3. To become qualified and start teaching.

4. To become qualified and continue teaching.

5. To move on in my career.

6. My employer says I must become qualified.

7. The government insists that I get qualified to stay in the country in which I live and work.

If you have another reason, add it to the list.

Numbers 1 & 2 are personal reasons and mean that you are probably determined to succeed. Success will be its own reward.

In numbers 3, 4 & 5 the reward is what comes later, the studying is not the reward in itself. If these are your reasons, your aims are probably still quite important to you, but when the reward is far away your determination may fade.

Numbers 6 & 7 do not mean that you really want to study at all, you are being forced to do so by an outside force.

Place any additional reasons in one of the three groups.

SUCCESSFUL STUDYING DEPENDS TO A LARGE EXTENT ON YOUR STUDIES BEING IMPORTANT TO YOU.

You must make it important to you

You must make it enjoyable

You must make it rewarding

OR your determination will fade and you will become bored with studying.

Your motivation

Your reason for doing this course is your motivation.

Whether your motives equate with numbers 1 & 2; 3, 4 & 5; 6 & 7, you will need to find an effective way to motivate yourself.

What does motivate you?

Write a list of things which you find rewarding and enjoyable - try to cover all the different parts of your life.

etc.

Activities which are their own reward as in 1 & 2 on your reasons list are known as intrinsic motivation.

Activities which are not the reward in themselves, and in which the reward is an outcome of the activity as in 3, 4 & 5 on your reasons list are known as extrinsic motivation.

Now look at your list and write next to each activity whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic.

NB Most activities can give intrinsic satisfaction to some people, and extrinsic satisfaction to others.

Look at the following chart and rate your motivation.

STUDYING AS AN ACTIVITY IN ITSELF

complete lack of -2 -1 0 1 2 completely

motivation motivated

YOUR LONG -TERM GOAL

complete lack of -2 -1 0 1 2 completely

motivation motivated

Add together your scores.

Results Analysis

3/4 - motivation will not be your problem

0-2 - you may need more motivation to keep you going

-1/-2 - you will find it difficult to keep on task

-3/-4 - motivation may be a serious problem for you

Everyone, no matter how motivated, finds times when they feel they cannot go on. Take 5 minutes to think about this. What is it that is most likely to prevent you from carrying on?

Write a list of these things.

etc

How important are they to you? Are they more important than your ultimate goal?

If your determination is fading, if your motivation needs a boost you may like to consider the following tips:

1. Make a card or poster with the qualification you are working towards with

large letters on it. Put this on your work desk or on the wall.

2. Talk to people who have been successful in this field or talk to a fellow

TEFL student through our service.

3. Work to a daily plan, but every so often focus on your long-term goal.

4. Phone in for a chat.

5. Put your short-term study goals in words to someone else.

6. Give yourself rewards at short intervals, ie at the end of each unit or if you

are really in trouble, every 1 or 2 tasks.

Now you have some ideas to help when you are becoming demotivated, let's look at your organisation skills.

PLANNING AND ORGANISING STUDY TIME

Success in any course depends on the candidate's commitment to work and the organisation of his / her study time, but never more so than in a distance training course.

Distance training is not an easy option or a quick and painless way of gaining a qualification. Distance training can be very hard work. The strain can be lessened by good planning.

Time is a challenge whatever your sphere of life. It is difficult to fit in any studying when your day is filled with work, domestic duties and personal responsibilities. Advances in the world of technology have made life easier in this respect but there are still only 24 hours in a day and sleep has to be fitted in somewhere. The only way to succeed and fit everything in is by being a good manager of time. It may be hard work and you may need to change the habits of a lifetime but the end result will be worth all the effort.

Student teachers on this course come from many different backgrounds. Some are teachers already, some are full-time students, many come from totally different careers or are unemployed.

Home and family commitments are also varied. Some live alone, some have a family.

This course is therefore being studied by a vast range of prospective teachers of EFL from unemployed, single people living alone to those with full-time jobs and young, dependent children.

The amount of study time available to people in each of these groups varies considerably.

No matter whether you have a lot of free time or very little, planning is essential.

Studying cannot be fitted in between breakfast and going out to work, or between your two favourite TV programmes. It must be taken seriously and given its own time and space in your day.

Timetabling your study is a task which can be described both as very simple and as very hard. Simple because anyone can draw up a timetable and fill in the blank boxes. But can you stick to this timetable?

This is where is becomes hard. Don't be wildly optimistic and then fail. Look first at what is realistic for you. Being honest with yourself is a good place to start.

Divide your day into time spent on your usual daily activities such as:- working, sleeping, personal life etc. How many hours do you spend on each during a typical week?

Complete the following chart for YOU, also complete the key.

A B C D E F G H

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

KEY

A = personal duties

B = work

C = sleep

D =

E =

F =

G =

H =

How much time do you have left on each day?

If your free hours total per week is 10 hours, you are being unrealistic to believe that you can complete the course in 8 weeks.

Complete the following:-

Course requirement in number of hours 120 - 160

Your hours available per week ......

Your course will take ...... …

If it is necessary to you to finish your course in fewer weeks, you have to decide if it is feasible for you to increase your study time by lessening the time spent on some other activity.

Now that you are being realistic you can begin timetabling. Look at the blank timetable on the next page. Complete it as follows:-

1. Shade in fixed activities such as work, sleep etc.

2. Mark at least one and up to two as days of rest. (Remember you are

being realistic and you may need this break)

3. Now timetable your planned study hours in the gaps.

4. You should have some gaps left over for unplanned events.

TIMETABLE

SUN MON TUES WED THURS FRI SAT

......

HOW LONG SHOULD A STUDY PERIOD BE?

There are no right answers here, much depends on your commitments and the type of person you are. However, there is a basic fact which may help.

Short lengths of time such as 10 minutes are not usually any use. You will not normally retain a period stuck between other activities in this way.

Now that you have organised your time, you must ensure that you make the most of each of your study periods.

NOTES

A great deal of your time will be spent reading course materials, the course handbook and supplementary materials. In order to retain the information gained from reading, most people will need to write some of it down. This usually means making notes.

Why do you need to make notes? There are many reasons. Here are just a few of them:-

1. The actual process of writing the notes helps you to remember them.

2. You can link information from various sources.

3. You can link new information with your own knowledge and previously-

learned facts.

4. Personal memory aids give a stronger message simply because they are

your own.

5. You can write a simple reminder of points which you find easy. Concepts

you find more difficult can be noted in more detail. This alone may help

you understand.

The way you make your notes can be quite a personal thing and there is really no right and wrong way. Try different methods and decide which is best for you.

Writing out everything you read in a slightly different way or a slightly shorter version is not good practice. These notes are virtually useless to you. There are principles for good note-taking which you should follow. First look at what you are doing when you are making notes:-

1. Helping yourself to recall

2. Helping yourself to understand

3. Linking current studies with previous knowledge

4. Highlighting points in your studies

In order to achieve the above your notes should:

1. Break down the materials into small, manageable parts

2. Make things stand out from the rest

3. Link previous and present learning

4. Give your learning some recognisable structure

CONCEPT MAPS

This is one way of showing the structure behind the subject.

It shows relationships between small parts of your studies, and their link with previously learned units.

Here is a concept map for a reading skills course

Reading Skills

extensive reading comprehension intensive reading

macro micro

skimming skills skills

scanning

reading for

speed a purpose

reading vocab

studies