Cultivate Curiosity in English Students

Use and distribution of this article is permitted subject to no changes being made to the content and the original author's information (About the Author) must be included with appropriate hyperlinks/URL references in place.

Summary

English teachers should cultivate student curiosity and nudge them to become autotelic - or self-directed. The author, an English professor in Los Angeles, suggests a few simple techniques that gently push students to take more responsibility for their own development as English language learners.

Article

Cultivate Student Curiosity in ESL Classes

“Curiosity is the best teacher,” goes the ancient proverb. Push your English language students to develop their own interests and passions. ESL students- adult, high school, or college - will remember the language they want and need to know to deepen their life experiences in English

Ironically, our job remains helping students become autotelic – or self-directed. Encouraging students to find and create their own vocabulary logs is just one useful, too seldom used technique in English language classrooms.

My standard homework assignment for English students remains having students find, summarize, and present newspaper articles on a topic (elections, housing, job interviews). The worksheet asks them to list core citation information, summarize the main idea, identify the best supporting evidence, etc.

The worksheet also includes finding five new vocabulary words or phrases and writing new sentences. When the students complete their homework, they get together in groups of four and "present" their articles. I circulate around the room checking homework and having small chats. Students, meanwhile, build their own vocabulary logs from their own readings and discussions – and deepen their own interests.

Once students master the format, they choose both the subject and articles. In my high-intermediate writing course for international students, these homework readings provide the foundation for their research papers and final project. Students soon move beyond the worksheets and simply provide concise article summaries and evaluations.

Bottomline: We must find ways to gently cajole students to take responsibility for their own education – and become more self-directed.

About The Author

Eric H. Roth

Eric H. Roth teaches university students in Los Angeles, and enjoys both teaching and learning in his English classrooms. He is also the co-author of Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics. English Teachers, ESL tutors, and

Keywords

teaching technique, homework, vocabulary

Comments

suresh babu,
This is absolutely a wonderful technique to motivate the learners & make them involved in the learning process. I personally believe that when students are exposed to authentic use of language, then they may be familiar with the language used for real-life communication and becoming autonomous learners. I think this sort of technique is really helpful for the learners who do not have much more exposure to target language use.
Thank you Professor for sharing your ideas and i hope you will share many more articles with us.
Thank you!
suresh babu.M
Hyderabad,India