Hi there. Welcome to C1 English. This is a podcast for you if you want to take charge of your language learning journey. My name is Dylan Gates. I'm a teacher, teacher trainer, educator, course designer, lots of things, and I'm here to talk about a topic related to independent language learning.

And in today's episode, I'm going to talk about your attitude about learning and your attitude about teaching, and what maybe the learner should do and what maybe the teacher should do. I have these statements, which I found from a book called Autonomy and Independence in Language Learning by Phil Benson and Peter Voeller. It's a very interesting book if you're a language educator like me. Maybe it's a bit technical for language learners, but you might want to have a look at it at some point.

In this section of the book, the writer talks about having a set of statements that you, the learner, can reflect upon. And I guess teachers could do this as well, about some of their beliefs about learning and teaching. I thought what we could do in this episode is present two statements and give you the opportunity to reflect on which one you agree with most. Then I'll give you my thoughts on each statement or each pair of statements.

So, the first pair of statements: we have statement A and statement B, and they're referring to the same topic but two very different opinions.

A: I think it's the teacher's job to correct all my mistakes.
B: It's good for me to find out my own mistakes wherever possible.

So, we have two perspectives here. Perspective A: the teacher is in charge of correcting. Perspective B: the learner should be encouraged to identify their own mistakes. Where do I stand on this?

Well, my opinion is that whenever possible, a learner should reflect on their own language and try to identify their own mistakes. Now, having said that, you won't necessarily know when you've made a mistake. But often, we can say there are two types of mistakes. In fact, we might talk about something called a "slip," which is when you're talking and naturally everyone makes small mistakes because you're producing language in real-time. Then we have a "mistake," which is when you know the correct form but perhaps weren't paying attention. If someone identifies it, you'll be able to recognize and correct it. Then, we have an "error," which comes in two types: you've either learned something incorrectly or it's beyond your current knowledge.

In many ways, if a learner can identify their own mistake, that's great. But sometimes a teacher has to step in and maybe do some explanation. However, even if a teacher explains a mistake to you, you might understand it in the moment, but you'll probably continue making that mistake until you've really acquired the correct form.

Next one: I want my teacher to tell me what I have to do to learn better English.
Or: I want to find out for myself what I have to do to learn better English.

My perspective on this is nuanced. When I work with learners, I make sure we discuss this. I need to find out a lot about the learner, make suggestions about possible approaches, and talk about what worked or didn’t in the past. Between us, we should be able to find a good approach for helping you learn better English. My advice would be to reflect on what you think you have to do to learn better English, and then discuss that with your mentor.

Next one: my teacher should tell me what exercises to do and what books to read, etc.
Or: I want to choose for myself what exercises to do and what books to read, etc.

Again, there’s no simple answer to this, and it depends on your goals. For example, if you're preparing for an exam, it’s a good idea to listen to your teacher’s advice. But if you choose for yourself, that’s great because you know what you like and what works for you. Discussing your choices with a mentor or peers can give you new ideas or approaches that you hadn’t considered.

Next one: I don’t think it’s useful to do speaking activities in pairs or groups if the teacher isn’t listening.
Or: I think speaking activities in pairs or groups are useful, even when the teacher isn’t listening.

This is why people love one-on-one classes—they get the teacher's undivided attention. However, I believe that speaking in pairs or groups is always useful, even if the teacher can’t give you feedback. In real life, you’ll be speaking English with other non-native speakers, and it’s important to get your message across and adapt to different listeners.

The final one: the teacher should give us lots of tests and tell us how well we’ve learned.
Or: Tests can’t tell you everything, you know yourself if you’ve been learning well.

There’s no easy answer here either. But nowadays, the teacher doesn’t have to be the only one giving you tests. You can test yourself through flashcards or spaced repetition. This is where you review information at increasing intervals to help with retention. If you do this, you’ll find that your ability to retain information improves dramatically.

So, that’s it for today’s episode. Thank you for listening, and I hope this gives you some useful insights into your learning process.