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pure, formal properties that are inherent in any natural language grammar Prince and Metzger,2009.
4 Cognitive
Cognitive learning strategy is one of popular learning strategies which focus to “develop the necessary skills to be self-regulated learners” Reid, 2005. In line
with this, Iskandarwahid 2009 states that cognitive strategy as an integral ability that can assist the students in learning process, the process of problem solving and
decision making. Schneider Stern 2010 also suggests that the cognitive perspective on
learning is based on the assumption that knowledge acquisition lies at the very heart of learning. Once children acquire new information in learning environments, they
are supposed to use that information in completely different situations later in life. This is only possible if they have understood it correctly and stored it in a well-
organized manner in their long-term memory. In this view, learning is cumulative in nature: nothing has meaning or is learned in isolation. Cognitive conceptions of
learning place considerable importance on the role played by prior knowledge in the acquisition of new knowledge Rumelhart 1980. In view of the cognitive approach to
learning, the notion of effective language learning requires the active involvement of the learner in the process. The approach emphasizes learning as a process resulting in
an extension of meanings the learner is capable of, as something that learners do, rather than being done to them Kolb 1984.
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5 Schumanns acculturation
Another language acquisition theory is Schumann’s theory 1978. According
to him: “second language acquisition is just one aspect of acculturation and the degree to which a learner acculturates to the target-language group will control the
degree to which he acquires the second language.’’ Further, Schumann 1978: 34 emphasizes that second language acquisition is truly affected by the degree of social
and psychological distance between the learner and the target-language culture. Another important point is the social distance which depends to the learner as
a member of a social group that is in contact with another social group whose members speak a different language. Also, Schumann claim in Brown 1980 that
second language acquisition is “just one aspect of acculturation” and that the more
learners acculturates to the target group, the better he will acquire the second language.
Schumann model of social distance describes the relationships of the learners group to target culture group and identifies different factors which bring about best
language learning context. It means that acculturation is determined by the level or degree of social and psychological distance between the learner and the culture of the
second language.
d. Beliefs about self esteem
Self-esteem refers to how a person feels and thinks about him or herself. It basically means a feeling of self-worth. This feeling based on the appraisal of his or
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her past accomplishments, the evaluation of present actions, and on the perception of his and her ability to achieve the goals set for the future.
Self-esteem affects learning in a variety ways: how one relates to others, what kinds of risks one takes, how one tolerates uncertainty and anxiety, and to what
extend one feels able and willing to assume responsibility for ones learning Kohonen 1992a: 1993. In line with this view, Richard Lockhart, 2005:56 state
that beliefs about self refers to “specific beliefs about their own abilities as language learners” as “I’m not a good language learner. I can’t pick up the language naturally”
and “Remembering vocabulary is easy for me” Reasoner and Dusa 1991 suggest a helpful framework to promote learners
self-esteem, involving concrete learning materials. They discuss self-esteem in terms of the following five basic components, i.e. a sense of 1 security, 2 belonging, 3
personal identity, 4 purpose and 5 a sense of competence. Further, Kohonen, 1993 explains the correlations between those components as follow:
“Each component has an effect one another. If a person generally feels safe, she is likely to feel closer to the others, and the feeling of belonging
and connectedness increase herhis personal security. Similarly, getting support and realistic feedback has a positive impact on her personal
identity. A positive self-concept allows the person to meet new challenges and set increasingly higher goals. Developing a sense of purpose in life
helps her him become a more competent person. A person with basically strong sense of competence is willing and able to take risks in language
learning.” Taylor and Francis 2001 state that the learners
’ self-esteem and their view of themselves as a person and language learner are important characteristics that
correlates with successful foreign language learning. Language learning requires persistent efforts, an ability and courage to cope with the unknown and tolerate
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ambiguity. In a sense, the learner appears childish and makes a fool of himself when he makes mistakes. A person with reasonably balanced self-concept can cope with
this demand better. This point was already emphasized by Stern 1983, who notes that a person who is ready to accept with tolerance and patience the frustrations of
ambiguity is in a better position to cope with them than a learner who feels frustrated in ambiguous situations.
e. Beliefs about learning resources
Related to learning resources, Tomlinson 1998: 02 defines it as anything which is used by teacher or learner to facilitate the learning or a language, it could
obviously be cassettes, videos, CD-Rooms, dictionaries, grammar books, workbooks or photocopied. It means that every student must have different preference and
expectation for their learning resources or materials in order to increase their knowledge and experience of the language.
Learning resources have an important role in teaching learning process. Learning resources can help students to achieve self-discovery by providing them
with choice of focus and activity by giving them topic control and by engaging them in learner centered discovery activities Tomlinson, 1998:11. In line with this view,
Graves 1996: 27 points out that teaching learning resources are a tool that can be figuratively cut up into component pieces and then rearranged to suit the needs,
abilities, and interests of the students in the course. Ellis and Sinclair 1989: 2 stress that learning resources should cover learning training activities which help learner to
consider the factors that affect their learning and discover the learning strategies that
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suit them best so they may become more effective learner and take on more responsibility for their own learning. It means that the learning resources should place
the learner as the center of learning process to make them more autonomous.
f. Beliefs about being a learner
Dealing with the area on how the learners view their selves as a learner is require to
strengthen the students’ capacity to self-regulate their own performance” Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2006: 205. Also, they assume that a major goal of
education is to help students learn to monitor their own performance. It means the beliefs are important because the students need to understand themselves as learners
in order to understand their needs as self-directed learning students. Further, learning language is not only matters of knowledge but also they could learn positive value for
their life and it supports the claim that learning new languages helps to create understanding and encourage a respect of others. It endorsed the concept of
“the intercultural dimension
” in language teaching by Byram, Gribkova and Starkey 2002. They proposed that all language teaching should promote: a position which
acknowledges respect for human dignity and equality of human rights as the democratic basis for social interaction p.13.
This part is also related to students as an autonomous learner. Autonomy has been discussed as a factor that can lead to success in language learning. As Rubin
1987 noted, learning is best achieved when students play an important role in the process. In this vein, Holec 1987 claimed that good learners are
those who “know how to learn” p. 147 and can manage their own learning
.
