Good Language Learners Language Learners

3. Are creative, developing a ―feel‖ for the language by experimenting with its grammar and words. 4. Make their own opportunities for practice in using the language inside and outside the classroom. 5. Learn to live with uncertainty by not getting flustered and by continuing to talk or listen without understanding every word. 6. Use mnemonics and other memory strategies to recall what has been learned. 7. Make errors work for them and not against them. 8. Use linguistic knowledge, including knowledge of their first language, in learning a second language. 9. Use contextual cues to help them in comprehension. 10. Learn to make intelligent guesses. 11. Learn chunks of language as whole and formalized routines to help them perform ―beyond their competence‖. 12. Learn certain tricks that help to keep conversations going. 13. Learn certain production strategies to fill in gaps on their own competence. 14. Learn different styles of speech and writing and learn to vary their language according to the formality of the situation. According to Rubin and Thompson in Brown 2007:132, good language learners must have those criteria mentioned above. By doing so, they have good attitude towards language learning and they use every chance to support their learning. Good language learners use every possible opportunity to practice and use various strategies to help them learn. They actively seek a way to learn everything they need to learn by knowing what to do now and next. Rubin in Naiman 1978 mentions seven hypothesises about good language learners. These are mentioned on the list below. 1. The good language learner is a willing and accurate guesser. 2. The good language learner has strong drive to communicate, or to learn from communication. He is willing to do many things to get his message across. 3. The good language learner is often not inhibited. He is willing to appear foolish if reasonable communication results, willing to make mistakes in order to learn and to communicate, and willing to live with a certain amount of vagueness. 4. In addition to focusing on communication the good language learner is prepared to attend to form. The good language learner is constantly looking for patterns in the language. 5. The good language learner practises. 6. The good language learner monitors his own and the speech of others. That is, he is constantly attending on how well his speech is being received and whether his performance meets the standards he has learned. 7. The good language learner attends to meaning. He knows that in order to understand the message it is not sufficient to pay attention to the language or to the surface form of speech. Based on the explanation mentioned above, it can be concluded that good language learners are creative and have good attitude toward learning by always trying to seek opportunities to practice. Also, they are self-active and have good self-esteem. They know their needs in learning and set their own goal in learning. Thus, good language learners know what to do in order to reach their goals. Above all, they learn with different styles and strategies to enhance their learning according to situation they faced.

c. Autonomous Learners

As it has been mentioned above, Rubin and Thompson in Harmer 2007:86 mentioned a good language learner is a learner who can find their own way in learning. Based on the definition of good language learners mentioned above, a good language learner is indeed, must have a characteristic of an autonomous learner, means they can manage their own learning. Breen and Mann in Benson 2001:85 suggest that autonomous learners: 1. see their relationship, to what is to be learned, to how they will learn and to the resources available as one in which they are in charge or in control; 2. are in an authentic relationship to the language they are learning have a genuine desire to learn that particular language; 3. have a robust sense of self that is unlikely to be undermined by any actual or assumed negative assessments of themselves or their work; 4. are able to step back from what they are doing and reflect upon it in order to make decisions about what they next need to do and experience; 5. are alert to charge and able to change in an adaptable, resourceful and opportunistic way; 6. have a capacity to learn that is independent of the educational processes in which they are engaged; 7. are able to make use of the environment they find themselves in strategically; 8. are able to negotiate between the strategic meeting of their own needs and responding to the needs and desires of the other group members. Candy in Benson 2001:85 proposes some characteristics of the learner capable of autonomous learning, these are: 1. methodical and disciplined 2. logical and analytical 3. reflective and self-aware 4. demonstrate curiosity, openness and motivation 5. flexible 6. independent and interpersonally competent 7. persistent and responsible 8. venturesome and creative 9. show confidence and have a positive self-concept 10. independent and self-sufficient 11. have developed information seeking and retrieval skills 12. have knowledge about, and skill at, learning processes 13. develop and use criteria for evaluating Based on the claims above, it can be derived that an autonomous learner needs to have those profiles. Learners need to put themselves into those criteria above. In short, autonomous learner should be able to know what to be learned, how they will learn, have a good desire, knowing what to do now and after, can adapting themselves into any situations in which they are learning, can manage to use any useful resources, have a good capacity of independent learning and knowing what is going on around them and is not self-oriented only. Autonomous learner can manage themselves to learn at any set of time and place without a need of a director such as teacher or lecturer. They can always find a good way to learn using their own ways and styles. They can also use any resource available around