From novice to experts: scaffolding learners through learning stages

Up until a few years ago, I was probably in the group of people who believed it takes anyone 10,000 hours to become an expert in a certain domain. Learning more about deliberate practice—however—has brought light into the fact that 10,000 hours is not actually the perfect recipe for expertise. This week's readings have shed light into some of the teaching practices I've seen as a learner and used as an educator.

For the past couple of years, I have been designing a new approach to language learning and teaching. It is an adaptive approach that I decided to develop because I was worried about English language learners who felt very insecure to speak English. In fact, many of these learners would be led to believe learning a language is not for them, which could then affect beliefs about themselves as well as future job and life opportunities.

In 2017, I learned about the "conscious competence" learning model, which consists of four stages of competence (unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence). This model refers to the stages one goes through when learning a specific skill, such as driving. In language, however, there are many skills to be learned. In each language skill, from grammar structures—prepositions and conjugation—to pronunciation and vocabulary retention, learners go through those four stages.

In a classroom, the complexity behind what each learner knows (consciously and unconsciously) versus doesn't know (consciously and unconsciously) certainly demands an adaptive approach to language teaching. Even if such a complex classroom is still considered a homogeneous classroom, where learners are "on the same level”, there needs to be a more precise way for teachers to know what deliberate practices should be used that will better meet the needs of different learners.

How might we then help teachers adapt their classes to scaffold learners to attain expertise in different language skills? I wonder if an assessment model based on learning progressions could be performed with the help of technology, where a learner's mobile device would be able to collect data and learn what each learner knows (consciously and unconsciously) so that teachers can tailor their classes that meet the exact needs of a given group. With the help of existing tools, such as Quizlet, a teacher could then decide what and how often a certain content should be practiced—so learners can timely retrieve the content they need.

While such an assessment system still seems to be overly complicated and costly, the question turns to the possibility of fostering metacognition to help learners check and reflect on their own performance and identify which of four learning stages they are at for different language skills they are learning. Could teachers help learners understand which of the four competence stages they are at and set actionable steps with them so they can move from one stage to the next?

“A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.” (National Academy of Sciences, 2000) Learning how to learn is a valuable skill for language learners. I believe through this specific skill, teachers can help learners reduce the anxiety to speak a foreign language. If a teacher helps a learner identify and map out the different stages they are at for different language skills, they can help create a safe space where learners are invited to co-create their own learning experiences.