Teacher Trainer Jade Blue discusses bite-sized learning, and why it should be considered now more than ever. She also shares examples of bite-sized tasks you can use with your learners.
Bite-Sized Learning, or speed learning, is a relatively new approach that takes into account the contemporary demands of learner lifestyles that might hinder longer periods of focussed study and time spent in the classroom. It utilises short, focussed activities with the explicit aim of increasing learners’ knowledge and skills in the target language. Because learners need to balance their studies with other responsibilities and social activities, learning needs to fit in with the demands of a modern lifestyle. In a sense, we are living bite-sized lives: multitasking and quickly changing between modes of work, travel, socialising, etc. As a result, learning needs to be ubiquitous: to happen everywhere and not just in the classroom. As Second Language Learning lecturer Marije Michel describes, learning needs to be situated, informal and personalised. Teaching, in turn, needs to be student centred: tailored to both the individual learner’s needs and their language level. Increasingly, teachers need a deeper understanding of how to support learning in varied environments and contexts.
In an age of technology and social media, it follows that in teaching we utilise tools available to our learners, such as podcasts and smart apps. As Michel points out, we need not only to be able to source such tools, but also to judge their pedagogic value and to know how and when to use them. While research indicates that explicit instruction and focussed attention have a positive effect on learning, there are other considerations that support arguments in favour of a more bite-sized approach to teaching and learning:
Bite-sized learning not only acknowledges but also embraces the fact that language is everywhere, and especially so in the age of the internet. As teachers we need to know how to make use of the opportunities for learning available to our students. Tasks can take many forms, from app and game-based learning, to flipped classroom activities in which students are provided with material to review and tasks to perform before class, to very short (1-2 minute) micro learning tasks. The following are examples of bite-sized tasks focussing on specific language skills:
Adapted from Marije Michel 2017
If you’ve enjoyed this post, read Jade’s previous article on Using near-peer models for language learning.
References
Godwin-Jones, R. (2011). Emerging technologies: Mobile apps for language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 15(2), 2-11. http://www.llt.msu.edu/issues/june2011/emerging.pdf
Hung, H. T. (2015). Flipping the classroom for English language learners to foster active learning. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 28(1), 81-96.
Strasser, T. (2012). Mind The App! Inspiring Internet Tools and Activities to Engage your Students. Helbling Languages.
Traxler, J. (2009). Learning in a mobile age. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning (IJMBL), 1(1), 1-12.