11/21/2022

THE SELF
 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
LESSON 4 - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, SELF-
CONCEPT AND LOCUS OF CONTROL  SELF-CONCEPT
 LOCUS OF CONTROL

English Department
Hanoi University

My sense of self as a teacher Individual differences and its importance in

1. Think about Yourself as a Teacher. Write down six things that describe
educational context
you as a teacher: your strengths, weaknesses, characteristics, teaching
styles. Write them in the first column.  Individual differences stand for the variations or deviations among
individuals in regard to a single characteristic or a number of
2. In the second column, write down how you feel that aspect of your
characteristics.
self affects your behavior in the language classroom.
 The psychology of individual differences is concerned with the systematic
For example: “I feel that I’m very social and this perhaps means that I
study of intelligence and abilities associated with personality of learners,
pay a lot of attention to social relationships in class and use more group-
learning styles and needs and interest of learners.
based collaborative activities.
 Learning is most effective when differences in learner’s language,
Who am I as a teacher? My behavior/ What I do in class cultural, and social behavior are taken into account.
1.  Teachers should acknowledge the differences among children and work
2.
to maximize the growth in each child.
3.

Group work Types of individual differences

 Work in groups  Physical differences
 Name different types of individual differences  Intellectual differences
 Provide illustrations and examples for each type.  Emotional differences
 Differences in interests and aptitudes
 Learning differences

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Educational implications of individual How can schools and teachers meet

differences individual differences?
 In any groups, there are individuals who deviate from the norms of  Know about the abilities, capacities, interests, aptitudes and other
the group. personality traits of each student.
 Every teacher should try to have the desired knowledge of the  Create intelligence test, interest inventories, attitude scales and
abilities, capacities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other measures for assessing personality traits of each student.
personality traits of his pupils.  Update teaching methods to meet the demands of each group of
 It’s wrong to expect uniformity in gaining proficiency or success in student.
a particular field from a group of students.  Create a flexible curriculum.
 All students cannot be benefited by a particular method of  Pay attention equally to all students.
instruction and a rigid curriculum  The size of the class should be as small as possible.

Knowing your learners sense of self

1. Are you aware of how your learners view themselves in respect to
language learning?
2. Do you know how they would describe themselves in terms of
strengths, weaknesses, characteristics or learning styles?
3. How might you elicit this information from learners?
4. How comfortable do you think your learners would feel about
describing their views of themselves as language learners?

FIELD DEPENDENCE FIELD INDEPENDENCE

• Be able to perceive things as a • Be able to perceive items as
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE whole, in relation to the context. discrete or unrelated to the
surrounding “field”.
 Multiple Intelligence is a theory from Howard Gardner which suggests
• Be able to separate details from
that there are a range of intelligences or abilities not just one fixed one the surrounding context.
 Everyone is strong in some abilities and weaker in others
• Tend to work well in groups, have • Do well in math and science
a good memory for social • Be more independent and good at
information, prefer subjects such analytical abilities.
as literature and history.

• Have difficulty focusing on one • Be able to monitor their own

aspect of situation, picking out information processing.
important details, analyzing a • They are not good at social
pattern into different parts, or relationships.
monitoring their use of strategies
to solve problems.

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FIELD DEPENDENCE AND FIELD INDEPENDENCE

LEARNERS Results
Am I Field Independent or Field Dependent? Please check next to the items that describe you.  Statements 1, 3, 4, 7, and 10, above indicate Field Independent
_____ 1. I like to study alone. characteristics.
_____ 2. I study with friends or in a group.
_____ 3. I like to study in a quiet place.  All other statements indicate field dependent preference.
_____ 4. I enjoy my studies and do not need any outside motivation to study.
_____ 5. I am not overly motivated to study unless I have deadlines to meet.
_____ 6. I tend to procrastinate.
_____ 7. I am usually prepared.
_____ 8. I prefer teachers who provide careful course outlines and objectives.
_____ 9. I prefer teachers who encourage class discussion and activities
_____ 10. I prefer teachers who use lectures and textbook reading as a method of teaching.
_____ 11. I enjoy classes that have class discussion and group activities.

Field Dependent Learners

Pair work
 Definition: Students tend to rely on structure and on receiving
 Work in pairs. direction.
 Best Teaching Style: Instructors who give explicit direction,
 Present some teaching methods which suit two types assignments, and guidelines.
of learners.  Potential Pitfall: Since students are so reliant on direction, teachers
will need to build a strong support system. Be sure to have a strong
source of emotional support. Without a strong support system,
students will tend to be overwhelmed by stress, lose confidence, and
get into academic difficulty.
 Potential Advantage: With good organization, direction, and support
systems, students can do very well in school.

Field Independent Learners LEFT- AND RIGHT- BRAIN DOMINANCE

QUICK TEST
 Definition: Tend to prefer autonomy; students like exploring their
own learning.
 Best Teaching Style: Instructors whose teaching style is not too Look at this chart and say
structured and which allows students several options. the COLOR, not the word.
 Potential Pitfall: incomplete or incorrect assignments. Learn to
respond to explicit directions and course requirements.
 Potential Advantage: a self-starter who needs minimal support from
others, creative thinking.

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QUICK TEST
 RIGHT brain will try to say the color
 LEFT brain will read the word.
 Which one are you?

REFLECTIVENESS IMPULSIVITY

Work slowly and make fewer Work very quickly but make
errors many mistakes.

Think carefully before making Quick or gambling guess at an

decision answer to a problem.

Work systematically Work intuitively

Make fewer errors in reading Read faster

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Multiple ways of understanding the self

Basic terms Self concept? – Self esteem? – Self efficacy?

 Self-concept: the cognitive beliefs and affective evaluation of one’s 1. I see myself as an intelligent person.
competence in a specific domain. => The image that we have of
2. I communicate well with others, without fear of expressing
ourselves to answer the question: Who am I? my likes, dislikes, and feelings.
Self-concept is derived from self-esteem and self-efficacy 3. I believe I could successfully do a listening exercise of MCQs
 Self-esteem: the evaluative feelings associated with our self-image based on an authentic radio broadcast.
(respect one has for self) 4. I perceive myself as an important member of my class.
 Self-efficacy: a cognitive self construct in which the focus is on one’s 5. I know what my values are and live my life accordingly.
evaluation of one’s ability to do something successfully in a specific
situation.
6. I views myself as a lazy and incompetent student.

How can we develop and maintain self-concept?

Physical aspects of self-concept
Physical self-concept is the individual's perception of themselves in
Reflect on what we have areas of physical ability and appearance:
done and in comparison Reflect on what others
The process of taking  Our appearance
to our expectations and tell us about what we
action. the expectations of have done.  Our sex, height, weight, etc..
others.  Physical health
 Physical condition

Self-concept

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Academic self-concept Social Self-Concept

Our academic self-concept relates to how well we do in school or how well  The ability to interact with others.
we learn. There are two levels:
 A general academic self-concept of how good we are overall.
 A set of specific content-related self-concept that describes how good we
are in science, language, arts, social science…

Competence Self-Concept Examples of positive self-concepts

 The ability to meet basic needs. • A person sees herself as an intelligent person;
• A man perceives himself as an important member of his
community;
• A woman sees herself as an excellent spouse and friend;
• A person thinks of himself as a nurturing and caring person;
• A person views herself as a hard-working and competent
employee.

Examples of negative self-concepts Concern: Generalizing a particular belief

 A person sees herself as stupid and slow;  Example:
 A man perceives himself as expendable and a burden on his ‘I can never do any listening exercises.’
community;
The learner has extended a specific belief from an experience with a particular
 A woman sees herself as a terrible spouse and friend; task: ‘I find it difficult to do listening exercises from live radio broadcasts with lots of
 A person thinks of himself as a cold and unapproachable background noise’
person; ==> to a more general belief that they cannot do any listening-related tasks in the
language.
 A person views herself as a lazy and incompetent employee
• Generalized self-belief is much more difficult to challenge and change than a
more specific one.
==> Need to be open to the idea of the potential for change.

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Practice
 The main point is that if teachers understand how their
learners see themselves, we can work with individual
learners to help them to tackle perceived problems, set
individual goals, and find appropriate working strategies
and styles.

Self-efficacy Self-Efficacy

Our beliefs about our capabilities in certain areas or related to certain

tasks.
Example: a student who has a high level of self-efficacy in mathematics
Strong Weak sense
will feel confident in her ability to do well in a tough statistics class.
sense

How about
L2 linguistic self-confidence? • Avoid challenging tasks (beyond their
• View challenging problems as tasks to be
Expectancy belief? mastered
capabilities)
• Focus on personal failings and negative
• Recover quickly
outcomes
• Strong interests
• Quickly lose confidence in personal
• Strong sense of commitment
abilities
• Enjoy problems or challenging tasks

Other concepts Self-esteem

 L2 linguistic self-confidence The evaluative feelings associated with our self-image (respect one has
for self)
 Expectancy beliefs
Examples of high self-esteem:
 Appreciate themselves and other people.
Note: generally refer to a very specific context, and are considered to  Enjoy growing as a person and finding fulfillment and meaning in their
be primarily cognitive terms, reflecting people’s beliefs about their lives.
competence in respect to a particular task rather than to a specific  Are able to dig deep within themselves and be creative.
setting  Make their own decisions and conform to what others tell them to be
and do only when they agree.
 See the word in realistic terms, accepting other people the way they are
while pushing them toward greater confidence and a more positive
direction.

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Examples of low self-esteem Self-esteem

 You feel your opinion isn’t important  Our global self-esteem emerges from the interaction of all the many
 You hate you other beliefs and feelings we hold about ourselves, such as our
 What you do is never good enough domain-specific self-concepts and our self-efficacy beliefs.
 You’re highly sensitive to others opinions  How influential these various beliefs are for our overall self-esteem
 The world doesn’t feel safe depends on the relative importance in our lives of the areas they
 You doubt every decision
represent.
 You regularly experience the emotions of sadness and
worthlessness
 You find it hard keeping relationships
 You avoid taking risks or trying new things

LOCUS OF CONTROL
Self-esteem (ĐIỂM KIỂM SOÁT TÂM LÝ)

 If we encounter learners who seem to be focusing on negative aspects of

the self and developing a negative sense of self, we can help by encouraging
them to focus on the other aspects in which they may have more positive A person’s beliefs
feelings. about control over
life events
 In doing so, we can shift their attention to also include positive dimensions
of their self-concept and perhaps find ways of connecting these areas with
language learning. It is important for everyone to appreciate that we all
have aspects of our selves that we feel positive and negative about and we Externalizers: Some people feel
Internalizers: Some people feel
need to try to keep these in balance in our overall self-perception. that events in their lives are all
personally responsible for
determined by forces beyond
everything that happens to them
their control: fates, luck or other
in their lives.
people.

Internal LOC External LOC

Those With an Internal Locus of Control Those With an External Locus of Control
– Are more likely to take responsibility for their actions – Blame outside forces for their circumstances
– Tend to be less influenced by the opinions of other people – Often credit luck or chance for any successes
– Often do better at tasks when they are allowed to work at their own pace – Don’t believe that they can change their situation through their own efforts
– Usually, have a strong sense of self-efficacy
– Frequently feel hopeless or powerless in the face of difficult situations
– Tend to work hard to achieve the things they want – Are more prone to experiencing learned helplessness
– Feel confident in the face of challenges
– Tend to be physically healthier
– Report being happier and more independent
– Often achieve greater success in the workplace

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High internal LOC High external LOC How can teachers encourage students’
• Tend to seek information and use it • Tend to be relatively passive,
LOC?
appropriately in problem-solving compliant
tasks
 Identify their own attitudes towards language learning, and their
• To be active and assertive and to • Tend to be non-exploratory and strengths and weaknesses both cognitively and socially
exhibit a high degree of exploratory inattentive
 Develop their own individual plans for learning the language
behavior and excitement about
learning  Take responsibility for carrying out their own plans.
 Evaluate realistically their progress and the reasons for their successes and
• Exhibit a great deal of persistence failures.
and show a willingness to delay
 Participate in the selection of learning activities.
rewards in order to maximize them.
 Take responsibility for helping each other in carrying out learning plans.

• More likely to succeed in school

LOC test
 https://studylib.net/doc/8091759/locus-of-control