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Informal Learning and Institution-wide Language Provision pp 185–197Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

A Portrait of Contemporary Language Learners in Higher Education

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Part of the book series: New Language Learning and Teaching Environments ((NLLTE))

Abstract

In this final chapter, I will attempt to draw all of the prior discussions together into a new portrait of contemporary language learners in higher education. I will suggest new ways forward, in both learning and teaching, instructional design and research, starting from the composite terrain described above (Fig. 1 in Chapter 7). My attempt at profiling contemporary language learners in higher education will combine reflections on learning in an informal context with the learning in an institutional context that is the subject of Chapters 4 and 5. The following section will identify the junctions between the two, in order to take a more accurate look at the mechanisms that lead to the language development of contemporary learners in higher education.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Marie Wilson Nelson’s (1990) book of this title explains that until a learner has expressed a need, asked a question, she will not hear the answer and will not be ready to process the information provided. Differentiated pedagogy is therefore a necessity, because the information given to a group will only be learned by those who already had the underlying questions in mind.

  2. 2.

    As the theses cited in Chapter 6, Sect. 1 suggest.

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  1. LanSAD, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

    Denyze Toffoli

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  1. Denyze Toffoli
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Toffoli, D. (2020). A Portrait of Contemporary Language Learners in Higher Education. In: Informal Learning and Institution-wide Language Provision. New Language Learning and Teaching Environments. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37876-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37876-9_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37875-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37876-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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