LearnEnglish Professionals - Exam and Study Skills

Read about learner contracts
Listen to a student and teacher talking

learner contracts

Read the article below about learner contracts and match the headings to the paragraphs.

1
A learner contract is a statement written by both the teacher and student establishing set objectives for a course. The idea is that it encourages learners to take responsibility for their learning, it enhances self-motivation and gives learners a sense of direction.

2

1.  A list of objectives you want to obtain
2.  Ways you can achieve these objectives
3.  Dates by which the objectives should be reached
4.  Ways of finding out if the objectives have been achieved

3

It personalises the learning process
You become much more independent in your learning
You use a wider range of resources to help you study
It gives direction to the course for both you and the teacher
You can continually check your progress and see your objectives being reached

4
During your course you can constantly refer to your contract and decide yourself what you should work on for homework. By looking at your objectives on your learner contract, you may realise that homework set for a whole class might not correspond to your own needs. You can then negotiate with your teacher an individualised homework based on your real objectives.

5
It’s impossible here to provide a list of objectives to be included in a leaner contract as each one is personal to the learner. However, before establishing a contract with your teacher you should ask yourself some questions. The following examples are for someone taking an English course:

How long am I going to study for?
How much will I use English after the course? – every day, once a week, rarely…
Do I need to speak on the telephone?
Do I need to write letters/emails in English?
Do I like reading in English?
Do I have access to English radio?
How much time can I spend on learning English per week / per day?
When and where will I study? – in a quiet room, library…
How many words can I learn a week?

Now match these paragraph summaries to the relevant paragraphs.

Decide which four of these learning objectives would be most valid to be included on a contract for an intermediate student learning Business English on an intensive four-week course.

DCSIMG

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