How to teach learning strategies


"Because adults with learning disabilities often lack a strategic orientation to learning, it is difficult for them to achieve independence without instruction in learning strategies."15

Before learning can be productive and beneficial, learners need to understand why they have experienced difficulties in the past, believe that they can succeed and have a positive approach to making mistakes. Because of the uniqueness of each learner, the time and supports needed to get to this level of self-realization will vary. Practitioners can help learners work towards a more productive learning attitude by providing effective teaching of key skills, being flexible in their approach, providing constant feedback and encouraging independent learning.16

A question commonly asked by many practitioners is, "how can we discuss errors with learners without negatively impacting their motivation?" Often learners have only heard about their weaknesses throughout their school experiences. One way to address errors is by using "Directed Discovery Learning." This method shares the principle that it is more helpful to teach learners to investigate mistakes, rather than to just point them out.


"First, adults need to accept that making mistakes is normal. Then they can learn how analysis of mistakes can help to identify areas that need more attention. This might involve learning strategies to check their work and to correct it themselves. This is a skill that they can take away with them and leads to greater independence and self-confidence. Ideally practitioners should very rarely point out where a person is going wrong but encourage them to find this out for themselves."17

Practitioners need to respect adults' personal ideas about the way in which they want to be taught and the goals that they expect to achieve. When they are instructing, it is important for practitioners to be flexible and have an understanding of how to adapt to each learner's particular needs.

The key to success is for practitioners to understand and acknowledge the importance of the actual "teaching process" of the strategy itself. If a strategy is not taught properly, then it is less likely that the learner will see success, repeat the strategy and learn to use it independently.