Language advising

Language advising (also called ‘language counselling’) is a form of language support. It consists of one or more meetings (online or face-to-face) between an advisor (a teacher or dedicated language support person) and a student, usually one-to-one. The purpose of advising is to provide guidance to students about their language learning and to encourage the development of learner autonomy. In this way, it is different from tutoring or conferencing in that the focus is not directly on the language, but rather on how to learn the language. Also, the advice is specific to the individual student, and the advising takes place over an extended period with ongoing monitoring and feedback (and so is different from the brief meetings teachers may have with students after class to discuss their progress). Language advising sessions can be conducted in any language that the teacher and the student share, and can take place at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, at language schools, and to support self-directed learning. However, it is most common at the tertiary level to support self-access language learning.

The rationale for language advising

There are different reasons why schools, self-access centres and individual teachers offer advisory sessions, but one of the most common ones is to prepare students for and support their out-of-class language learning. This is even more important with students who are not enrolled in formal language classes and who are working largely on their own to improve their language such as is the case for many students in tertiary education. Offering a language advisory service is one way to encourage students to think about their language study and of ensuring that they are better prepared for their self-directed learning and thus more likely to succeed.

A second rationale for advisory sessions is that they offer language professionals a chance to coach learners in becoming more autonomous. In advisory sessions this is done through careful scaffolding: more guidance and support in the initial stages and a gradual hand-over of responsibility and decision-making to the student. The advantage of advisory sessions is that the advisor remains available to monitor progress and to offer help on an ongoing basis. So when a student is unsure, for example, which materials to use, or how to practise what they have learned in their classes, the advisor can help. The greater level of personalisation of advisory sessions makes it easier for an advisor to monitor such progress and to ensure students are taking control over their own learning. In the words of one of our advisors:

Another reason for offering advisory sessions lies in its position half-way between the classroom and the students’ lives. Crabbe (1993: 447) talks about the need for a bridge between ‘public domain’ learning such as in a classroom, and ‘private domain’ learning. Classrooms shelter students from the outside world and provide a safe environment for learning. Advisory sessions have the potential to make links with the outside world through flexible access to a wide range of materials and opportunities for practice.

There are also practical reasons for offering advisory sessions: in many situations there are simply too many students to help through direct classroom teaching. In such situations (common especially in many tertiary second language settings; see above) self-study is the only practicable and financially viable way to improve students’ levels. The guidance offered by the advisory sessions can help ensure students’ success. However the soundness of this argument has to be tested in practice. There is a cost to students not having the required language level at the start of their course and advisory sessions and the infrastructure needed for them is, of course, certainly not free either.

External links

• Free online training video with examples of advisory sessions
• Postgraduate Diploma in Language Advising offered at the University of Hull
• The Learner Autonomy Project Inventory includes projects in the area of language advising
• The Autonomy Bibliography includes over 1,700 references in the areas of autonomy, self-access and language advising