1.4 Developing Cognitive & Communication Strategies
Key Takeaways
- Cognitive strategies are internal mental processes (predicting, skimming, scanning, deducing) used to comprehend and process language.
- Predicting activates background knowledge (schema) using visual clues to prepare children's minds for upcoming content.
- Skimming builds global reading/listening habits, while scanning targets isolated, specific information to prevent cognitive overload.
- Communication strategies are interactive techniques (clarification requests, gestures, circumlocution, L1) used to overcome vocabulary gaps.
- Using gestures and strategic code-switching to L1 are valid communication tools that keep young learners actively participating in lessons.
Developing Cognitive and Communication Strategies
As young learners engage with a second language, they frequently encounter language that is beyond their current level of competence. To navigate these challenges, they must develop two distinct sets of strategies: cognitive strategies and communication strategies.
- Cognitive strategies are internal, mental processes that learners use to understand, process, and store language. Examples include predicting story outcomes, skimming for gist, scanning for specific details, and deducing word meanings.
- Communication strategies are external, interactive techniques that learners use to keep a conversation going, express meaning, or resolve a breakdown in communication when their language resources are insufficient. These include gesturing, using their first language (L1), asking for clarification, and attracting attention.
For the TKT: YL exam, teachers must understand how to identify, develop, and support these strategies in the classroom.
Cognitive Strategies: Processing the Input
Cognitive strategies help young learners make sense of written and spoken texts without getting bogged down by unfamiliar vocabulary.
Predicting
Before reading or listening, children can look at illustrations, book covers, or titles to guess what the story will be about. This activates their background knowledge (schema) and creates mental hooks for new language. For example, showing a picture of a wet dog in a raincoat allows children to predict the story is about a rainy day, which prepares their minds for related vocabulary like rain, wet, and umbrella.
Skimming (Reading/Listening for Gist)
Skimming is reading or listening to a text quickly to get a general overview or the main idea. Young learners often have a natural instinct to translate every word. Teachers must train them to read or listen "globally"—for example, by asking them to read a short passage and decide if the story is happy or sad, or what name best fits a character, rather than answering specific comprehension questions.
Scanning (Reading/Listening for Detail)
Scanning is searching a text rapidly for specific pieces of information, such as numbers, names, dates, or specific nouns. In the classroom, a teacher can train scanning by asking: "How old is the boy in the story? Find the number!" Children scan the text, ignoring other words until they spot a digit (e.g., 8 or eight).
Deducing Meaning from Context
When children encounter a new word, they can guess its meaning using surrounding words, pictures, or situational clues. Rather than immediately translating the word into the children's L1, the teacher can encourage deduction: "Look at the picture. The monster has big, green claws. What are claws? Look at his hands!" This develops independent problem-solving skills.
Communication Strategies: Overcoming Linguistic Limits
Communication strategies empower young learners to interact and participate in English, even when their vocabulary is limited.
Asking for Help or Clarification
Children must be taught how to ask for assistance when they do not understand an instruction or a word. Teachers should post functional phrases on the classroom wall and practice them explicitly. Useful chunks include:
- “What does [word] mean?”
- “Can you help me, please?”
- “Can you say it again?”
- “How do you say [L1 word] in English?”
Attracting Attention
In a busy classroom, children need structured ways to get the teacher’s attention without shouting out or pulling the teacher's sleeve. Training them to raise their hand, say "Excuse me," or use a visual signal (like turning a colored cup on their desk) teaches them polite interaction patterns.
Describing Experiences (Circumlocution)
When children lack a specific word, they can use simpler words or describe the object or event to get their meaning across. For example, if a child does not know the word vet, they might say, "The doctor... for dogs." Encouraging this type of circumlocution keeps communication flowing.
Gesturing and Using L1 (Code-Switching)
Non-verbal communication (gesturing, pointing, miming) and strategic use of the first language (L1) are natural and valuable communication strategies. If a child says, "I want the..." and points to a red crayon, the gesture completes the communication. Similarly, a child might mix languages (code-switching): "I like the mariposa" (butterfly). Rather than penalizing this, the teacher should validate the attempt, supply the English word, and encourage the child to repeat it: "Ah, the butterfly! I like the butterfly too."
Summary Table: Classroom Strategy Scenarios
To help recognize these strategies in action (a common test format on the TKT: YL), consider the following classroom scenarios:
| Strategy Category | Specific Strategy | Classroom Scenario / Student Action | Teacher Facilitation / Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive | Predicting | Students look at the title "The Lost Key" and pictures of a dark garden to guess where the key might be. | Teacher prompts: "Look at the garden. Is it night? Where is the key? What do you think?" |
| Cognitive | Skimming | Students read a story in 30 seconds to answer: "Did the dog find his home?" | Teacher says: "Don't read every word! Just find the answer to: Yes or No?" |
| Cognitive | Scanning | Students look at a text about dinosaurs to find the number of teeth a T-Rex had. | Teacher says: "Look only for numbers. Don't read the words around them." |
| Cognitive | Deducing meaning | A student sees the word "furious" next to a picture of an angry face and guesses it means "very angry". | Teacher points to the illustration and prompts: "Look at his face. Is he happy?" |
| Communication | Asking for clarification | A student says: "Excuse me, how do you say 'bolígrafo' in English?" or "What does 'blurry' mean?" | Teacher answers the question and praises the student for using the functional phrase. |
| Communication | Attracting attention | A student silently raises a green card on their desk to show they have finished their task. | Teacher walks over to check the work without disrupting the rest of the class. |
| Communication | Describing experiences | A student says: "Yesterday, my dad, we go to... big water... swim, swim!" (describing a trip to the beach). | Teacher responds: "Oh, you went to the beach? You went swimming! How lovely." |
| Communication | Gesturing / L1 | A student mimes drinking from a cup and says, "Please, water," when they forget the word "glass". | Teacher says: "Yes, here is a glass of water." and models the word "glass". |
Classroom Implications and TKT Exam Tips
On the TKT: YL exam, you will encounter questions that ask you to match a student's behavior or a teacher's activity to a specific strategy:
- If a child says, "What is 'huge'?" they are using the communication strategy of asking for clarification.
- If a teacher asks, "Look at the cover of this book. Who do you think this boy is?" before reading, they are training the cognitive strategy of predicting.
- If a child uses their hands to mime flapping wings while saying, "Look at the bird," they are using gesturing to aid their communication.
Before reading a story about a family going to the beach, a teacher shows the class a picture of a sandcastle and asks, "What do you think the children are going to build today?" Which cognitive strategy is the teacher helping the students develop?
A student is reading a short paragraph in English and comes across the word "gigantic." The student looks at the illustration next to the text, which shows a tiny mouse standing next to an enormous elephant, and says, "Ah, gigantic means very, very big!" Which cognitive strategy has the student used?
During a pair-work activity, a young learner does not know the English word for "ruler." The learner points to a drawing of a ruler on their worksheet, makes a straight line in the air with their finger, and says to their partner, "Draw line with this. What is it?" Which communication strategies are being used here?