Cambridge

Life Competencies
Framework

Learning to Learn
Introductory Guide
for Teachers and
Educational
Managers
 Learning to Learn
Introduction to the Cambridge Life
Competencies Framework
There have been many initiatives to address the skills and competencies our learners need for the
21st century – each relating to different contexts. At Cambridge, we are responding to educators that
have asked for a way to understand how all these different approaches to life competencies relate to
English language programmes.

We have set out to analyse what the basic components of these competencies are. This is to help us
create an underlying framework to interpret different initiatives.

We have identified six life competencies, which are linked to three foundation layers of the
Framework.

THE CAMBRIDGE LIFE COMPETENCIES FRAMEWORK

Creative Learning to Collaboration

Thinking Learn

Critical Communication Social

Thinking Responsibilities

Emotional Development

Digital Literacy

Discipline Knowledge

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 The Learning Journey Defining LEARNING TO LEARN
The competencies vary depending on the stage of the learning journey – from pre-
Competencies
primary through to learners at work. The rate of change for what we need to know and be able to do at work is accelerating, and it is
essential that we continue to learn new skills and knowledge throughout our working lives. The aim of
education has to focus as much on the skills of learning as on the outputs of learning.

We have identified three core areas within the area of Learning to Learn:

• Practical skills for participating in learning includes important techniques such as making notes,
storing and retrieving information. There are various methods for engaging in these techniques,
and learners need to experiment and choose the one which best suits their own personal style,
needs and resources. Useful information needs to be stored, and systems developed for retrieving
information as and when required.
Pre-Primary Primary Secondary
• Taking control of own learning implies developing self-regulatory strategies, becoming
autonomous, maintaining motivation, and staying focused on the task at hand in order to achieve
the best results. To accomplish this, learners need to be clear about their learning goals.

• Reflecting on and evaluating own learning success involves learners reflecting on their own
learning in order to assess what worked for them and what did not. This reflection can lead to
evaluation which, in turn, can inform decisions regarding whether to persevere with certain courses
of action or to make changes. As a result, learners are able to identify and use effective learning
techniques and strategies. Strategies chosen will depend on the context, the learning goal, and the
learner’s individual characteristics, since strategy effectiveness will vary according to all of these
Higher Education At Work multiple factors.

We are developing Can Do Statements (see page 6) to describe what can be expected of a learner at
each stage of learning for each competency. The Can Do Statements are phrased as what a learner
should be able to do by the end of that stage of learning. We have started to develop Can Do
Statements as descriptions of observable behaviour.

The Framework provides different levels of detail – from the broad Competencies to the specific Can
Do Statement.

Competency Core Area Can Do

Statement

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 LEARNING TO LEARN Can Do STAGE OF
LEARNING
CORE AREAS CAN DO STATEMENTS

Statements PRIMARY Reflecting on and

evaluating own
• Shows ability to think about how well they are learning English.
• Thinks about progress before asking the teacher about a task/activity.
(CONTINUED) • Listens and responds positively to feedback and understands why a correction
In this section, we have provided some examples of Can Do Statements which detail what learners learning success
was given.
can be expected to do for each competency by the end of that stage of the learning journey. These • Learns from mistakes and feedback.
Can Do Statements will vary in their suitability for learners in different contexts, and so are provided • Listens attentively and resists distraction.
as a starting point in the development of a curriculum, programme or assessment system. • Regulates affective reactions (e.g. anxiety, disappointment, mood or conflicts
with other children).
The Can Do Statements at each level generally assume that the learners have developed the skills at
a previous stage of learning, although this is not true of the Higher Education and At Work stages,
which are treated as being in parallel.

STAGE OF CORE AREAS CAN DO STATEMENTS

LEARNING

PRE- Practical skills for • Holds a pencil appropriately.

PRIMARY participating in • Demonstrates hand-eye coordination (e.g. to support their writing skills).
learning • Follows instructions and class routines.
• Recognises some numbers, letters and words.
• Traces or copies uppercase and lowercase single letters and numbers.
• Reads and understands signs and labels (e.g. classroom signs, labels, illustrated
words, posters, road signs and public notices).
• Understands and communicates age-appropriate vocabulary through various
mediums (e.g. speaking, writing, drawing and gestures).
• Puts familiar words together grammatically most of the time.
• Uses new language/knowledge while doing different tasks.
• Organises learning equipment tidily so that it can be found when needed.
• Uses basic digital literacy for finding and storing information.

Taking control of • Asks the teacher for help.

own learning • Observes other children and learns from their example.
• Stays focused on short tasks.
• Makes sure they understand what others are saying to them (e.g. by asking
others to repeat what they have said).

Reflecting on and • Acts on language feedback from teachers or parents.

evaluating own • Self-corrects from own stored knowledge when they realise a mistake has been
learning success made.
• Changes learning behaviour if it does not seem to produce the desired result
(e.g. puts hand up to answer a question instead of shouting out the answer).
• Regulates affective reactions (e.g. disappointment, mood or conflicts with other
children).

PRIMARY Practical skills for • Completes tasks in class as required.

participating in • Joins in with learning activities with other children.
learning • Searches for information on a specific topic when doing a project.
• Takes basic notes about key information while reading and listening.
• Summarises information on a selected topic when doing a project.
• Files information away (either digitally or on paper) for future use.
• Looks at pictures to help them follow a story line.
• Answers who, where, what, why and how questions after listening to a sentence
or short paragraph.
• Produces short texts through participating in guided or shared writing activities.

Taking control of • Shows awareness of own progress in learning English (e.g. by reflecting on what
own learning went well in a class).
• Engages with practice activities in class.
• Asks other children for help.
• Corrects themselves after making a mistake.
• Memorises and repeats key words and phrases.
• Employs practical skills for learning independently in completing a task.

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 Practical Guidelines for Teaching Monitoring
In addition to monitoring learners’ linguistic progress, teachers should ensure that they also monitor the

Learning to Learn Competencies progress learners make with Learning to Learn skills development, as teachers will then be better placed to
gauge the level of scaffolding required for learning to be effective.
Learners need to develop Learning to Learn competencies in order to be able to learn independently, Rate of development
without constant guidance from the teacher. That is not to diminish the role of the teacher in the learning
Remember that learners will be developing these skills over the course of their lives and the skills that
process. In fact, within the sociocultural perspective of learner autonomy, a more experienced mediator is
they develop at any given age or stage will be used and built upon at later stages. Just like with linguistic
considered essential to the development of independent learning skills.
development, the development of these physical, cognitive and affective skills requires patience, scaffolding
Acquiring Learning to Learn competencies is not a straightforward process; it requires careful scaffolding and opportunities for practice. The rate of development will also differ from learner to learner. It is important
and multiple opportunities for learners to use, train and develop these competencies. The teacher’s role to thus provide each learner with the appropriate amount of support and scaffolding, depending on their
is to provide that mediation and, alongside teaching language, help learners acquire the age- and stage- rate of development.
appropriate skills that they need to learn outside the classroom.
YOUNG LEARNERS
Suggestions for classroom practice Classroom routines
The ideas presented here are intended as a general indication of the types of activity that might develop For learners at pre-primary to be able to begin their journey of developing Learning to Learn skills, they
this competency in the classroom, and are not a definitive list. will benefit from the teacher introducing and maintaining a range of routines (through into primary):

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS • for starting a class, such as doing a chant;

Familiarisation • for carrying out activities, for example, electing learners to be in charge of handing out or collecting
Familiarisation with the Can Do Statements is key. Teachers should keep a copy on hand to refer to during worksheets or other learning tools;
planning. This way, as they look at their materials, they can identify which activities and features provide • for transitioning between activities by using certain cues.
learners with opportunities to develop the skills included in the Can Do Statements. For example, the
use of a template, such as the example below, could initially help learners develop effective vocabulary It will take time for these routines to become fixed and consistency is vital. In terms of instructions, these
recording habits. need to be clear and include demonstrations, and learners will need the time and experience to build
strong links between instructions and expectations. Growing familiarity with classroom task types and
Word: Word class: activities will help, as learners will become familiar with the routines that these tasks and activities require.
Once learners are comfortable with a routine, they will be able to engage in activities without repeated
Pronunciation: Example sentence:
instruction or explanation, thus developing learner autonomy.
Definition:
Collocates: Reflecting on learning
As part of the beginning of their journey to becoming more autonomous, young learners need to develop
Other words in family:
the reflective and evaluative skills required to monitor their progress in learning. Teachers can scaffold this
development by providing simple tools such as a post-task self-feedback form in which learners evaluate
their performance in a given task. Learning materials increasingly include these, but even if they are not
included, it is possible for teachers to make one which can be adapted for use across a range of task types.
Here is an example:

My progress

I followed all the instructions

I gave my opinion clearly

I asked my classmates for their opinions

I agreed and disagreed with my classmates politely

I helped my group to summarise the discussion to feed back to the whole class

Diego,
Developing familiarity with what is expected is important. The process of reflection and evaluation, and
Teacher, Brazil
completing reflective tasks takes time to master and consistent use of such tasks over a period of time will
help learners become more competent at assessing themselves in this way. With the example above, the
first couple of times it is used, teachers would need to explain to or remind learners how to use it, i.e. if
they think they have followed all the instructions, they then colour in all the smiley faces; if they think they

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 Further Reading
have followed most of them, they then colour in four smiley faces, etc. Some of the sentences could be
used across tasks, while others would change according to the task type. Once learners are accustomed
to the procedure, they will need little prompting to carry out the task effectively. These kinds of tasks also
provide the scope for learners to compare their performance over time for similar task types. For more information on this topic, please see:

Over to you… Benson, P. (2013). Teaching Griffiths, C. (2008). Lessons from Pawlak, M., Mystkowska-Wiertelak, A.
and researching autonomy. good language learners. Cambridge: & Bielak, J. (Eds.). (2017). Autonomy in
1. Choose one of the example strategies in this section and try it out with your class. New York: Routledge. Cambridge University Press. second language learning: Managing
the resources. Berlin: Springer
-- Following the implementation of the strategy, reflect on what worked well and what could be Chamot, A. & Harris, V. (Eds.) Hann, N. (2013). Mining the L2
improved next time, particularly focusing on the extent to which learners were able to develop their (2019). Learning strategy instruction environment. In B. Tomlinson. Pinard, L. (2016). Looking outwards:
in the language classroom: (Ed.), Developing materials for using learning materials to help
Learning to Learn skills. Issues and implementation. language teaching (2nd ed.) (pp. learners harness out-of-class learning
2. Using your course book or other materials, choose a few activities that you may be using in your Bristol: Multilingual Matters. 6456–6966). London: Bloomsbury. opportunities. Innovation in Language
Learning and Teaching, 10(2), 133-143.
classes in the next week or so. Consider how you could use these activities to build on your students’ Cohen, A. (2011). Strategies in Little, D., Dam, L. & Legenhausen, L.
Learning to Learn skills. learning and using a second language (2017). Language learner autonomy: Vandergrift, L. & Goh, C. (2012).
(2nd ed.). London: Longman. Theory, practice and research. Teaching and learning second
Bristol: Multilingual Matters. language listening: Metacognition
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). Psychology of
in action. Oxon: Routledge.
the language learner: Individual Oxford, R. (2003). Towards a more
differences in second language systematic model of L2 learner
acquisition. Mulwah, NJ: Erlbaum. autonomy. In D. Palfreyman & R. Smith
(Eds.), Learner autonomy across cultures:
Dörnyei, Z. & Ryan, S. (2015). The
Language education perspectives (pp.
psychology of the language learner
75–91). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
revisited. London: Routledge.
Oxford, R. (2017). Teaching and
Ellis, G. & Sinclair, B. (1994).
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Cambridge University Press.

Laura and Olivia,

Language Research Team,
Cambridge University Press

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You can find information about the other
competencies in the Cambridge Life
Competencies Framework at
cambridge.org/clcf

✓ Collaboration
✓ Communication
✓ Creative Thinking
✓ Critical Thinking
✓ Emotional Development
✓ Learning to Learn
✓ Social Responsibilities

© Cambridge University Press 2019