RPL Assignment 1 Draft

7/25/2019 RPL Assignment 1 Draft

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Certifcate in English Language Teaching to Adults Written

Assignment 1

Focus on the Learner

Rusiru Kalpagee Chitrasena

CELTA (Part-time) Trainee- The British Council, Colombo

4thMay 204


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Contents

1. Learners Background

1.1. The Group

1.2. The Selected Learner

01

2. The Learners Strengths 02

3. The Learners Weaknesses 02

4. Meeting the Learners Needs

4.1. Grammar: like+ -ing form

4.2. Writing: rain!torming and "lanning to impro#e rele#ance in $riting

5. Bibliograh!

0%

04

&ppendice! 0'

"endi# ": Sample (ue!tionnaire

"endi# B: & Sample of the Learner)! Written *ngli!h *!!a,

"endi# $%Selected Grammar &cti#it,

"endi# &% Selected Writing &cti#it,

1' Learners Backgrounds1

This section o! the assi"nment is base# on$ ) a %uestionnairesur&ey(see

Appendix A) amon" the learners' 2) a subse%uent inter&ie ith a selecte# learner

an# ) the teachin" *ractice obser&ations+

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1.1. The (rou%

&ll the learner! are elementar, le#el ,oung adult! et$een 1/-21,ear! of Sri Lankan origin and

ha#e Sinhala or Tamil a! their fir!t language. The, are !till in full-time !econdar, or po!t-

!econdar, education. Though the!e learner! ha#e learnt *ngli!h at !chool from an earl, age their

pa!t language learning eperience! !eem to ha#e not helped them due to the lack of a language-

rich learning en#ironment $ith a communicati#e focu!. &t the !ame time the, ha#e little

epo!ure to *ngli!h out!ide the cla!!room and fe$ opportunitie! to practice *ngli!h in real-life

!ituation!. Their rea!on! for learning *ngli!h re#eal that the maorit, i! etrin!icall, moti#ated

, the dominant role of *ngli!h a! a language of education emplo,ment international

communication opportunitie! and !ocial !tatu!. The learner! are different from each other in

term! of their intelligence-t,pe! ut the maorit, ha! acti#e or pa!!i#e eperiential learning

!t,le!. 3n the ue!tionnaire man, ha#e mentioned their preference for game! oral

communication pronunciation and group5pair $ok in *ngli!h cla!!e!.&! per m, o!er#ation!

their !trength! are grammar and reading $hile man, find li!tening ta!k! difficult. &lthough the,

ha#e a po!iti#e attitude to$ard! learning the, !till largel, depend on the teacher due to lo$

le#el! of learner autonom,.

1.2. The Selected Learner

Geeth a 16 ,ear old !chool !tudent from 7otta$a i! a nati#e !peaker of Sinhala. Like man,

children from familie! $ith up$ard !ocial moilit, he recei#e! a great deal of !upport

encouragement from hi! parent! to impro#e *ngli!h. While he !hare! mo!t of the characteri!tic!

!tated in Section 1.1 it $a! felt that hi! intrin!ic moti#ation i! !tronger than the etrin!ic factor!

of hi! moti#ation. Geeth i! a kinae!thetic-interper!onal learner $ithan acti#e-eperiential

learning !t,le. 8e acti#el,participate! and freuentl, interact! during pair5group $ork. Though

he appear! confident $hen he !peak! he !till need! to $ork on hi! grammar and #ocaular,.

8o$e#er hi! po!iti#e attitude $ill help him impro#e hi! *ngli!h if he recei#e! !oundpedagogical !upport and opportunitie! to practice *ngli!h regularl,.

2. The Learners Strengths2%

2These sections are base# on an analysis o! the learners s*oen an# ritten

lan"ua"e+


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Language

area

Strength Explanation

Grammar Using basic

conjunctions to

connect ideas.

Geeth has used but and because in his essay (See Appendix B) to

connect ideas.

Speaking Asking interesting

questions toobtain personal

inormation.

Ater the irst lesson! he had an interesting con"ersation #ith me. $e tried

to keep the interaction going #ith his questions. $is discoursemanagement skills #ere clearly abo"e the elementary le"el.

%ronunciation %ronouncing the

#eak orm& sch#a

o an (&'n&)

uring the drilling session in eek *! he grasped the #eak orm o an

beore most o the other students. According to Scri"ener (+,,-+/+)! a

common eature o student 0nglish is a ailure to do this 1the #eak orm23

gi"ing each #ord in the sentence equal time in the rhythm.

2. The Learners Weaknesses2%

Language

Area

Weakness Explanation:

Grammar Use o the "erb

like (i.e. like4

noun! like 4 5ing)

to talk about

preerences

$e used the "erb! like incorrectly a number o times

e.g. 6 like to #atching ilms. (0ssay)

6 like to 0nglish language. (7uestionnaire)

6 like speaking my amily. (7uestionnaire)

8his seems to be caused by 9* syntactic intererence #hich makes the

dierence bet#een gerunds! ininiti"es and transiti"ity o the "erbin 0nglish

conusing to the learner.:

riting 8endency to

de"iate rom the

topic gi"en and

ocus on

irrele"ant content

6n his essay! instead o #riting about #atching ilms as a hobby! he talks

about t#o o his a"ourite ilms. 8his tendency! #hich is probably due to not

kno#ing and thinking about #hat to #rite;! could impede his ability to meet

the communicati"e requirements set out in #riting tasks.

%ronunciation %ronunciation o

some consonant

clusters e.g. &sn&

and &kl&

$e omitted the initial 1s2 in 1sne k2. $e inserted the short "o#el 1'2 to assist.

the pronunciation o the initial #ord cluster! &kl& in &kl s&. According to/

Schackle (+,,++:*)! the narro# range o consonant clusters in nati"e

languages leads many South Asian learners to simpliy consonant clusters.

3. Meeting the Learners Needs%

3.1. (ra))ar%

Althou"h he once inaccurately uses the like+to-infnitive !orm in the %uestionnaire

(i+e+ 1 lie s*ea my !amily+3), he uses it accurately at times (e+"+ 1 lie to

communicate ith3 (5uestionnaire) an# 1 lie to see n#ian 6lm+3 (Essay)+

47e#"e (200) consi#ers it a 1classic stumblin" bloc3 that can be sol&e# by

brainstormin" an# *lannin" be!ore ritin"+

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Thi! acti#it, $ill addre!! the learner)! i!!ue $ith the #er 9like. 3n thi! acti#it, the learner $ill

con!olidate and practice 9like+noun and 9like + -ing form! to epre!! like! and di!like!. The

contet $ill e !et , a!king the learner5! three thing! the, like5hate to do. The target language

$ill e pre!ented u!ing a marker !entence $ith focu! on meaning pronunciation and form. 3n the

practice !tage after di!triuting the $ork!heet the learner! $ill mingle to find other! $ho

like!5di!like! the item! in the $ork!heet. The learner! $ill then $ork in pair! and tell each other

$hat the, found aout their colleague!. ;inall, the learner! $ill!hare !ome of their finding!

$ith the group u!ing the target language in their !entence!. Thi! acti#it, $ill help the !electedlearner practi!e the u!e of the TL in a natural and communicati#e contet. The acti#it, i!

appropriate for their le#el ecau!e it ha! een de!igned to !upplement their cour!e ook. &t the

!ame time Geeth ha! a !ome$hat negati#e attitude to$ard! grammar and 9gamification $ill

make grammar a plea!urale eperience for him 7app 2012.

3.2. Writing%

3n thi! controlled $riting acti#it, the learner $ill $rite a !hort paragraph aout hi! countr, and

language! after gatheringthe idea! and u!eful language for the ta!k. &reading ta!k $ill !et the

contet and the learner $illthen rain!torm information aout hi! countr, and language!. &fter

completing t$o language-related ta!k! the learner5! $ill then $rite a paragraph aout their

countr, and language!. The learner! $ill then re#ie$ their pa!!age! indi#iduall, at fir!t for

punctuation and capitali?% and Sil#a 1>>0 empha!i!e the u!efulne!! of controlled $riting in lo$-le#el *;L

contet! mainl, ecau!e the, empo$er the learner in term! ofcontent and form to perform etter

than the, $ould ha#e done on their o$n. @e!igned u!ing controlled and proce!! approache! to

$riting thi! acti#it, $ill help the impro#e rele#ance in $riting , manipulating a model a! $ell

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Source: Thing! ,ou lo#e and hate in *ale! ;. Aunningham S. B Coor ". 200'. New Cutting Edge

Elementary- Teachers Resource Book.*!!e: "ear!on Longman p.12% and 12/.

Source% 9C, Aountr, and Language! in 8annock C. B Cc@onald &. 200?. English Result

Elementary: Students Book. Dford: DE". p.%4


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a! , gathering language re!ource! and idea! in the pre-$riting !tage. Thi! acti#it, i! !uitale for

elementar, learner! ecau!e it i! from another recentl, puli!hed elementar, cour!e ook.

Word count% 1*1+

Bibliograh!%

Books%

*ale! ;. Aunningham S. Coor ". 200'.New Cutting Edge Elementary- Teachers ResourceBook.*!!e: "ear!on Longman.

8annock C. Cc@onald &. 200?.English Result Elementary: Students Book.1!t.ed. Dford:Dford Eni#er!it, "re!!.

8armer F. 2004.!ow to Teach "riting. 1!t. ed. *!!e: "ear!on Longman.

8edge T. 2001. "riting. Dford: Dford Eni#er!it, "re!!.

7app 7. 2012. The #ami$ication o$ %earning and &nstruction.1!t.ed. San ;ranci!co: "feiffer.

=aime! &. 1>?%. Techni'ues in teaching writing. 1!t. ed. Dford: Dford Eni#er!it, "re!!.

Scri#ener F. 200'. %earning Teaching. 2nd.ed. Dford: Cacmillan *ducation

Shackle A. 2002. Speaker! of South &!ian Language!. 3n: C.S$an *d.%earner English Aamridge:

Aamridge Eni#er!it, "re!! pp226-24%.

Sil#a T. 1>>>. Second language compo!ition in!truction: @e#elopment! i!!ue! and direction! in *SL.

3n: . 7roll *d. Second language writing: &nsights $or the classroom Aamridge: Aamridge

Eni#er!it, "re!! pp11-2%.

an *k F. Trim F. 1>>?. "aystage ())*. 2nd. ed. Aamridge: Aamridge Eni#er!it, "re!!.

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