3.1 Focus on the Learner (FOL)
Candidate name: ______
Criteria / To standard / Not to standard yet / 1st Submission / To standard / Not to standard / 2nd SubmissionTutor feedback and resubmission guidance if necessary / Tutor feedback
Part A
Comment on the learners’ backgrounds
Comment on the learners’ motivations
Comment on the learners’ learning preferences
Use written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task
Grade for part A
Tutor(s) signature(s) and date: / Pass / Resubmit / Double marked (if applicable)
Tutor(s) signature(s) and date: / Pass / Fail
Part B
Identify learners’strengths
Identify one grammar problem with at least two pieces of evidence
Select one appropriate activity to address the grammar problem and provide a rationale
Identify one pronunciation problem with at least two pieces of evidence
Select one appropriate activity to address the pronunciation problem and provide a rationale
At least one of the two activities is from a published ELT source
Correctly use terminology relating to language systems and skills
Use written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task
Overall word count of 750-1000
Overall comments:
Overall grade
Tutor(s) signature(s) and date / Pass / Resubmit / Double marked (if applicable)
Tutor(s) signature(s) and date: / Pass / Fail
Plagiarism declaration
I confirm that this assignment is my own work.
I have fully acknowledged the published/online sources I have consulted
I confirm that this assignment meets the requirements outlined in the Teaching House plagiarism policy (found in your Teaching House handbook)
Signed ………………………………………………………………Date ……………………………….
Print name ……………………………………………………….
In this assignment you will work with a group of learners
Gather information / •Interview all or some of the learners in your group. Find out information about their background, motivation for learning English, perceived learning needs, etc.•Swap information with your colleagues to gather information about everyone in the class.
•Skim the relevant sections of “Learner English” by Swan and Smith (eds), 2001, Cambridge University Press. This provides information about problems that speakers of different languages usually have with English. This will give you an idea of what errors to look and listen for.
•Observe your learners during class. Identify
•their learning preferences
•their language strengths (skills and systems)
•their language weaknesses (skills and systems)
Write part A of your assignment (300-500 words) / •Summarise some of the following areas for your learners, filling in the assignment grid below:
•General background information (first/other languages, age range, occupations, length of time in this country, etc.)
•General education and language education history
•Motivation for learning English and perceived needs in English.
•Learning preferences and what evidence you have to think these are their learning preferences
•You should write in full, connected prose in this section.
•Attach the cover page to the front of your assignment and write your name on it.
Turn it in on paper by the deadline.
Write part B of your assignment (450-700 words)
The total for parts A and B must be 750-1,000 words / •Write about the language strengths that your learners have. These should be skills related and systems related. You can also add strengths related to their study habits, learning preferences, etc. too but you must include skills/ systems strengths.
•Write about one grammar problem learners have (use analysis from "Gather Information" stage) by filling in the grid below.
•Using the grid below, say what the problem is.
•Document at least two instances in which learners showed they have this one problem and provide the correction.
•Find one activity that could help your learners with this problem (include the actual activity handout in the appendices) and say why it is helpful for this group of learners in particular.
•Write about one pronunciation problem your learners have (use analysis from "Gather Information" stage) by filling in the grid below.
•Say what the problem is, using phonemes if applicable.
•Document at least two instances in which your learners showed they have this one problem and what they should have said.
•Find one activity that could help your learners with this problem (include the actual activity handout in the appendices) and say why it is helpful for these learners in particular.
•Make sure you reference your material correctly with author(s), year of publication, title, publisher and link if relevant. Provide this information in a bibliography as well.
•You may focus on individual learners at this stage of the assignment if you wish.
Turn in your assignment /
- Have a peer proof read your work.
- Use the same coverpage as you did for Part A of the assignment with your tutor comments on
- Make sure you have attached a referenced copy of the actual material that you will use with your learner. This does not contribute to your word count.
- Turn it in on paper by the deadline.
Word limit for parts A and B combined: 750-1000 words
CELTA pass criteria: candidates can demonstrate their learning by:
a)showing awareness of how a learner’s/learners’ background(s), previous learning experience and learning style(s) affect learning
b)identifying the learner’s/learners’ language and/or skills needs
c)correctly using terminology relating to the description of language systems and language skills
d)selecting appropriate material and/or resources to aid the learner’s/learners’ language development
e)providing a rationale for using specific activities with a learner/learners
f)finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task
Example Assignment:
Part A- Learners’ backgroundsCategory
(Please omit this column from your word count) / Write here in prose.
(Note, if you are handwriting this assignment, you will need to use more space to reach the word count and the required level of depth.) / Trainer comments (leave blank)
Learners’ backgrounds
(age, occupation, nationality, languages, education, etc.) / The class is an upper-intermediate level group who are studying general English for 10 hours per week. It is a multi-lingual group with three Spanish speakers, two Arabic speakers, a Russian speaker, a Hungarian speaker, a Chinese speaker and two Japanese speakers. They range in age from 19 to 47 years old. Some students have been in the UK for over 10 years and plan to stay (Aleksander, Summer and Nuri) but others are here more temporarily to improve their English for a few months (Khadhija, Gabor and Takeshi). The majority of the group started learning English in school so have been learning for an average of eight and a half years already. For all but two of the learners, English is their second language whereas for Khadhija, who already speaks French and Arabic fluently, and Mario, who speaks Spanish and a bit of Italian, it is their third.
The group comprises of a variety of different professions for example, Takeshi is an engineering student, Emilia owns her own graphic design business, Aleksander is currently a barista but is a qualified architect in his own country, Nuri and Summer are stay at home parents, Mario is a journalist and Khadhija is a full time English student.
Learners’ motivations / Their motivations include integrative, instrumental and extrinsic. Khadhija is taking the FCE exam next month and particularly wants to improve her speaking score so has extrinsic motivation. Aleksander is here to improve his job prospects so could be said to have instrumental motivation, whereas Khadhija really wants to make English speaking friends, from around the world, so could be said to have integrative motivation. Other reasons for learning English amongst the group included “to be able to read medical journals in English”, “to be able to help my son with his English homework” and “to be able to meet English people in the pub”!
The group’s learning preferences and rationale / In terms of learning preferences, all students seem to enjoy working together in pairs / groups, though Gabor is sometimes reluctant to work with his partner until he has a full understanding himself. This would make him seem a little intolerant of ambiguity and quite an independent learner. Emilia enjoys pair work but will only contribute to whole class stages if she is specifically nominated, so I’d say she is less of a risk-taker and perhaps more accuracy focused since she doesn’t like to make mistakes in front of the whole class. The group in general is quite serious and focused. They ask lots of questions about grammar and vocabulary, and enjoy controlled practice activities. They like visual activities and are keen to see new language written on the board to help with spelling and accuracy. They enjoy problem solving tasks as evidenced by their reaction to the “alibi” game on the first day. They react well to drilling and seem keen to improve their pronunciation.
Word Count for Part A: 461 words
Part B - Learners’ language abilities and needs
Learner strengths (skills and systems) / In general, the learners in this group have a strong ability to express themselves verbally and overall have a high degree of speaking fluency. Their grammatical knowledge is generally good for the level, though they still sometimes make errors when applying it.
They are very earnest and committed to learning, asking lots of questions and spending time studying English outside of class.
Grammar problem / Past simple tense
At least two examples of the error and their corrections. / Most learners in the class have made slips with this tense, using the bare infinitive instead of the past simple.
1) In a written activity, Junko wrote “When I first arrive in America…”She should have written “When I first arrived in America”
2) During her interview, Carmen said “We see a show in theater”. She should have said “we saw a show at (the) theater”
Material / “Pictures into story” in Grammar Practice Activities (Ur, 1998: p215). See appendix 1.
Brief description of the activity and Justification for choice for these learners. / In this activity, students receive a set of pictures, order the pictures as they like, then write the story. This group seems to enjoy collaborative and problem solving tasks so it suits their learning preferences. Although some of them prefer, and are stronger in, spoken activities, this written follow-up would help them develop written accuracy, which is a main goal in learning English for a few of the learners, particularly Kenny and Junko. Mario’s job as a journalist means that a written activity would be suited to his English learning needs as well”.
Pronunciation Example:
Pronunciation problem / /l/ vs/r/ soundsAt least two examples of the error and their corrections. / The speakers of Asian languages in my group struggle most with this issue.
In her interview, Summer struggled to correctly produce accurate /l/ sounds. She said, for example, “I like (/raɪk/) to shopping”. She should have said I like shopping “I /laɪk/ (-) shopping”.
In a class about personal finances, Takeshi said “I have little (/rɪtər/) money for go out.”
I have little (/ lɪtəl/) money for go(ing) out”
Material / “Pronunciation Journey” from Pronunciation Games (Hancock, 1995: p36).
See appendix 2.
Justification for choice / This is a discrimination exercise in which learners must listen and check the correct word from a minimal pair, e.g. light or right to ensure arrival in the correct city. To include other members of the group, the examples could be adapted to focus on sounds that they struggle with, e.g. /b/ vs /p/ (bat vs pat) for the Arabic speakers, (Smith, 2001: 197[1]) and /b/ and /v/ (best vs vest) for the Spanish speakers, (Coe, 2001: 93[2]). I would make sure groups contained a mix of learners whose own languages are different. This group seems to respond well to pronunciation work and will benefit from seeing phonemes written down for visual support, making this an appropriate activity for this class.
Word count: 350 – 500 words
NB Total word count for Parts A and B must be 750-1000 words / Part B: 443 words
Total Part A and Part B: 919 words
Part A- Learners’ backgrounds
Category
(Please omit this column from your word count) / Write here in prose.
(Note, if you are handwriting this assignment, you will need to use more space to reach the word count and the required level of depth.) / Trainer comments (leave blank)
Learners’ backgrounds
(age, occupation, nationality, languages, education, etc.)
Learners’ motivations
The group’s learning preferences and rationale
Word count for Part A (375 – 500 words)
Part B – Learners’ language abilities and needs.
Learner strengths (skills and systems)
Grammar problem (name of structure/language point)
Examples of error and corrections
(Write the whole sentence so the context is clear).
Example: “We walked in the Park when man stopped us. ”
Correction
Example: “We were walking in the Park when (a) man stopped us. ”
Example: “They broke the car as they drive north”.
Correction
“The car (broke down) as they were driving north”.
Material to help the learner with this problem (full source and appendix where it can be found in this assignment)
Justification for choice and how it will be used.
Be sure to refer back to the learners’ learning preferences, motivation, strengths and weaknesses, interests, etc.
ronunciation problem (use phonemes)
Examples of error and corrections
(write full utterances so the context is clear – use phonemes)
Example: “I like New York /beri/ (very) much”
Correction:
“I like New York /veri/ (very) much”
Example: “My sister want to be a /bet/ (vet)”
Correction
“My sister want(s) to be a /vet/ (vet)”
Material to help the learner with this problem (full source and appendix where it can be found in this assignment)
Justification for choice and how it will be used.
Be sure to refer back to the learners’ learning preferences, motivation, strengths and weaknesses, interests, etc.
Word count: 350 – 500 words
NB Total word count for Parts A and B must be 750-1000 words
[1]Coe, N. (2001) ‘Speakers of Spanish and Catalan’ in Swan, M. and Smith, B. (eds) Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems (2nd edition), CUP pp90-112
[2]Smith, B. (1987) ‘Arabic speakers’ in Swan, M. and Smith, B. (eds) (1987) Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems (2nd edition), CUP pp195 - 213