Golders Green College Cert TESOL – Learner Profile / 2015

Golders Green College

The Learner Profile

(2015)

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Golders Green College Cert TESOL – Learner Profile / 2015

Learner Profile Assignment – Calendar

WEEK / MONDAY / TUESDAY / WEDNESDAY / THURSDAY / FRIDAY / WEEKEND
1 / 1. Meet learner – arrange interview
2. Design interview / 3. Write letter to learner – design written task (the learner’s task must be handwritten)
4. Choose reading task & listening task / 5. Conduct recorded interview and do listening task & reading task / 6. Collect written task / 7. Research learner’s nationality/language background
8. Begin needs analysis
2 / 8. Continue Needs Analysis (NB aim for “little and often”, not all left to the last minute!)
3 / 9. Plan lesson / 10. Teach lesson (NB arrange with trainer)
11. Evaluate lesson / 12. Programme of future study
13. Overall summary/reflections
4 / 14. Hand in completed assignment

Guidance notes follow – use the number of each task to find relevant information below…

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Golders Green College Cert TESOL – Learner Profile / 2015
Learner Profile Assignment

This summarises what you will need to hand in.

This should be treated as an academic piece of work, and you will receive extra credit for organisation, professionalism and presentation. Please note the following:

The assignment should be submitted in a blue ring binder

Include a contents page (use the table below)

Use the headings provided in the table below to structure the assignment

Word counts are intended to guide rather than dictate – they are NOT a word limit!

You must source any references/quotes in a bibliography/webliography at the end. Plagiarism is illegal and easy to detect.

No. / Heading / Words
1.1 / Needs Analysis - Personal Profile of the Learner / 200
1.2 / Needs Analysis – Cultural/Language Background / 200
1.3 / Needs Analysis – Speaking Skills / N/A*
1.4 / Needs Analysis – Pronunciation, Stress and Intonation / N/A**
1.5 / Needs Analysis – Written sample / N/A
1.6 / Needs Analysis - Writing Skills / 200*
1.7 / Needs Analysis - Reading Skills / 200
1.8 / Needs Analysis - Listening Skills / 200
2.1 / Lesson Plan - Rationale / 200 - 300
2.2 / Lesson Plan – Front Sheet / N/A
2.3 / Lesson Plan – Procedure Notes / N/A
2.4 / Lesson Plan - Materials / N/A
3 / Evaluation of Lesson / 200 - 400
4 / Programme of Future Study / N/A*
5 / Conclusions and Reflections / 200

* ensure you complete the table provided

** ensure you include the required transcriptions, and complete the tables provided.

GUIDANCE NOTES – Follow these to plan your time…
DAY 1 – WEEK 1
1. Meet learner to arrange interview date (during the day)

When you meet your student, complete the Agreement Form (Appendix A) and keep a copy for yourself. Give the original to your student.

You will need to meet your student TWICE more:

  1. To conduct an interview& listening task & reading task(60-90 minutes), and set a writing task – this week
  2. To teach Lesson (60 minutes) – week 3

2. Design interview
  • Find out who your student is as a person and gather some data that you can analyse to give you information about the student’s competence in the four skills (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking) as well as an idea of the grammar and vocabulary range he/she has.
  • Look ahead to the “WRITE UP” guides for sections 1.1, 1.2, 1.7 & 1.8 of the Needs Analysis. You need to make sure that the questions you plan focus on getting the right information to complete these. For example, if you don’t ask the student about their listening in English, you will have nothing to write about this later!
  • Your tutor will give you a listening task & reading task to use.

Remember:

  • The interview will last for 60-90 minutes, so you need to ensure you have enough material.
  • Aim to make questions as open as possible. For example, “Do you like learning English?” may elicit a “Yes/No” response. “What do you like about learning English, and why?” is likely to encourage a full answer, giving you more information, and more connected speech to analyse later.

3. Listening task

To get the data you need, you will need to set two short listening tasks to be conducted at the end/start of the interview.

We will provide you with the listening tasks which will test your student’s listening skills. There will be two types of task:

  • Gist questions – intended to test the student’s ability to gain a general understanding of the listening.
  • Detail questions – intended to test the student’s ability to listen for relevant information and deduce meaning of lexis through context.

Please include the tasks you used in the assignment (ideally the originals with the learner’s answers on). Remember to source material – you’ll need the title, author, publisher, year and ISBN number.

DAY 2 – WEEK 1
4. Write letter to learner/design written task

You will need to correct and analyse the learners written English forsections 1.5 & 1.6 of the Needs Analysis.

You need to write to your student and get them to reply in writing(must be handwritten)- do this through a letter. The student’s response then becomes the written sample.

Your letter will help set an expectation of how much you want the student to write back to you. By including some details about you and your life/aspirations, the student is more likely to open up to you in return. The letter should also ask a range of questions and elicit some reasonably lengthy responses in prose, not just one or two word answers. 120-150 words should provide an adequate sample.

Try to get the student to write about a number of things - for example to hypothesise, reflect on the past, make deductions, talk about attitudes, outline beliefs, ponder the future etc. this will generate the need for a range of tenses and vocabulary to be used.

5. Choose Reading Comprehension Task

To get the data you need, you will need to conduct a quick reading “test” to be given during the interview.

See 1.7 Needs Analysis – Reading Skills.

We will provide you with a reading text and appropriate tasks, which will test your student’s reading skills. There will be two types of task:

  • Gist questions – intended to test the student’s ability to gain a general understanding of the text by skimming. Use a strict, short time limit (e.g. 2 minutes), and the student should be aware that the task does not require every word of the text to be read.
  • Detail questions – intended to test the student’s ability to locate relevant information (scanning), process relevant parts of text accurately (intensive reading) and/or deduce meaning of lexis through context. Still use a time limit, but the student will have longer for this (and more questions).

NB Do not allow use of dictionaries. This will better enable you to assess reading competence.

You should get the student to complete the task at the interview, ideally immediately after it.

Please include the text / tasks you used in the assignment (ideally the originals with the learner’s answers on). Remember to source material – you’ll need the title, author, publisher, year and ISBN number.

DAY 3 OR DAY 4 – WEEK 1
6. Conduct interview (recorded)

Interviewing your student (60-90 minutes)

You must arrange to record an interview with him/her sometime during the college day. You will record the student’s speech so you can listen and analyse this later. This is essential for sections 1.3(Speaking Skills)and 1.4 (Pronunciation, Stress and Intonation)of the Needs Analysis.

During the interview, you must also set your student a listening task. This can be given before or after your interview. This is essential for section 1.8 (listening skills) of the Needs Analysis.

Finally, you must also set your student a reading task at the end of your interview.

Booking a room

Book a room using a post-it note. Remember to check the timetable on the notice board to see if it is available when you want it – you cannot use a room if a class is scheduled to take place in it!

The main building opens at 8.30am, so you could fit the interview in before input one morning. If you need to arrive slightly late/leave slightly early for input, please inform your trainer for that day – he/she will advise you if it is feasible.

You will need to find a way to record the interview (e.g. laptop, dictaphone, smartphone, mobile phone with voice recorder).You must include a recording with your assignment, so make sure you can (e.g.) burn a copy onto a CD.

Don’t forget to give the student your letter and arrange when to get their written sample back!

DAY 5 – WEEK 1
7. Collect written task
WEEKEND – WEEK 1
8. Research learner’s nationality/language background

This will be important forsection 1.2 (Cultural/Language Background) of the Needs Analysis.

Read the section on the nationality/language background of your student in Learner English by Swan & Smith (if it is covered).

Alternatively, research using other websites, books or other means. Don’t forget to place any references/quotes in a bibliography.

Make sure any research is relevant to your student. Do not report general tendencies of your learner’s nationality if your student does not display them – it is pointless. The aim of this research is to support and define your own observations.

DO NOT PLAGIARISE. It is very easy to detect, and is illegal. Make sure you accredit the source of any quotes or information in your bibliography.

9. Begin Needs Analysis

WRITE UP 

After completing the Unknown Language Journal, you’ll need to start the needs analysis this weekend. Follow the

boxes below to make sure you stay on track. Experience shows that if you follow this timeline you will be able to complete the assignment on time. Falling behind by even one day will cause problems. Remember that you have many other things to do simultaneously!

WRITE UP 1.1 Needs Analysis - Personal Profile of the Learner – 200 words
You should have all the information you need for this section from the interview. Write a profile of your learner, focusing on the points below:
  • The student’s background: country, city, education, age, occupation
  • Cultural background: type of society (nuclear or extended family, religion etc.)
  • Personality: relationship to individuals/groups; extrovert/introvert; shy/confident
  • Language background: native language; language family (Germanic, Slavic etc.)
  • Foreign languages spoken: degree of fluency/competence
  • Occasions when the student uses English
  • Reasons for learning English: study, job etc.
  • Previous learning styles encountered, preferred /familiar study approach.
  • Present situation in the UK: accommodation, work, time available for study etc.
  • The student's interests: leisure pursuits, hobbies etc.
  • The student's own assessment of strengths, weaknesses, needs etc.

WRITE UP1.2 Needs Analysis – Cultural/Language Background – 200 words
Again, you will have much of the information you need for this section from the interview. The remainder will be based on research from Learner English or the internet. Aim to include the following:
Languages spoken by the learner, and proficiency
Previous experiences of learning English or other languages, and learning styles encountered.
Differences in pronunciation between the student’s first language and English
Differences in grammar between the student’s first language and English:
Other challenges typically facing learners from your student’s country/culture/language background:
WRITE UP1.3 Needs Analysis – Speaking Skills – 300 words (excluding examples)
You will need to describe your student’s speaking competence, based on the recorded interview. It is tempting (but a mistake!) to focus only on grammar errors. These are important, but you must comment on all the points below to give a balanced analysis:
How fluent is your student when speaking?
How accurate is your student when using English grammar structures that he/she appears to know/have learned? Give examples of different forms used successfully.
Giveat least 8 examples of forms used inaccurately, and specify the nature of the error (use table below).
What kind of grammatical range does your student have when speaking? Are there any grammatical structures your student appears not to know/have been taught that would have been useful in communicating the things you discussed in the interview? Give three or four examples.
What kind of vocabulary range does your student have when speaking? Give examples of problems with finding the correct word/collocation e.g. “I made a photo..” (use the same table below).
Lexical areas where the student showed sufficient range to communicate meaning effectively and with some degree of precision.
Note that you need to describe the student’s competence in terms of:
1)Errors and inaccuracies
2)Successes
3)Unknown language which would help the learner communicate more effectively (e.g. learner is unable to form past tenses, but wants to tell you a story about their childhood. They end up saying “When I am a child, I go to……”) This can also be lexis that the student needs (e.g. “I work in a ….I don’t know the word in English…we make leather….cloth…you know, you wear it on your hands, and when it’s cold…”)
Important!!!! You must always aim to support any observations you make by quoting examples from the student’s speech in the interview.
“The learner uses present continuous well” is somewhat vague, but “The student uses present continuous effectively to describe future plans / arrangements, e.g.”Next month, I’m taking an exam…”’is specific and supported by evidence.
Copy & paste the tables into your profile. The boxes are expandable.
Error / Correct Version / Type or Error / Analysis
I no understand. / I don’t understand. / Grammatical- need auxiliary verb to make negative / Probably the result of L1 interference. Auxiliary verbs are not used in Spanish to form negatives.
I’m very exciting . / I’m very excited. / Lexical – word formation / Confusion regarding adjective endings –ed/-ing used for feelings/ opinions.
To smoke is bad for you. / Smoking is bad for you. / Grammatical- / Spanish uses the infinitive as an abstract noun, you need to use the –ing form in English. L1 interference
WEEK ONE CHECKLIST
If you can tick all the boxes, you are on schedule!
I have a recorded interview of my student (60 to 90 minutes)
My student has completed a listening assessment
My student has completed a reading assessment
My student has given me their written task
I’ve done some research into my student’s L1
I’ve written up sections 1.1, 1.2 & 1.3 of the Needs Analysis
Well done! How about getting even further ahead now?
WEEK TWO – ALL WEEK (INCLUDING WEEKEND)
10. Continue Needs Analysis

Do not underestimate this part of the assignment – there is a lot to do. You will not be able to finish this in one sitting – aim to work on it for one or two hours each evening and use the weekend to finish it off. Set realistic targets for how much you can, and need to, complete each day.

WRITE UP1.4 - Needs Analysis – Pronunciation, Stress and Intonation
Again, you will need to refer to the recorded interview to complete this section. make sure you cover all the points numbered below:
1)Orthographically transcribe1-2 minutes of the student’s speech during the interview. (You do not need to transcribe the entire interview! It is recognised that this speech may have been interrupted by prompts from the trainee: these need not be transcribed, but should be indicated in some way.)
2)Choose a 20-30 word segment of this transcription, and transcribe it phonemically. This should be transcribed twice: once in a version of standard English and again as spoken by the learner. The purpose of the transcription is to illustrate clearly problems of intelligibility due to segmental and supra-segmental features of pronunciation.
3)From your 20-30 word phonemicallytranscribed segment, you should extract the following:
a) Two features of segmental problems (individual sounds)
b) Two features of supra-segmental problems (e.g. stress, intonation, elision)
Use the table below.
Copy & paste the tables into your profile. The boxes are expandable.
Speaking: pronunciation analysis
Number
(refers to phonologically transcribed segment) / Error / Correction / Orthographic representation / Analysis/ reason for error
1 / /ɑ:sked/ / /ɑ:skt/ / asked / Spelling and pronunciation are very closely linked in Spanish. Maria tends to pronounce words letter by letter.
7 / /beri:/ / / veri: / / very / Spanish only has one sound in the area of /b/ & /v/ pronounced as a bilabial fricative (Smith and Swan 2001). Maria uses a sound that is more similar to /b/.
WRITE UP1.5 - Needs Analysis – Written sample
You will need to insert two copies of the student’s writing sample: one with corrections using the correction key below, and one without.
Use this marking key below to correct the student’s (photocopied) letter:
Grgrammar
Artarticle
WWwrong word
WOword order
Ttense
Spspelling
Sstyle (formal/ informal)
Ppunctuation / Preppreposition
Rrepetition
Plplural
^word missing
/ that /remove / leave out this word
?I'm not sure what this means
good!
excellent!
WRITE UP1.6 - Needs Analysis - Writing Skills – 200 words (excluding examples)
You will need to describe your student’s writing competence, based on the written sample. As with the speaking analysis, avoid focusing solely on grammar errors. You must consider all of the points below to give a balanced analysis:
Part A:
Grammatical accuracy – full structural analysis (strengths & weaknesses)
Give examples of different forms used successfully.
Give examples of forms used inaccurately.
What kind of grammatical range does your student have when writing? Are there any grammatical structures your student appears not to know/have been taught that would have been useful in communicating the things they want to write about? Give examples.
Lexical range and accuracy – analysis of learner’s use of vocabulary when writing
Give examples of problems with finding the correct word/collocation (e.g. “I made a photo..”), or of avoidable repetition.
Lexical areas where the student showed sufficient range to communicate meaning effectively and with some degree of precision.
Spelling and punctuation
Part B:
Effective communication of meaning - How clearly is the student able to express meaning without strain on the reader? What contributes to the success (or otherwise)?
Appropriacy of register – level of formality used - How aware is the student of appropriate style in writing, and the impression they convey, including the effect on the reader?
Organisation – appropriate use of paragraphs and linking sentences (How well does the student organise their writing? Consider use of paragraphs, punctuation, linking phrases (e.g. “However,”, “and…”, “Because of this…”), referencing e.g. use of “it”, “this” to avoid repetition, and any other comments on coherence/cohesion.)
Handwriting – if relevant (where the learner uses different writing systems in L1)
Use the table below.Important!! You must include a minimum of 6 different errors in the table below (at least 2 must be from Part A).You must always aim to support any observations you make by quoting examples from the student’s written sample.Note that learners will often display a different range of errors in written English compared to spoken English.
Writing: grammar and lexis analysis
Line in text (refers to sample of learner’s writing) / Type of error / Error / Correction / Analysis/ reason for error
3 / Grammatical verb form / I working / I am working / L1 interference, there is no auxiliary ‘be’ in Japanese
4 / Lexical spelling / lice / rice / l/r confusion as/l/ and /r/ are both pronounced as a Japanese /r/
WRITE UP1.7 - Needs Analysis - Reading Skills – 100-200 words
Refer back to the reading task that the student completed. The answers they gave will provide information about strengths/weaknesses, e.g. success in the gist task suggests ability to skim effectively. You must also refer to what the student has told you about their reading in the interview.
The type of information you will need to report (and therefore ask about in the interview!) is summarised below:
The task set and the learner’s response to it.
How much reading the student does in English.
What type of texts they need to read now, or will need to later in everyday/working/academic life.
Any difficulties with reading; speed, obtaining gist quickly, locating information quickly, understanding details, being anxious about not understanding every word, over-reliance on dictionary, (in)tolerance of ambiguity, lack of confidence, lack of motivation etc.
Whether reading is a pleasure or a chore.
What type of text/topic the student is interested in reading.
Any advice you were able to offer the learner to help develop this skill.
WRITE UP1.8 - Needs Analysis - Listening Skills - 100-200 words
Refer back to the listening task that the student completed. Observe the student’s competence during the interview itself. List observations about difficulties with listening you notice in your student and note the reasons you believe they occur. This should form a part of your listening skills analysis, in addition to learner-declared issues.
You should include the following:
  • Was the student able to understand and respond to you during your interview?
  • How did the student do in the listening task you set him/her? (Please include the task you set)
  • What are the learner’s listening habits outside the classroom (radio, TV, internet, conversations with English speakers)?
  • What advice did you offer the trainee to help him/her improve this skill?

WEEK TWO CHECKLIST
If you can tick all the boxes, you are on schedule!
I have completed the Needs Analysis
I’ve arranged a time for the lesson with my student next week
Well done! How about getting even further ahead now? Make a start on the lesson plan!
DAY 11 / DAY12 WEEK 3
11. Plan Lesson

With a thorough needs analysis, you will have found a multitude of things that the learner needs to work on. You can’t possibly expect to cover everything in one lesson! You will need to make decisions on what to teach, always rationalising your decisions based on what you found out in the Needs Analysis.