Focus on the Learner

Aim
To develop an insight into students as people and as language learners and to develop the ability to assess student’s
level and problems through a detailed study of one student.

Part 2: a) You need to identify three specific problems and three examples of good use of language for your case
study student and say why you think the learner finds the problem areas difficult.

Select two out of the problem areas (e.g. one grammar/ vocabulary and one pronunciation) and suggest one activity
for each problem in order to help the student practise the language. You need to find two activities in total. You
should hand these in with your assignment and provide an outline of the procedure for each. At least one of these
activities must be a published source, and your activities should not be from the coursebook you are using on the
course. Give a rationale for why you chose each activity stating:
 Why you have chosen to focus on that area of grammar, lexis or pronunciation.
 Why you believe the activity is appropriate for your learner(s). Consider whether it is 
engaging,
meaningful and suits your learner’s motivation, needs, interests, learning styles. 


b) You need to comment on your learner’s skills strengths and weaknesses

The deadline for this part is Monday week 3

Suggested word count: 650 words

By Monday week 3 you need to hand in the following:

 the completed grid
 photocopies of your chosen activities with copyright (one of them should be from a published source).

Refer to at least two reference books to support your observations and include these in your bibliography. Also
include your selected published materials in your bibliography.

Assignment criteria (reproduced from the CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines):
Candidates can demonstrate their learning by:
a. showing awareness of how a learner’s/learners’ background(s), previous learning experience and learning
preferences affect learning
b. identifying the learner’s/learners’ language/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

750 - 1000 words (maximum)

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Adapted from assignments from IH Madrid and IH Seville
 Focus on the Learner

Language strengths
Include below at least three examples of good use of language by the learner at this level; one grammar, one
vocabulary and one pronunciation. State whether they are written or spoken.
Example of good grammar usage (spoken/ written)
‘I listen to music when I have free time.’ (spoken) It is a good example of using present simple because the student
used correct meaning and form of the tense.

Example of good vocabulary usage ( spoken/written)

‘I want to find a good job’ (spoken)
It is a good example of using vocabulary properly. Some Ss confuse word ‘ job’ with ‘ work’. Temo used this word
correctly.

Example of good pronunciation usage:(spoken/written)

‘I watch movies with subtitles.’ (spoken)

Generally people find it difficult to put the stress in the correct word. Temo is familiar with stress because he said
the sentence with the correct intonation.

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 Focus on the Learner
Specific problems and suggested solutions:
Identify two specific problems for your case study student. (This problem could also be common to most of the group.)
State if it is a written or spoken problem.
Problem 1 should be grammar or vocabulary-related.
The student has problems with grammar. He mostly forgets to use articles with nouns and instead of nouns he writes
articles before adjectives. The mistake was noticed in the spoken text.

1) “ I am school pupil.’ (spoken)

2) It is a good to have practice with speaking. ( spoken)

Problem 2 should be pronunciation-related e.g. intonation, sound, stress.

1) I think English is important for me.’ (spoken)
The main problem here is that Temo pronounces ‘th’ as /s/ not as /θ/.
2) ‘You need English when you travel in other countries.. (spoken)
The same problem is in the second sentence but in that case he pronounces th as /z/ ad not as / ð/

You must include examples of both the problem and the solution, that is, include examples of the student’s errors
which justify your choice of problem. Two of the solutions can be your own idea but include at least 1 piece of
photocopied, published material and a copy of your own made-up idea if applicable.

Specific problem 1 (grammar-related or Suggested solution to problem 1 (outline your procedure)

vocabulary-related)
I will use an activity called ‘’ once upon a time’ to help Temo to
Written / Spoken practise with articles. In this activity students work in pairs. T gives Ss a
set of cards where nouns and articles are written. The task for each
1. ‘ I am school pupil.’ (spoken)
pair is to create one story using those nouns and articles but they are
2. ‘It is a good to have practice free to add other parts of speech . Ss have to think about a plot of the
with speaking. ( spoken) story , characters and so on.

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 Focus on the Learner
Why did you choose this activity for this student? (In your rationale include learner styles, motivation, needs, level,
interests, etc.)

Temo mentioned in the interview that at school he does grammar exercises . He also works hard at home.
Theoretically he knows how to use articles but in practice he is not confident and makes mistakes.. I have chosen
this activity because its main aim is communication and Temo needs practice. In the activity Ss share their ideas ,
invent an interesting story and are highly involved in speaking. Therefore, writing gap-filling is not effective because
they have to write correct answers and the other day they will forget .That is why I believe the activity which requires
from Temo to speak and use articles in order to create a story would benefit him.
Moreover he is highly motivated and wants to improve his speaking and later continue studying abroad. He
enjoys working with his partner s thus this game suits Temo’s learning preferences and needs perfectly.

Specific problem 2 (pronunciation- Suggested solution to problem 2 (outline your procedure)

related)
In this case a game called ‘pronunciation journey’ would be useful for Temo.
Recognition/Production
The teacher writes 4 word pairs (think – sink ,math-mass, faith -face mouth –
mouse) in two vertical columns on the board and labels the lists ‘left’ (words
with /θ/ sound) and ‘right’ (words with /s/ sound). The same can be done
with sound / ð /
3) I think English is important for
Then the teacher gives a copy of a map to each student and asks them to
me.’ (spoken)
work individually. Teacher points out that at each of the numbered junction,
4) ‘You need English when you
there is a choice of turning left or right. The Teacher reads one word for each
travel in other countries..
junction from the board. For each word, students must turn left or right
(spoken)
according to whether the word is from the left or the right hand list on the
board. After having said the four words, students reach one of the
destinations. Students check their answers in pairs.
The activity can be used several times, using different words from the same
lists. Students work in pairs and they take turns to read out words and trace
the route on the map.1

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This game has been taken from the book Pronunciation Games by Mark Hancock. Pp 36-37

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 Focus on the Learner
Why did you choose this activity for this student? (In your rationale include learner styles, motivation, needs, level,
interests, etc
Temo is a kinaesthetic learner who prefers learning through physical activities. The activity will practise his
pronunciation and make him more engaged in the learning process.
Temo’s main motivation is to learn English and be successful in his career. He needs to be fluent and hear the
difference between /θ/ and /s/ sounds while communicating with other people and also he needs to produce these
two sounds differently to make himself more confident. This game will help Temo to practise both – hearing the
difference between these sounds and producing them differently.

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 Focus on the Learner

Skills strengths and weaknesses:

Comment on the learner’s performance in skills work (reading, writing, speaking and listening), particularly their ability
to communicate (remember communication is a two-way process so this section covers receptive and productive
skills). Exemplify all your points and identify specific strengths and weaknesses.

Listening (strength): Marta has spent several months in the UK and one year in the States. She has
significantly fewer problems than other students in understanding our different accents. She is
Example: usually the first to comprehend instructions. In two difficult listenings from the course book, she
was the only student to answer all detailed questions.
Writing (weakness): In her writing, however, she sometimes struggles to make her points clearly
and has problems structuring texts.
Listening (strength): Temo watches films and listens to music in English when he has free time. Temo listens
different accents of English and he is familiar with various intonation patterns .When I worked with Temo in a
listening task , he did not have difficulties and finished the task easily in both cases -listening for gist and specific
information.

Speaking (weakness): Speaking is Temo’s weakness. He has enough vocabulary but still finds it difficult to express his
ideas clearly. He struggles to choose the right words and produce some of the sounds that are typical to English but
cannot be found in Georgian (e.g. /θ/, /ð/)

Reading (strength): Temo finds a reading part very useful. Despite some unknown words Temo can read a text for
specific information and gist. Temo’s visual learning style helps him to read texts for gist ,process and remember
some facts from the text.

Writing (weakness):Writing is very difficult for Temo. He still needs to learn a lot regarding spelling, structuring texts,
punctuation and etc. Sometimes Temo manages to form texts in clear and understandable way, but he still has a lot
to learn.

References:

. Hancock, Mark. Pronunciation Games, Cambridge University Press.

2. Handout designed by me ( See attachement)

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 Focus on the Learner
Attachment 1 The activity ‘ once upon a time’

the A dress the light a kiss

darkness

The a car concert a plane

cinema

The The sea The couple a letter

meeting

A a game A friend the kitchen

stranger

An argument
a suitcase a noise a woman

The sun The UK a stranger The sky

the store the mountain the boy an accident

the road A holiday a day the night

the TV the end a flower the village

a house the weekend a man a phone

A A nice trip an hour The serious

beautiful problem
garden

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Focus on the Learner