celta focus on the learner assignment pdf

Focus on the Learner Assignment (1): Detailed Guide with Real Examples

Hi there! In this post, let’s go through the ‘Focus on the Learner’ CELTA Assignment.

First, here’s a brief outline of what we’ll talk about in this post.

Before We Begin: Quick Background Point

Some CELTA centres offer this as CELTA assignment 1 , but others do it at a different point in the course.

It depends, but this assignment is usually set early on in the course, but the deadline can vary – I have heard of students being given this as CELTA assignment 1, but told to submit it after CELTA assignment 2 and 3, for example!

With this assignment coming so early on the CELTA, it can cause people problems since the assignment requires some careful thought about logistics an planning.

This can catch people out, but it doesn’t need to if you are prepared!

Obviously, if you’re reading up on things like this on websites that should help you and you should remove that element of stress from your CELTA experience .

Different Types of Focus on the Learner Assignment

Let’s start by looking at the 3 types of  ‘Focus on the Learner’ assignment .

The main three types of Focus on the Learner CELTA assignment are:

So, you’ve got 3 distinct approaches to this particular CELTA assignment. Let’s have a look at some points for each below.

Assignment Type 1 and 2: Focusing on an Individual or Pair of Learners

For the versions this assignment which focus on an individual or pair of learners , CELTA trainees will usually have to perform an interview with one (or two) learners.

The right questions to ask the student/learner

How to record the interview

Getting the student’s permission, and making sure they understand what they are signing up for (think about this for low-level students – harder than it sounds)

Arranging a time and a place to conduct an interview

Choosing a student who you think will actually turn up

You need to make the student(s) aware that doing the assignment is helping you on your CELTA course, but you also need to show them the benefits of coming for an interview , because if they don’t see any benefit, they’re unlikely to come (bad news for your assignment!).

Something you can do here is to offer them extra input into their learning as part of your interview , so you need to think of it from that perspective.

Interview Questions for Your CELTA Assignment

If you have to interview two learners, it’s going to be slightly different from just working with one, so think carefully about how you will ask the questions and whether it is best to have them there together or at different times. Your CELTA trainers can likely tell you which they recommend here.

Try to keep interview questions open-ended and avoid asking questions which have just a Yes/No answer.

Yes, they could understand both of the above questions, but consider which one is likely to allow the student to talk the most.

After all, you will need them to speak so that you can analyse their language!

*I don’t work for ISE Hove and have no contacts there – it’s just a great document!*

My Experience of the Focus on the Learner Assignment

I should add that I had to do the individual learner for mine, and I interviewed a student from Eritrea. His native language was Tigrinya, which I’d never heard of before!

I didn’t know anything about Tigrinya, and there wasn’t really much online about it, bearing in mind that this was in 2007, so there were even fewer websites, so it was really quite hard to find information. However, I did find some in books in the end and these helped me to get through.

Actually, thinking about it, that was one time where it was really helpful to do my CELTA course at a university – the library had so many books available (as you would expect) and the online journal articles we had access to were very useful – but that’s for another article!

Choosing the Right Students for Your CELTA Assignment – Types 1 & 2

Another point to note is that, if you are on a CELTA course with students speaking many different languages, the tutors will specifically say that you cannot interview an individual, or a pair of learners, who speak any of the same languages as you.

Now, although this might sound a bit unfair, the tutors want you to work out of your comfort zone.

Try to take this as a challenge and an opportunity to learn new things and broaden your horizons. I remember doing a case study on a Japanese learner as part of a TESOL module I did at university.

The idea that a basic Japanese sentence is Subject + Object + Verb, rather than Subject + Verb + Object like English blew me away. For more on Japanese, check it this detailed post I’ve just found on Japanese sentence structure (looks interesting!)

However, not everyone will have to do this as it is not always logistically possible.

For example, if you consider an Arabic speaker on a CELTA course in an Arabic-speaking country , with a CELTA course where all the students speak that same language, then it’s highly likely that CELTA trainees there will focus only on students who speak the Arabic language.

Type 3 – Focus on the Learner s : Using a Whole Group or Class

Moving on to the final type of assignment, using a whole group or class, which  could  involve the whole class of students who you will be teaching in your assessed teaching practice sessions.

It depends how big the group is, but you will have to do a profile of the group in terms of where they’re from and their language backgrounds.

Key points to consider when writing a group profile include the following:

Do they all speak the same first language?

Are they from many different countries?

Do they have similar reasons for learning?

Is there a mix of ages?

Focus on the Learner: Word Count and Key Points

In terms of what you need to include, here are the main points:

Generally, the first 300 to 350 words should be about learner(s) background .

Then, the next 300 to 350 would be an analysis of the student’s language problems

This will then be followed by another 300-350 word section suggesting activities for them to improve their English .

Learner Background Section

In terms of learner motivation, for example, some people are coming to class to enhance their career or job propsects.

Other points to cover include a learner’s previous language learning experience.

If you are asked to focus on a group of learners (Type 3), try focusing on students who show difference or contrast to the majority, while also describing the main group of learners.

Needs Analysis Section

Think of a learner’s strengths in terms of the different skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Again, the document by ISE Hove have this covered and have provided a self-assessment grid for learners  to complete themselves (see page 3). It’s simple, but it should work!

Also, you should mention language points that you’ve seen these learners have difficulty with during CELTA teaching practice sessions; you can then identify errors (both from their spoken and written language) to analyse as part of your assignment.

Choosing the Right Language Points for Your Assignment

Interestingly, a student recently emailed to ask me the following question:

“How do I know which language points to focus on when writing the Focus on the Learner Assignment?”

From your extensive notes (hopefully), you can then choose only the language points that you know how to explain, because there will be probably many, many different points if you have taken lots of notes!

For this reason, Swan and Smith’s book Learner English is really useful for this assignment.

 Suggested Activities for Improvement Sections

These suggestions don’t need to be anything out of this world, however. You could just simply suggest that the students try to spend more time speaking with native speakers to improve their confidence, or focus on improving their knowledge of article rules – whatever is relevant.

It depends, but it’s all part of a needs analysis – and you have to think of the interview experience from the perspective of the student , how it will help them

Using Books to Help With CELTA Assignment 1

You will need to refer to different books to show that you’re reading around the topic and that you are aware of the different academic thoughts on these things.

That way you can give good, educated ideas and suggestions to help the students, which are really practical as well. 

**Top tip: If you are going to buy CELTA books, I’d suggest getting second-hand or used books from Amazon as they are generally very good quality and it can save you a lot of money!)**

Examples of the Focus on the Learner Assignment

Finally, where can you see examples of the Focus on the Learner Assignment?

Hopefully, you’ll see a range of different ways of tackling this question, and you’ll see the different types of answers to the relevant questions for CELTA assignment 1.

Now, although the following examples are available online, that does not mean they are of high quality.

Some appear to also ignore the given word count for CELTA assignment 1 (if I dare call it that!), which I find quite strange but it may be something that your tutors are not too worried about – best to ask them that one!

So, in order, you will find examples of each type of assignment for the individual learner, a pair of learners and a group of learners, with links to the original document below.

Example of  Assignment Type 1: Individual Learner

Example of  assignment type 2: pair of learners, example of  assignment type 3: group of learners, summary  – focus on the learner celta assignment.

So, hopefully, you’ve found the information above useful and now have a better idea of how to approach this CELTA assignment!

PS Here’s a quick summary video over on the CELTA Helper Youtube Channel:

Further Reading on CELTA Assignments

More helpful content for you:, recent posts.

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CELTA written assignment: focus on the learner(s)

The purpose of the assignment

The CELTA handbook (5th edition) explains that this assignment allows you to demonstrate that you can:

• show awareness of how a learner’s/learners’ background(s), previous learning experience and learning preferences affect learning
• identify the learner’s/learners’ language and/or skills needs
• correctly use terminology relating to the description of language systems and/or language skills
• select appropriate material and/or resources to aid the learner’s/learners’ language and/or skills development
• provide a rationale for using specific activities with a learner/learners
• find, select and reference information from one or more sources
• use written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task

That's a lot to cover in 1000 words so you need to be concise and stay focused.  This is not the place to discuss general approaches to teaching.

Most centres choose one of two ways to set this assignment:

• You may be asked to focus on a specific learner from one of the teaching practice classes or
• You may be asked to focus on the whole of a teaching practice class.

You may even be given a choice.

Whichever assignment you are set, the considerations are the same but, obviously, more depth will be required in 1. than in 2.

This is in the genre of an Information Report and it has three parts:

• A brief introduction stating the basic information about the learner or the class.  Say what you are doing and who the subject of the investigation is.
• An area-by-area report giving the data you have gathered, noting strengths, weaknesses and needs as you go along.
• sources for language and/or skills development and, if it's needed, personal support
• ideas for language and/or skill focused activities Link this section carefully to the data you have gathered, explaining why you think the ideas will help.

You can combine the second and third areas if that makes sense to you so two structures are possible:

Choose one structure or the other.  Do not mix them up or you'll be incoherent.

• An example of the learner's writing.  The neatest way to get this is to write a short note to the learner saying who you are, giving a bit of background (age, background, personal details etc.) and asking the learner to respond in like manner.  That way, you get the personal stuff you need and an example of how well they can handle the simple language needed to give some personal data (name, age, occupation etc.).
• reasons for learning English
• language learning background
• student’s opinion of their strengths and weaknesses in English
• preferred class and activity types

• You can, of course, gather some of this data by designing a questionnaire.  See the guide to needs analysis to get some ideas.  There is an example of a basic needs analysis form here.
• Record the interview and listen to it again, making notes of consistent errors and the learner's communicative effectiveness.  You can provide a tapescript of some important parts of the interview to exemplify the areas you think need work in the assignment.  You will need the person's permission to do this, of course.
• If recording is not an option, make as many notes as you can on the learner's use of English as you go along.
• Learning style.  The new edition of the handbook (the 5th) has removed any explicit reference to learning styles because the theories that underlie such things have been comprehensibly debunked.  The syllabus now contains reference to learning preferences.  However, for reasons which are slightly obscure, some CELTA centres and tutors are wedded to the idea of learning styles.  Many will let you have a copy of something called a VARK questionnaire to give to the subject.  There is, of course, a guide to learning styles on this site but you should treat the area with great scepticism.  See also the article attempting to debunk the whole concept .

• You need to set out some information about the people in the class: ages, occupations, reasons for learning etc.  See the table above.  The only sensible way to do this with a group of people is via a questionnaire needs analysis.  See the guide to needs analysis to get some ideas.  There is an example of a basic needs analysis form here.
• You can investigate learning preferences but will have to identify from the data any commonalities in the class rather than details of each learner.  See point f., above.
• For the final section of the assignment where you make suggestions, you'll need to be a bit more generalised and identify common aims and needs rather than individual ones. One approach is to identify the two weakest and the two strongest students and identify appropriate activities, resources and aims for them.  That should also cover everyone in between.

• The student is studying English for no apparent  purpose at the moment.  He or she may need the language in the future for some purpose but at the moment that is not clear.  The student may also need the language as part of a general education, for access to English-language websites and for travel and tourism. This student needs General English (a GE learner).
• This student need English to settle and integrate in an English-speaking culture for an indefinite time. This student needs English as a Second or Other Language (an ESOL learner)
• This student needs English for business and commercial purposes either because his/her professional setting demands it or because she/he is intending to study Business and/or Management. This student needs Business English (a BE learner).
• This student intends to study in an English-medium institution such as a university or college. This student needs English for Academic Purposes (an EAP learner).
• This student needs English for a narrow area of concern such as access to written scientific texts, to work in a particular occupation such as the hospitality industry, air traffic control, the merchant marine, the transport industry etc. This student needs English for a Specific Purpose (an ESP learner).
• All of the above can be subdivided into a bewildering range of acronyms including, e.g., EGOP (English for General Occupational Purposes), EGPP (English for General Professional Purposes), ELF (English as a Lingua-Franca, for communication between non-native speakers of English worldwide), English in the Workplace (EiW), English for Professional Purposes (EPP) and so on.

• "I want to learn English to fit into an English-speaking culture and work and socialise." This student has Integrative Motivation (to integrate into a cultural milieu).
• "I want to learn English to use the language in business meetings / to study a subject at university." This student has Instrumental Motivation (using the language as a tool to do other things).
• "I love the language and enjoy learning it and speaking it." This student has Intrinsic Motivation (the pressure to learn comes from within).
• "I have been told to learn English by my employer / parents / sponsor." This student has Extrinsic Motivation (the pressure to learn comes from outside).

Be careful not to be too dogmatic here.  People are complicated and their motivations are often obscure, even to themselves, so try to avoid statements such as

This learner is extrinsically motivated.

Prefer, instead, something a bit more careful such as:

From the data supplied in the short questionnaire, it seems that this learners is aware of the need to learn enough English to be able to function in the workplace but is also keen to access English-speaking websites and understand something of the cultures of English-speaking societies.  She has, therefore, a mix of instrumental and integrative motivation and needs English as a tool as well as for cultural access.

There is a guide to motivation on this site but you do not need all the detail now.  If you would like a simpler guide to motivation which still gives more data than here, there is one in the TKT course materials (new tabs).

Obviously, the suggestions you make will be determined by what you have discovered about the learner(s).

• Why do you suggest it?
• What's its target?
• How will it help?
• Include both ideas for activities and ideas for materials to use and topics to focus on.
• Identify both language structure and skills needs. For example, From the data summarised in point xxx above, I would argue that a priority for this learner / these learners is to enhance his / her / their reading skills because they / he / she identify it as a weakness and this is supported by my observations.  Good reading skills are needed for study in the UK and the majority of these EAP students / this EAP student will be going on to university in the next few months.  Therefore, I suggest using xxxx in class and starting a reading club using xxxx books and resources.  The student(s) will also benefit from a specific focus on both reading for gist and reading intensively so I suggest the following activities will be helpful... or Another area of weakness I have identified in point yyyy above is the student(s)' lack of vocabulary . Therefore, I suggest a specific focus on general academic vocabulary including using yyyy as a resource and spending at least one lesson per day focusing on common academic collocations (such as reasonable to argue, arising from the data, developing the point further etc.).  This will improve the learner(s)' ability to be precise in terms of meaning and use conventional language in academic essays. The class / student will also benefit from work on cohesive devices such as therefore, firstly, finally, because, furthermore etc. as his / her / their writing shows that they avoid or misuse these structures in general (see appendix 2, and the comments in point z).  This will make the learner(s)' writing in particular more accessible, better organised and fluent.

Do not repeat yourself here.  It's not necessary and you don't have enough words to play with. What you do need to do here is identify the main facts and the most important suggestions.  In other words, prioritise .

Before you submit your assignment, here's a quick checklist.  You can have this as a PDF file by clicking here or you can mentally tick things off on the screen.

• learning preferences
• the questionnaire and a summary of the results
• samples of work
• I have identified at least 5 language problems the learner(s) have / has
• I have given examples
• general future work
• specific ideas to deal with the problems I identified

Now assess yourself against the criteria for the assignment.  Here they are again.  Have you been able to:

Your tutors will maintain a record of the work you have done on the written assignments and will grade each of the criteria as follows: NS (Not to Standard), S (at Standard) or S+ (above Standard). You need to aim consistently for S or S+ grades, naturally.

If you have managed to tick all the items, well done.  Submit the assignment and move on.

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The Ultimate Guide to CELTA

CELTA Written Assignments – Focus on the Learner (FL)

Written assignments form a major part of the CELTA assessment process and are a compulsory part of the course.  There are 4 written assignments in total but some centres conflate two of them to make one larger assignment.  In this series we will look at each individual assignment and provide you with some advice and guidance as well as highlight some of the common pitfalls.

Disclaimer: All centres create their own written assignment rubrics, make sure you check with your centre exactly what is required.  We can only provide general information here, rather than specific.  With this in mind, do you think it would be wise to pay for other peoples’ assignments to help you write your own?

Although every centre creates their own written assignments, the CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines states that for the FL assignment:

The design of the assignment to include: 

• investigation of the learning context and assessment of learner needs with reference to a specific learner or group of learners
• identification of sources for language and/or skills development and, where appropriate, personal support
• suggestions for specific language and/or skill focused activities and an explanation/rationale for the use of these activities with the specific learners identified

Candidates can demonstrate their learning by:

• showing awareness of how a learner’s/learners’  background(s), previous learning experience and learning  preferences affect learning
• identifying the learner’s/learners’ language and/or skills needs
• correctly using terminology relating to the description of language systems and/or language skills
• selecting appropriate material and/or resources to aid the learner’s/learners’ language and/or skills development
• providing a rationale for using specific activities with a learner/learners
• finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and appropriate to the task

All written assignments should be 750 – 1000 words

Source: CELTA Syllabus and Assessment Guidelines

Some useful books to help you get started:

Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and other Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)

This book looks at errors that speakers of different language make and why they make them. An example taken from the book is that in Spanish there are few consonant clusters. This means when Spanish speakers are speaking English they have difficulty in producing English clusters. As a result express might be produced as espres or breakfast as brefas. Another example, still thinking about Spanish speakers, is that in Spanish to form a negative there are no auxilliairies, so lower level speakers might say I no understand rather than I don’t understand .

Ideas for pronunciation activities:

• Ship or Sheep by Ann Baker
• Pronunciation Games by Mark Hancock
• Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill

Ideas for grammar activities:

• English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy
• Teaching English Grammar by Jim Scrivener
• Teaching Tenses by Rosemary Aitken

Ideas for vocabulary activities:

• English Vocabulary in Use by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell
• English Collocations in Use by Felicity O’Dell

Common Pitfalls

In our centre, trainees often fall foul of the following:

• identifying errors that are pre-systematic (language that has not yet been taught) and therefore require a full lesson before it can be remedied rather than a remedial activity
• provide activities that don’t remedy the error in question
• provide activities that are too high/low for the level of the learner
• forgetting to include a bibliography
• forgetting to provide a rationale for the choice of activity
• label errors incorrectly

In our centre, we encourage trainees to make a short recording of their student (with their permission of course) while having a short chat with them in the break or after class. This gives them plenty of material to analyse when tackling this assignment.

Have you already written your Focus on the Learner assignment? What tips would you add?

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Author: Emma Jones

A CELTA Tutor based in Munich and co-author of The Ultimate Guide to CELTA View all posts by Emma Jones

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CELTA Focus on the Learner Assignment

Published by awalls86 on february 13, 2021 february 13, 2021.

For more tips and advice about CELTA, click here .

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Of the four assignments that you need to write for CELTA, the focus on the learner assignment tends to require the most planning. Typically, this assignment consists of finding out about the background and needs of one or more students, identifying problems they have and suggesting relevant activities to help these students. As with other CELTA assignments, the exact details of the assignment will depend on the course provider.

What do you have to do?

• focusing on one particular learner;
• focusing on a pair of learners;
• focusing on a group of students.

Focus on one learner

If you have to focus on one learner (as I had to), you will be expected to meet up with the student and collect data about their background and needs. However, before you do that, you may have the option to choose your victim… sorry, I mean learner.

Assuming you have the choice, you want to pick wisely. I would advise picking a student who:

• speaks a major international language (e.g. Arabic, Spanish, Korean, etc.), and
• you have already noted has specific problems.

The reason for picking a student who speaks a major international language is that the problems these speakers have in English are well-documented. I am however assuming that your students are not a monolingual group. It is not necessary you know their first language, and actually if it is obvious you have picked a learner because you know their language, the CELTA tutors may take a dim view of this.

Once you have chosen your learner, don’t delay to set up an interview with them. You will then want to plan out what you will ask them about (look at the background and needs sections for ideas). Make sure you record the interview so you can listen back to it later. Most mobile phones can deal with this, but you should make sure that it is recording. It is better to have two minutes on the recording of you saying “is it working?” than finding out afterwards it didn’t record.

You should also aim to get a writing sample from the student at the interview. You could ask them to do it ahead of the interview by asking them to write a letter telling you about their experience of learning English and what they would like to do with English in the future.

As the practice students attend CELTA lessons for free, they are usually very amenable to being interviewed. However, if they are not so thrilled at this prospect, you can generally sway them by telling them they will get feedback. If you promise this, do make sure you give it though. These students often come back again and again and so another CELTA trainee will probably use them in their assignment in the future. Don’t make their life more difficult because you promised the student feedback but didn’t give any.

As well as interviewing the learner, you can also make notes when you are observing the group and when you are teaching. Note anything you hear them say wrongly (you can always analyse what the mistake is later) and difficulties they have with skills.

Focus on a pair of learners

As with focusing on one learner, if you have a choice, try to choose students with major international first languages. You still want to set up your interview as soon as possible and prepare your list of questions.

Having a pair of learners gives you an opportunity that you don’t get with just one and it is a rookie error if you don’t take it. Since you have two learners, give them a task to complete together in the interview. This gives you a much more accurate picture of what they struggle with.

In lessons, you still need to note the errors you hear them make and issues that they have with skills. Remember, you are also comparing the students, so you should consider whether these issues are common to both.

Focus on a group

If you are told to focus on a group, you probably won’t get to interview the whole group. Certainly, if you do get any time when you can do this it won’t be long. Instead you might be told to conduct a survey on the group to get this information. This is something that your teaching practice group will need to do together. 

Background and Needs

The first section of your assignment deals with the learners’ background and needs. This can include (this is not an exhaustive list by any means):

• country of origin,
• occupation,
• first language,
• other languages and level,
• how long they have been learning English and how,
• level of education,
• experience of education,
• why they are learning English,
• what they use English for,
• what they would like to use English for,
• what they find easy,
• what they find difficult,
• what activities they like,
• what activities they don’t like,
• their attitude to correction.

It is fairly easy to phrase questions to get answers to these questions in an interview or on a survey. However, remember that if the student is low level you may need to word questions in a way that they can respond easily. With higher level students, you may want to ask these questions in a more open ended way to get them to talk more. You may want to script your questions to save time rephrasing them in an interview.

Once you have this information, you can begin writing it up.

The book Learner English (Smith & Swan) is invaluable here. This book looks at the problems that speakers of certain languages have when learning English. Reading the section that relates to your student(s) therefore will give you plenty of issues to write about.

Your centre will tell you how many issues you need to write about. It may specify that you need to write about issues related to each of the three knowledge areas (grammar, lexis and pronunciation) and the four skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing). Alternatively, it might tell you to pick two key problems that the student should work on. Obviously, the more areas you are required to provide problems for, the less you are required to write for each problem.

If you are only required to choose a couple of problems you will need to:

• pick problems from different knowledge areas or skills (i.e. don’t have two grammar problems);
• explain why you believe this problem is particularly important. This is easy if you can link it to something in their needs – for example, you could justify working on spelling if they have stated that professional writing is high on their priorities.

This can be the trickiest part of the assignment. You know a couple of problems that they have and now you must suggest solutions that will help them to overcome these.

To pass this part, you should ensure your solutions are sufficiently clear, relate to the problem and state why they will help. For example:

Problem: Student confuses /p/ and /b/ phonemes in speech and writing e.g. I bark my car. This is a common problem for Arabic speakers, as the two sounds are allophonic in Arabic.

Solution: A list of minimum pairs containing /b/ and /p/ is included in the appendix, e.g. beach and peach. I would use these to test if the student can actually hear the difference between these sounds. Through regular testing, the student should get better at hearing the difference. When the student can do this, I would use these words to drill the student in producing these sounds.

Assessment Criteria

To pass this assignment, you need to do the following:

• show you are aware how a student’s background, learning experience and preferences affect learning.
• identify the student’s needs.
• correctly use terminology.
• select appropriate material and resources.
• provide a rationale for using these activities.
• find, select and reference information.

If you want to pass this first time around, follow these tips:

• As soon as you meet the students, note all the errors they make or problems they have that you can.
• Share your notes with your teaching practice group and they will likely do the same.
• Choose a student quickly if you need to.
• As soon as you can set up an interview with the student.
• Record the interview (make sure your device is recording).
• Write up the background as soon as possible after your interview.
• Use Learner English to identify problems. If you’re really struggling, you may well get away with saying that your student has a problem that is common to speakers of that language. This should be a last resort however.
• Make sure you have sufficiently different problems i.e. not two grammar problems, or two pronunciation problems.
• Talk to your colleagues when devising solutions. They may be able to suggest some good resources.
• Include the activities in an appendix with a clear note of where you got them.
• You aren’t supposed to explain how the activity is performed, but you can include the teachers’ instructions from the book in the appendix.
• Keep a close eye on the word count.
• If you can, have a relative or friend read your final submission through.

If you follow the advice above, you should be able to complete this assignment without too much fuss.

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Focus on the Learner Assignment Celta

Related Papers

sreevidhya pradeep

The realisation about the importance of English amongst the non-native speakers is increasing day by day. Though there are people who are able to communicate without difficulty, there is always a conscious feeling of using a foreign language, perhaps leading to errors.

Diego Alvarez E

Inara Ishanova

Montserrat Estrada

TESOL quarterly

Indira Abisheva

Marc Waterfield

Abstract Using action research helped the author identify his students' confidence problem to use English in the classroom as being directly related to their unrealistic study goals and performance expectations. Action research assisted the author greatly in designing a course syllabus that met the curriculum specifications as outlined by the Ministry of Education and provided the students with specific information that helped them set more realistic study goals increasing their appreciation of English communicative skills. Action research is presented as an appropriate framework for teacher-researchers to conduct classroom-based research in the aim of effecting positive change. The process by which the following outcomes were reached is described in detail: Action research provided an appropriate framework for designing a syllabus that reduced the gap between the standards set at the national level and the teacher's classroom realities; In this case, positive changed occurred in the growth of students' appreciation for English communication skills through attaining the ability to set more realistic study goals resulting in better personal performance expectations regarding English study. Professional competence designing and teaching an oral communications syllabus was achieved by the author

Mohamed Bendjebbar

mirela dumitrescu

Ursula Maden-Weinberger

This thesis examines, by way of a corpus-based investigation, usage patterns of modal expressions by British learners of German as a foreign language. Modality plays a pivotal role in all texts and discourses that deal with the discussion or examination of practical or theoretical problems and is crucial for the process of argumentation and reasoning. It is therefore an integral part of foreign language learners‟ writing at university level. The study is more comprehensive than previous approaches, as it incorporates the full semantic range of modal meanings as well as all the different types of modal expressions in the German language, i.e. modal verbs, modal adverbials and modal lexical verbs, modal infinitives and the subjunctive mood. The investigation is methodologically based on a multiple-comparison approach involving a corpus of learner German (CLEG), which has been compiled for the study, and several other L1 and L2 native speaker corpora. The results indicate that learners exhibit in their argumentative writing specific patterns of modality use that are different from those of native speakers and at various levels of proficiency. On the whole, learners tend to overuse modal expressions. The specific overuse and avoidance patterns of epistemic modal verbs are strongly linked to L1/L2 form meaning equivalents (e.g. MUST – MÜSSEN). Where modal verbs are avoided, modal adverbials are overused to fill the semantic gap. Modal adverbials tend to develop into fossilised formulaic sequences, where the expression of modality is extrapolated from the rest of the utterance in a sentence-initial matrix clause, usually of the “es ist...” („it is...‟) type. The development of the use of the subjunctive mood is indicative of the learners‟ growing proficiency; however, learners even at the advanced stage exhibit difficulties in the morphological distinction between indicative and subjunctive verb forms. On top of these findings on learner modality, the results from this study can corroborate previous research on general characteristics of learner language, specifically the tendency to be more explicit than native speakers, to overuse personalised expressions that indicate subjective writer involvement, and to exhibit a less formal, more speech-like register in the learners‟ written argumentative productions.

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