Report 1

This report will look at the speaking and writing skills of a specific ESOL learner.

This particular learner is a middle aged Czech national who has been living in the UK for

over five years. This learner has been attending ESOL classes at West Cheshire College for

over two years, and has now reached Entry 3 level. This report will analyse a sample of the

learners spoken language, this sample was obtained via a recorded interview with the learner

at West Cheshire College. An annotated transcript of the recording may be found in

appendix 1. This report will also look at a sample of the learner’s written writing. This

sample represents a task set in the classroom and completed as home work. An annotated

photocopy of the sample may be found in appendix 2. The report will first focus on the

learner’s phonology, then her use grammar, it will go on to look at the learner’s lexis, and

will finally look at how aware the learner is of the differences between spoken and written

English. During these discussions I shall refer to examples from both the learner’s spoken

and written language usage.

What is initially evident from listening to the learner’s speech is her slow, measured

delivery. In Swan and Smith’s book Leaner English: a teacher’s guide to interference and

other problems the authors explore some of the ways in which L1s can interfere with second

language acquisition (2001). The book does not refer directly to Czech, although it dies point

out the similarities between the Polish and the Czech languages. For the purpose of this

report I will, therefore, apply some of the points they make about Polish learner language to

my Czech learner’s language usage. For example, the authors comment on the issues Polish

speakers have with English intonation, and I believe this could go some way to explaining the

rhythm of this particular learner’s speech. The book remarks on the tendency to pronounce

full vowel sounds instead of reducing certain vowels to the schwa sounds. In this particular

recording we find that the learners pronounces the word ‘primary’ in the phrase ‘primary

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school’ as /pr7Imeʌri:/ as opposed to / pr7Imri:/; as well as this she also pronounces

‘border’ as /bɒrder/ instead of / bɒdə/. This demonstrates how the learner’s first language

is influencing her to put equal stress on each syllable of the word. This in turn gives the

learner a very distinctive accent and work would need to be done on helping the learner to

recognise when to reduce certain vowel sounds. However, having said this, the learner’s

accent is good enough that any reasonably sensitive native speaker to be able to understand

her without great difficulty.

Another issue with regards to the learner’s language use, and evident in both her

spoken and written language is her misuse of the continuous tense. The learner often makes

constructions such as ‘I’m learn in primary school’, ‘I’m met my husband’. Here the learner

is inserting the auxiliary ‘to be’ into the present simple and past simple tenses respectively. I

sense that at some point the learner has been taught to use the auxiliary ‘to be’ to form the

continuous tenses, and has now overextended the rule. Another grammatical issue in both the

learner’s speaking and writing samples is her word order. As an inflectional language, Czech

has fairly free word order which may well be influencing the learner’s use of English. In the

sample of the learner’s speech, for example, we can see instances of constructions ‘teacher is

for me important’. As well as issues with word order this example also demonstrates an

overuse of the word ‘for’ as both a preposition: ‘for me’ instead of ‘to me’, and as a

conjunction: ‘for this’ instead of ‘because of this’. Also evident in both the learner’s spoken

and written sample is the absence of both the definite and indefinite article. As articles do not

appear in the Czech language, these mistakes would seem to again be a direct consequence of

the learner’s L1. In the spoken interview we find constructions such as ‘I have dog’ and ‘I

would like to be tour guide’, whilst in the written work we find ‘the first farm was long way

from city’. In this last example the learner has remembered to use the definite article with

‘farm’ but has not been able remember to apply the same rule to ‘city’.
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 As far as lexis is concerned the learner demonstrates a fairly wide vocabulary,

although she sometimes tends towards the more formal. For example, in her spoke interview

the learner states she was interested in ‘equestrian sport’ whereas it would be advisable,

especially in the spoken context to use ‘horse riding’ as an alternative. There are also some

examples of where the learner’s vocabulary lets her down. For instance, in the written text

the learner attempts to describe being introduced to her husband, she first tries the word

‘imagine’ then strikes it and replaces it with the word ‘met’ creating the construction: ‘John

met me to Peter’. When the learner goes on to describe how life can be different to how one

imagines it will be she uses the word ‘introduce’ for ‘imagine’, creating the construction: ‘life

is sometimes completely different to introduce’. It is intriguing as to why these two

seemingly very different words, ‘introduce’ and ‘imagine’, have become confused in the

learner’s mind. Other than these issues, the learner does demonstrate a good grasp of spelling

and there are very few spelling mistakes in her written sample. The learner also has neat,

cursive handwriting, although the idiosyncratic style of some of her letters can make some

words difficult and time consuming to decipher. The learner also does not to appear to have

any problems with punctuation.

In general the learner’s spoken English in many ways mirrors her written English,

showing many of the same area of difficulty with word order and grammar. The learner’s

spoken English is also quite formal, although this could be a result of the interview context.

The learner does however show some of the feature of spoken English, for example her use

of fillers such as ‘umm’ and ‘ahh’, and the more informal ‘yeah’. Importantly the leaner also

demonstrates herself to be a sympathetic listener, responding well and appropriately to the

interview questions, another important factor in being a competent user of spoken English.

(1065 words)

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Report 2

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In any ESOL classroom there may be learners from vastly different personal, cultural,

economic and educational backgrounds (Cooke and Simpson, 2008). All of these factors can

impact in some way upon how learners engage with the process of learning English and the

English language itself. As an ESOL teacher it is essential to be open to learners’ personal

contexts and how they may impact on language and literacy needs. In this report I will

produce a case study of one particular learner’s background, goals and aspirations, and place

these into the context of her English language learning.

One of the first things a teacher can consider when putting a learner’s background into

context is the level of education they have received in their home countries. Breaking the

Language Barriers, a working group report into ESOL provision in the UK, points out that

ESOL learners can fall anywhere on the educational continuum (2000), and naturally a

learner’s educational background will impact in many ways upon how they engage with

ESOL provisions. This particular learner enjoyed a fairly high level of schooling in her

native country having completed her education to the age of eighteen. As such, the learner

demonstrates not only the cognitive ability to complete this level of schooling, but also that

she has experience of being in a classroom environment. The learners does comment on the

difference in the style of teaching between the UK and the Czech Republic, although she

seems very open to the more student-centred, informal style becoming prevalent in many UK

ESOL classes. The learner seems sensitive to different learning styles and methods, and

importantly she is able to identify how she learns best, stating that she prefers to learn in a

classroom environment. This level of self-awareness and self-reflection is a positive attribute

within the learner.

As well as her general level of education, the learner is already multilingual, and has

therefore had good exposure to language learning. As a fluent user Polish this language

learning is also obviously also to a high-proficiency. One of the learner’s motivations for

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coming to the UK was to learn English, although circumstances did dictate that she was not

able to begin classes until one year into her time in the country. Nevertheless, the learner is

obviously very open to the English language and keen to learn. This is likely to be even more

so as she is married to an English man. Being multilingual and having experiences of

language learning in school also means that the learner has had exposure to the language

learning process. Of course, this may not necessarily be an entirely positive thing, especially

if the learner is more used to different, more traditional methods of language learning. In this

case the learner may need to be ‘re-trained’ in more student centred approaches, and care

would have to be taken to encourage the learner not to dismiss more informal ways of

teaching out of hand. However, to look at the positives once more, being multilingual means

that the learner is already aware of how the structures of languages differ, and she has made

explicit that she is attuned to the structural difference between English and her L1. This

awareness will likely ease the learner’s path to the use of metalanguage and the ability to

discuss the specific feature of the English language, which may in turn aid her language

acquisition (Fortune, 2005).

When compiling a case study of a learner it is also important to consider the learner’s

reasons for coming to the UK. An examination of these factors may reveal clues to the

learner’s attitudes to the UK and the English language, as well as any potential areas of

trauma in the learner’s background. In this particular case the learner came to the UK

voluntarily, mainly in order to pursue her career in equestrianism. Although the learner was

initially disappointed that her work with horses in the UK was not fruitful she seems fairly

satisfied with her current occupation in a high street restaurant chain. Although not a very

well paid job the learner would be unlikely to be classed as struggling economically. It is of

interest to take into consideration a learner’s economic and social status as they can have a

‘major impact on L2 proficiency’ (Ellis, 1994, p.197). According to Rod Ellis this is not

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because social and economic factors directly impact L2 proficiency, but because they

‘determine the learning opportunities which individuals experience’ and they affect the nature

and extent of the input they are exposed to (ibid.). This learner, therefore, has enough

economic and social status that she is able to access two ESOL classes a week at college, as

well as English television, films and audio-books at home. There are, however, some issues

for this particular learner, in terms of her language learning. The biggest problem posed by

the learner’s job is her working hours, as she usually works in the evenings and attends

classes in the day. This could potentially put pressure on the learner, especially in terms of

tiredness during class. Having said that, the learner herself does not allude to this, and

instead highlights how her customer service role can be of benefit to her language learning.

The learner is able to look upon her job as a learning opportunity, giving her the chance to

use everyday English with people from all around the UK. Again this level of self-awareness

is a positive sign.

If we move on to consider the learner’s age, as a middle-aged language learner this

particular student may initially be considered at a disadvantage. Much anecdotal evidence

points to children being the better language learners. However, Viv Cook points out that

actual research ‘in favour of the superiority of children...has proved surprisingly hard to find’

(2008, p.147). She goes on to quote David Singleton’s interpretation of the research, stating

that adults learning an L2 are actually initially at an advantage in terms of age, (although over

time learners who began to study at a young age do in fact overtake older learners) (ibid.,

pp148-49). Therefore, although the learner’s age should be taken into the context of her

overall language learning it should not be assumed that she is at an automatic disadvantage.

Whilst she may never be able to achieve perfect pronunciation (ibid., p.150), she may, for

example, be able to better grasp complex explanations of grammar. What can also be taken

away from Cooks discussion of age and the language learner is the importance of the ‘here

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and now’. She states that the kind of language one uses with a child is grounded in the

tangible and not concerned with ‘absent objects or abstract topics’, and that in this sense

‘ordinary speech spoken by adults to adults is too sophisticated for L2 learning’ (ibid., p.149).

What we can learn from this in the context of this particular learner, therefore, is the need to

use relevant, everyday texts and materials.

Next we should consider the learner’s motivations for wanting to learn English.

Stephen F. Culhane summarises how the psychologists Gardner and Lambert categorised

motivation as instrumental and integrative (2004). According to this theory instrumental

motivation is linked to linguistic growth for educational or economic ends e.g. learning a

language to get a particular job; whilst integrative motivation is linked to wanting to integrate

into the L2 community, and an admiration for this particular community. Generally

instrumental motivation is the primary motivation in L2 learning (ibid.), and certainly this

particular learner makes clear how the acquisition of English will help her with her goal of

becoming a tour guide in her native country. The learner states her belief that she will need

at least two languages in order to embark on this career, and that English in particular will

help her achieve this dream. That the learner has such a strong motivational aim is a positive

thing in terms of her language learning. This aspiration also gives the teacher some idea of

what objectives to aim for with this learner, for example, as a tour guide the learner will need

very good speaking skills and would also benefit from strong pronunciation skills. All of

these factors could be worked into the learner’s ILP.

This particular learner, however, almost certainly also has integrative motivation for

learning English, which can also be linked to the affective factors influencing her language

learning. Being married to an English man gives another dimension to the learner’s

relationship with the English language. The learner herself acknowledges that she feels that

it is important to her relationship with her husband that she improves her English. There is

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also of course the question of the learner’s relationship with her husband’s culture.

According to Cook the more a learner admires the target culture the more successful an L2

learner they will be (2008, pp.137-38). Of course it cannot be assumed that because the

learner is married to an English man she has a great admiration for the culture, but it certainly

suggests at a more complex and deeper relationship with UK culture. At the same time we

can also consider the effect of the learner’s status as an Eastern European migrant on her

affective relationship with UK culture. Negative feelings towards Eastern European migrants

have been well documented in the UK media. Undoubtedly, this presentation of negative

feelings from the target culture has the potential to have a detrimental emotional effect on the

learner. We could therefore hypothesise that the learner could possibly experience two

conflicting factors with regards to integrative motivation: on the one hand there is the desire

to integrate into her husband’s culture, whilst on the other hand there is the perceived

rejection by that culture. Both of these issues would need to be handled sensitively in terms

of the learner’s language and literacy needs.

As well as affective factors mentioned above, language learning can also be

influenced by cognitive factors. According to Susan M. Gass and Larry Selinker, cognitive

advantages that aid language learning include ‘divergent thinking, creative thinking and

metalinguistic awareness’ (2008, p.29). Metalinguistic awareness is the ability ‘to think

about (and manipulate) language (ibid); that is to say, people with good metalinguistic

awareness are able to reflect upon a language and transfer these reflections from one

language to another, comparing the languages as they do so. As I mention above the learner

already shows a degree of metalinguistic awareness in her ability to vocalise the structural

differences between English and her native language. Research done into metalinguistic

awareness in bilingual children in comparison with monolingual children has shown bilingual

children to have more advanced metalinguistic awareness. Therefore, this particular learner’s

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ability to relate English to her own language may stem from the cognitive advantages of

being a multilingual child. Another way cognition is relevant to language learning is the

ability to make and apply rules (Littlewood, 1984, p.15). For this particular learner we can

see that she is going through the overgeneralisation stage, which is also common to first

language acquisition (ibid.). For example, her use of the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ in her

formation of the present simple and past simple tenses. Therefore, in the context of her

language learning, the learner shows the ability to form and apply rules, even though she is

currently going through the (natural) stage of overgeneralisation.

This report has, therefore, attempted to present a case study of a specific ESOL

learner and the context in which her language and literacy needs must be met. Throughout it

has presented details relating to her background, goals and aspirations, and has hypothesised

how these may affect her language learning. What has been attempted to be shown are the

numerous and varying ways in which ESOL learners may differ, and the importance of these

differences in relation to their attainment of the English language. As teachers we need to be

aware that each learner comes to the ESOL classroom with a very specific and personalised

context, and in order to operate within their personal contexts we must be aware of their

backgrounds and goals and incorporate them into all lesson planning.

(2019 words)

Bibliography

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Cook, V. (2008) Second Language Learning and Language Teaching 4th Edition, London:

Arnold.

Cooke, M. and Simpson, J. (2008) ESOL: a critical guide, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Culhane, S.F. (2004) [online] ‘An Intercultural Interaction Model: Acculturation Attitudes in

Second Language Acquisition’, Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching

2004, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 50-61, Kent Ridge, Singapore: National University of Singapore,

available from: http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v1n12004/culhane.htm#Gardner%20&%20Lambert,

%201959 (accessed 04.01.10).

DfES, (2000) [online] Breaking the Language Barriers, available from:

http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/esol/report.pdf (accessed 26.10.09).

Ellis, R. (1994) The Study of Second Language Acquisition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fortune, A. (2005) ‘Learners' Use of Metalanguage in Collaborative Form-Focused L2

Output Tasks’, Language Awareness, v14 n1, Oxford: Routledge.

Gass, S.M. and Selinker, L. (2008) Second Langugae Acquisition: an introductory course,

Oxford: Routledge.

Littlewood, W. (1984) Foreign and Second Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Smith, B. and Swan, M. (eds) (2001) Leaner English: a teacher’s guide to interference and

other problems, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Appendix 1

Sample transcript of recorded interview:

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...IS: I do this job uhh two years I try to farm but uhh work with horses is very nice but uhh

hard work more for men than like woman (.) and uhh also I want riding and I’m not riding I

was only groom and (.) for this I am later disappointed and later if I’m met my husband (.)

she uhh he tell me if I’m change jobs and go to live in Ellesmere Port with him and so I’m

change job (.)

LE: so what’s your job now

IS: now I’m work in restaurant in Nando’s chicken resteraunt

LE: ahh right

IS: and (.) this job (.) is better for language

LE: ahh right (.) so how does it help your language

IS: in Nando’s restaurant I use more more sentences and everything that I learn in school (.)

in stable it’s not necessary too much to talk (laughter)

LE: you don’t talk to the horses (laughter)

IS: yeah you talk but it’s not too much important (laughter) (.) in restaurant I speak with

many different customers with different accents (.) and this is better for my language (.)

LE: so why do you come to college as well is that to help your English

IS: yes

LE: does it help a lot

IS: yes a lot I’m came to college uhh my first job was a long way to city so first year in

England I’m not learn English and my second job was only one station near to Chester so I’m

[unclear] at Cheshire college and come here

LE: fantastic (.) so when you were in Czech Republic (.) how old were you when you left

school (.)

IS: eighteen

LE: so did you have to do you do exams in Czech Republic

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IS: yes (.) I do umm primary school and after three years college and we have big exam and

(.) licence for job

LE: really fantastic OK (.) so apart from horses what other hobbies do you have what other

things interest you (.)

IS: hmm (.) gardening I have I have big garden in my country and I like music reading books

(.) friends also I have dig I like animals not only horses [unclear]

LE: so in the future yes if you could have your dream job would it be with working with

horses again what would you like to do (.)

IS: horse horses this is job for young people my dream and also my hobby is travelling

LE: yes travelling

IS: and I would like to be tour guide

LE: really (.) that’s an interesting job

IS: yeah

LE: would you like to which country would you like to be a tour guide in

IS: in my country

LE: in your country yeah

IS: I would like to come back to my country

LE: so (.) your English would be quite useful yes if you were in your country and you had

tourists from the UK then your English would help you a lot

IS: if you (.) in my country if you want uhh (.)to do this job you must know one or two

languages that’s important

LE: yes fantastic so this course will help you hopefully in your future

IS: and also first why I learn English is my husband

LE: yes your husband’s English

IS: yes my husband’s English so for him I must know (laughter) better and better

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LE: so you must spend a lot of time speaking English then yes if you speak English at work

(.) yes

IS: yes but we have uhh (.) complicated situation because (.) my job is uhh (.) in night time

or evenings and my husband working in day times so we not have too much free time

together yeah

LE: does your husband speak any Czech

IS: very small (laughter) very small but he must learn because he want to go live to my

country so

LE: so he will have to learn Czech as well

IS: yes

LE: right (.) so when you’re in college and you’re learning English what’s your favourite

way to learn do you like it when the teacher talks at the class or do you like group work (.) do

you like working with other people (.) what’s your favourite

IS: teacher

LE: teacher

IS: teacher is for me important for example (.) my husband tell me I buy you course for

computer you will be learn to yourself that is not for me

LE: you don’t like that

IS: I need teacher (.) uhh (.) this contact touch is important

LE: what about working with the other students do you like it when you have the chance to

work with other students

IS: yes it’s fine yes sometimes it’s fun (laughter)

LE: sometimes it’s fun yeah

IS: try everything I think everything help you recording picture everything

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LE: everything helps great OK (.) what do you think you’re best at if I say speaking listening

reading and writing (.) which one of those do you think you’re best at (.)

IS: umm (.) I think reading reading is the easier and writing is the problem

LE: so writing is the one that you find most difficult

IS: everywhere (.) I read my result from exam I have (.) I have sentences in border make

correct sentences is still problem

LE: that’s one of the things you’d want to work on yeah

IS: yes yeah because (.) with English language it is different to my language so English

language for me is very hard

LE: very hard the grammar yes the structure right OK so what about when you’re away from

college (.) OK do you read newspapers in English

IS: no I not like the newspapers (laughter) (.) uhh I borrow sometimes the book from the

library and I read I like uhh books with uhh recordings

LE: ohh OK so you can listen as well

IS: yes I’m first first I learn one chapter for me for myself and after second time I listen

recording and look at book

LE: fantastic well done (.) and what about television do you watch television in English

IS: yes I love I watch television and also films (.) and for me it’s best if I read subtitles

LE: ahh so it’s easier for the subtitles yeah

IS: and now is when is television with di-digital so we have box we have older television and

in this box is fantastic for everything you do now subtitles for news for film for everything

LE: so you can watch everything with subtitles...

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