julieppd.files.wordpress.com · Web viewHowever, despite prior study of English, the challenge of learning to read and write in an unfamiliar script means Azheen has limited transferable

Julie Eaton 10624464

Case Study

Learner in context

Azheen is a 32 year old woman from the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan who

moved to the UK 2 years ago to be with her Kurdish husband who was already

living in the UK. Azheen was educated in Sorani Kurdish, one of the three

Kurdish dialects and can also read and write some Arabic. Kurdish, most

influenced by Persian (Farsi), is a phonetic, syllable-timed language whose

writing system is based on the Arabic script. Azheen also studied some medical

English during her nursing degree in Soran, where she later attended an English

course for 3 months during 2015.

With her knowledge of Arabic, Azheen, like many learners of ESOL (English to

Speakers of Other Languages), is bilingual, but for the purpose of this case study

her acquisition of English will be referred to using the term L2 (second language).

In contrast to some ESOL learners who have limited literacy skills, Azheen’s

educational background has equipped her with transferable skills with which to

approach L2 acquisition. Alongside study skills, Azheen acquired sub-skills of

reading and writing, in particular text and sentence level skills that aid her

learning. This is evidenced in the accuracy of her punctuation in the writing

samples below. However, despite prior study of English, the challenge of learning

to read and write in an unfamiliar script means Azheen has limited transferable

word level skills. Spiegel and Sunderland (2009) suggest that even well educated

learners possess fewer transferable skills than learners who can read and write

another language of the same script and will therefore need more support. This is

1


further challenged by learning to spell in English, which, unlike Kurdish, is not

phonetic. This proves challenging for developing accurate pronunciation along

with English being a stressed-timed language. Language differences in grammar

also provide barriers to learning and interference from Azheen’s L1 (first

language) are frequent in her speech sample. Key to overcoming these linguistic

barriers is the learner’s attitude towards learning. The DfE’s (Department for

Education’s) 2018 report on ‘Barriers to learning for disadvantaged groups’

highlighted that the learners who valued learning, perceiving it as a means to

achieve goals, demonstrated greater motivation for participating in learning.

This is true of Azheen, whose positive prior learning experience, continues to

motivate her extrinsically with aspirations of studying dentistry, a vocation that

holds prestige in Kurdistan. To achieve this she intends to work towards taking

the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test. Despite her

current situation of only being able to attend an ESOL class once a week,

accompanied by her baby, Azheen also demonstrates instrumental motivation,

language learning for immediate goals, which Lambert and Spada (2013)

suggest along with integrative motivation are key to L2 learning success. Aware

that achieving well in this non-accredited community class is important for future

goals, Azheen, has excellent attendance, actively contributes in class, completes

her homework and prepares for her summative tests. This positive attitude can

be augmented by teachers who demonstrate the value of learning in having high

expectations of their learners and through informing them of opportunities within

education. Lightbrown and Spada (2013) concur with this referring to research

2


showing the significance of teachers’ motivational practices on learners’

motivation for learning. Lightbrown and Spada (2013) also refer to research

linking personality characteristics with success in L2 learning, in particular how

inhibition can affect risk-taking, critical for L2 progress. In addition to motivation,

Azheen’s extrovert personality, seen in her lack of inhibition and WTC

(willingness to communicate) are significant contributing factors to her language

progress.

Although Azheen’s motivation and WTC are key to overcoming barriers to

learning a L2, it remains context dependent on other obstacles to learning.

Lightbrown and Spada (2013) highlight research showing L2 progress can be

impeded by the age of a learner. This may impact Azheen’s fluency in English,

but there are more challenging hurdles than age. The DfE’s (2018) report

mentioned above, referred to participants whose first language was not English

as among the most ‘disadvantaged’ learners because of their experience of the

‘cumulative effect of multiple barriers to learning.’ These could include, but are

not limited to, economic challenges, including education and child-care costs,

poor housing conditions, loss of support from family and friends along with the

difficulty of forming new social networks in a different culture and with limited

language skills. Paton and Wilkins (2009) also underline the stress that ESOL

learners can experience around having no option but to use their limited English

in situations that can trigger anxiety even for native speakers.

Sutter (2009) discerns that even where the learner is motivated to integrate to

their new culture there are often limited opportunities to speak English outside of

3


asymmetrical interactions. Sutter (2009) refers to Schuman’s ‘acculturation

model’, which exposed complex social factors such as; low status, low income

and high stress levels born from daily life as obstacles that could create distance

between ESOL learners and the ‘host community.’ However, Sutter (2009)

strongly argues that it is not simply that ESOL learners are purposely

‘acculturating’ or unwilling to learn, but that without opportunities to contextualise

language, learners could become demotivated. Even with such opportunities,

Lightbrown and Spada (2013) raise the point that members of a minority group

learning the language of a majority group can be affected by a potential power

imbalance inherent in social interactions between these members. They cited an

example of a learner, who highly motivated in the classroom, became reluctant to

speak in the context of a social situation as described above.

This learning environment for ESOL learners, such as Azheen, therefore,

necessitates the classroom becoming a primary setting for contextualising

language. To achieve this, Sutter (2009) emphasises the relevance of Lave and

Wenger’s (1991) Communities of Practice for the field of ESOL. The importance

of belonging to a ‘community’ who share in the same ‘practice’ of learning English

in a country not their own cannot be underestimated. The motivation for

participating in such a community is likely to be intrinsic, essential for maintaining

mental wellbeing. Of course, the challenge remains for the teacher along with the

learners to work out what is involved in building a community of practice including

way of doing things, ways of talking and class values (Sutter, 2009). The current

challenge is how to maintain a community of practice in the midst of a global

4


pandemic. Navigating online learning with the limitations of language and

technology is extremely challenging but not insurmountable and Azheen, along

with other learners, continues to demonstrate her priority to learn English by

accessing learning through Google classroom and Google Meet.

Identifying student needs: A description and analysis of the learner’s

existing language and literacy skills

Writing Sample 1 – personal narrative (6 months into Entry Level 3)

TASK: Write 3-4 paragraphs about life before coming to the UK, your decision to

move to the UK, your experience of moving here and hopes for the future.

Azheen entered Entry Level 3 at the beginning of this academic year and is

working at developing her writing skills. She is confident and often accurate when

using a framework to scaffold her writing, but errors appear when writing

independently.

Text level

Azheen, using the framework provided, used the appropriate informal register to

write an interesting personal narrative. She uses contractions of verbs ‘I’m’ and

‘its’ (apostrophe omitted) as well as the negative contractions, ‘couldn’t’ and

‘don’t’, making the narrative personal and accessible. This is enhanced by

Azheen’s confident inclusion of the idiomatic phrases, ‘I couldn’t believe it’ and ‘to

be honest’. She also begins one sentence with ‘So’, making a link to what was

previously said. The use of ‘So’ at the beginning of a clause is common in spoken

5


English or digital texts, but not usual for written English. Interestingly, Smith and

Swan (1987) note that in Farsi, conjunctions are often used at the beginning of

sentences.

Azheen writes coherently, organising the narrative in paragraphs to give the text

a clear structure. There is slight confusion at the end of paragraph 2 when

Azheen introduces the new topic of marriage, which she continues into

paragraph 3. This new topic, if introduced by a separate paragraph, would have

read more coherently. Azheen also uses chronological sequencing, by using,

‘Then…Then…’ in lines 7 and 10, to chart the events leading up to her move to

the UK. Her use of the logical connective, ‘Finally’, also clearly announces the

concluding paragraph. Unfortunately, the final sentence of the narrative is

unclear, giving the text a sudden and abrupt ending. It is a reference to the final

instruction in the task regarding future hopes and although the meaning can be

understood it reads as incomplete.

The coherence of this personal narrative is enhanced by the grammatical

cohesion demonstrated in this writing. Azheen uses discourse markers to

achieve this seen in her use of temporal connectives such as, ‘2 years ago’ and

‘Then’ to mark events of her life and the passing of time, a common feature of

narratives (Hughes and Schwab, 2010). Anaphoric referencing is used in the

choice of the pronouns, ‘it’ and ‘its’ and the demonstrative pronoun, ‘this’ helping

the reader to make connections with other parts of the text. However, it is used

incorrectly in the wrong use of the definite article ‘The Hospital’ in line 9. This

unclear referencing creates confusion making it harder to follow the sequence of

6


events (Hughes and Schwab, 2010). There are no examples of ellipsis, but there

is one example of substitution when Azheen uses ‘country’ instead of repeating

‘Iraq’ used earlier in the sentence, making the sentence less clumsy and

therefore more interesting to read.

Azheen achieves lexical cohesion through the semantically linked words,

‘Kurdistan’, ‘Iraq’, ‘UK’ and ‘Britain’ and in the choice of words, ‘degree’,

‘university’ and ‘learning’ from the lexical field of education. Azheen’s use of the

synonyms ‘chance’ and ‘opportunity’ similarly enhance cohesion by providing a

clear linguistic link within her narrative. Although borrowed from the writing frame,

Azheen accurately uses the collocations, ‘to be honest’, ‘I couldn’t believe it,’ and

‘has its problems’, related words that typically go together and have the similar

effect of creating lexical cohesion (Halliday and Hasan, 1974).

Sentence level

Azheen is generally accurate in her use of punctuation, omitting only one full stop

at the end of paragraph 2 and using a comma in line 10 where she probably

meant to use a full stop. Hughes and Schwab (2010) suggest this is reflective of

the learner’s transferable literacy skills where the role of punctuation symbols in

written texts is understood and accurately applied in the learning of a L2. Despite

this accuracy she consistently leaves gaps between words and the use of

punctuation, which could cause confusion for the reader. This might be attributed

to the challenge of developing written skills in an unfamiliar script. This is similarly

highlighted in Azheen’s difficulty in keeping to the baseline when writing.

7


Capitalisation of the narrative also demonstrates some degree of accuracy seen

accurately in the first letter of every sentence and in the names of countries,

possibly due to frequency of the need to write them. However, frequent errors are

made in using capital letters for common nouns as in ‘Hospital’, ‘University’ and

‘Nursing’. This could be confusion around assuming they are proper nouns

having seen them capitilised within a title in another context. There are also

errors in the middle of sentences such as, ‘Because’, ‘Travel’ and ‘At’.

Interestingly Azheen’s L1 does not distinguish between upper and lower case

letters, which could account for these errors (Smith and Swan, 1987).

Azheen evidences grammatical accuracy in her use of simple and compound

sentences. She accurately uses the present simple and past simple verb tenses

and is confident in her use of prepositions and indefinite articles. Her use of

conjunctions is accurate but she doesn’t always apply this knowledge often

deferring to simple instead of compound sentences. Errors start appearing when

attempting other verb tenses and when writing complex sentences, as detailed in

the table below.

Error ExampleWrong tense: ‘I was working in the Hospital for six

years.’ (line 8-9)

‘So I need learning English…’ (line 15-16)

Inaccurate formation of the verb ‘…I want go _ to University..’ (line 16-17) The infinitive marker, ‘to’ is omitted.

Pronoun used instead of verb in subordinate clause

‘, but its hard for me.’ (line 17)

Verb missing from simple sentence ‘My English language _ not perfect.’

8


(line 17-18)

Inaccurate use of definite article ‘I was working in The Hospital for six years.” (line 8-9)

Word order ‘Then I got a job in The same year.’ (line 7-8)

Word level

Azheen has a fairly wide lexical range using words such as, ‘opportunity’,

’chance’, ‘forever’ and ‘fantastic’ using them in the correct context. Her spelling is

accurate and an obvious area of strength with only two errors, seen in the

misspelling of ‘Kurdstan’ and ‘belive’. Azheen’s prior study of English while at

university may have assisted her development of vocabulary and accuracy in

spelling.

Writing sample 2 - Formal Cover Letter

TASK: To write a cover letter including self-introduction, past work experience,

why you are suitable for the job and when you are available to work.

Due to personal difficulty the learner communicated that she was unable to

complete this task to her normal standard of writing evidenced in the briefness of

the letter and the rushed writing style. This task was assigned to learners,

through Google Classroom, during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Although

limited in its effectiveness, learning continues to be accessed and assessed via

this online learning platform.

9


Text level

Azheen demonstrates awareness of the formal register appropriate for a cover

letter in the polite tone she uses and in the absence of contractions used in her

personal narrative. The letter opens with the correct use of, ‘Dear’ but is followed

with a first name only without the accompaniment of a surname or the more

appropriate greeting, ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, as is expected in a formal letter. Again,

Azheen signed off the letter with her full name but omitted the complimentary

closing, ‘Yours sincerely’, conventional for her choice of salutation.

In a real life context, correspondence is usually via email, however, if a

handwritten letter were required then this handwriting would be inappropriate for

a formal letter. As with the former writing sample, Azheen struggles to write on

the baseline and despite writing in print, it appears difficult to write neatly and

with letters of a similar size. Unfortunately these aspects of L2 learning in an

unfamiliar script require early support and laborious practice, further challenged

by the increase of digital writing as the primary means of written communication.

There is an attempt to use paragraphs to give structure to the letter, but in

contrast to the personal narrative these paragraphs are less coherent. The

learner may have intended the first two paragraphs to read as one, but the empty

line spaced between them makes this unclear. There are also instances, as

before, where the learner seems unsure when to start and end a new paragraph.

Despite this, Azheen does demonstrate logical sequencing throughout the letter,

starting with introducing herself, followed by explaining her past work experience

10


and concluding by presenting herself as a suitable candidate for the job.

However, she hampers its effectiveness by an over dependence on simple

sentences, hindering the overall coherence of the letter.

The letter lacks the grammatical cohesion demonstrated in the prior writing

sample with its absence of discourse markers. However, the use of conjunctions,

‘because’ and ‘and’ create some cohesion in the fourth and fifth paragraph as

does the anaphoric referencing in the pronoun, ‘their’ in line 8. The same effect is

achieved by the use of ellipsis in line 6 where Azheen writes, ‘I have experience’,

but doesn’t need to repeat that this experience is in nursing having referenced it

earlier. The most effective cohesive device is Azheen’s choice of words in the

lexical fields of nursing and work although the use of ‘work’ five times does

become repetitive.

Sentence level

As with the personal narrative, Azheen consistently demonstrates overall

accuracy in punctuation. She has omitted full stops after the first three sentences,

however this is atypical and probably the result of her personal difficulty at the

time of writing. Due to the concentrated use of simple sentences, commas are

largely unnecessary. However, they are used accurately when listing her

personal qualities in line 10, but inconsistently with this, used inaccurately in line

9 when a comma is used to separate the items, ‘Kurdish, English’ where the

conjunction ‘and’ is required. Azheen exhibits similar accuracy in the capitalising

of the names of languages, personal pronouns, days of the week, months and

11


the first word in each sentence. Interestingly, this task followed prior teaching and

learning on capitalisation and although this letter is brief there is evident

development in this area with only one error in the capitalisition of the common

noun, ‘Nursing’.

Azheen displays consistent grammatical accuracy in the writing of simple and

compound sentences seen in lines 8-9 and 11-12 and in the one complex

sentence in line 5-6. She also correctly uses the infinitive and the modal auxiliary

verb ‘can’. As with the first writing sample Azheen remains consistent in her use

of the correct prepositions of time and place with only one error detailed in the

table below. A review of prepositions was included in the scheme of work earlier

this year and both writing samples evidence effective learning in this area.

However, despite the brevity and simplicity of this letter, unusual for Entry level 3

writing, there were some grammatical errors noted in the table below. These may

due to personal difficulty at the time of writing, but would still require feedback. In

particular, it is important that Azheen understands the meaning she conveys, to

any future employer, by using the singular form of the nouns ‘Saturday’ and

‘Sunday’.

Error Example

Conjunction omitted ‘I can speak Kurdish, English.’ (line 9)

Wrong verb tense ‘I came from Iraq’ (line 3)

Use of singular instead of plural ‘I can care old people at their home.’ (line 8)‘I can work on Saturday and Sunday.’ (line 12)

Wrong use of definite article ‘I can work in the hospital.’ (line 7)

12


Preposition omitted ‘I can care old people at their home.’ (line 8)

Wrong use of preposition ‘I can care old people at their home.’ (line 8)

In summary, consistent with the first writing sample, Azheen is overly dependent

on using simple and compound sentences in the present and past simple verb

tense. Interestingly Smith and Swan (1987) highlight that conjunctions,

particularly ‘and’, are used more frequently in Farsi, which might explain

Azheen’s preference for compound sentences. Greater knowledge and

application of a wider range of verb tenses alongside the practice of complex

sentences are needed to develop her writing skills.

Word level

Despite the brevity of this letter, Azheen uses a variety of adjectives to describe

her qualities such as ‘hard working’, ‘punctual’ and ‘honest’ (line 10). She also

conveys meaning through her precise choice of vocabulary in the infinitive, ‘to

apply’ and in the phrasal verb, ‘care for’. However, the modal auxiliary verb, ‘I

can’, repeated five times, is overused and adds an informal tone inappropriate for

a formal letter. The choice of ‘night’ in line 11 is not incorrect, but an

understanding of the difference between evening and night shifts would be

helpful to improve communication with future employers. Similarly, the use of, ‘on

June 6th’ is technically correct, but for this context the appropriate choice would

be ‘from June 6th’ as would the use of the British date format, 6th June, instead of

13


the American format. These are examples of complicated nuances in the English

language that necessitate time and study.

Consistent with the former writing sample there are no spelling errors in this

letter. This may have been challenged with the writing of a more complex and

lengthier letter, but it is an obvious area of strength probably assisted by

transferable study skills alongside Azheen’s prior study of English in Kurdistan.

Learner’s speech sample

This was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic and was therefore recorded

via Google Meet instead of in person.

Azheen is a confident learner who contributes actively in class. This is confirmed

in the speech sample where Azheen evidently enjoys conversing and using her

English. Initially Azheen responded to my questions in a formal tone with her

reply, ‘My name is Azheen’, but she quickly relaxed using language appropriate

for an informal conversation with the use of contractions as well as ‘cos’ for

because and ‘yeah’ for yes. The last two examples would be classified as non-

standard forms of English in writing but Carter and McCarthy (2006) argue that

when used in speech they should be considered as standard forms. Despite the

conversation being driven by my questions, Azheen engaged in ‘turn taking’,

knowing when to start and finish her turn in the conversation and pausing to

listen when I interrupted. She demonstrated active listening skills,

comprehending my questions and intonation, evident in her back-channelling,

such as ‘yeah..yeah’.

14


Azheen communicates with some degree of fluency, measured by Thornbury

(2000) as the ability to put words together in a ‘run’ without pausing. In contrast to

the written form, the spoken language is spontaneous and with limited time for

planned responses pauses and repetition are common features of speech

(Carter and McCarthy, 2006). However, Azheen’s use of voiced pauses (fillers)

such as ‘um’ and ‘er’ are extremely frequent, as are her repetition of words, such

as ‘I finished…I finished’, both features providing the time necessary to formulate

her response. Similarly, Azheen exhibits false starts twice during our

conversation in an attempt to correct her grammar when she says, ‘When I go

to….when I went’ and later on, ‘I want to….I go to..’. Crystal (2010) highlights that

the opportunity to rethink and immediately revise speech is a feature unique to

the spoken form and certainly helpful for ESOL learners.

The transfer from Azheen’s L1 influences her accent, but only occasionally does

impedes the understanding of her speech. Crystal (1994) stresses the

importance that accent should not be included as a feature that defines Standard

English. Furthermore, in a world climate that increasingly fosters pride in national

identity, Azheen may choose to retain her accent as an expression of her Kurdish

identity. However, Crystal (1994) does concede that the idea of a ‘standard

pronunciation’ is useful and Paton (2009) similarly highlights the importance of

having a goal of ‘comfortable intelligibility’ regarding pronunciation. This is of

particular importance for Azheen in the area of word stress where she

consistently puts the stress on the final syllable of the word as detailed in the

table below. This is an example of interference from her L1, which puts stress on

15


the final syllable of nouns and adjectives. Furthermore, syllables in Kurdish

include at least one vowel and, therefore, when pronouncing consonant clusters

Azheen frequently inserts an extra vowel sound as indicated in the table. The

meanings of these words are conveyed but comprehension would be improved if

pronounced accurately. This is true of errors in pronouncing specific phonemes,

detailed below, which if uncorrected will impede intelligibility. However, despite

errors in pronunciation, Azheen assists the listener by her use of intonation, using

it to express emotion and to indicate when she is starting or ending a topic.

Area of pronunciation

Error example Place in recording

How does it impact communication

Pronunciation (stress, intonation)

Stress on final syllable:schoolpark/ e/ s count/ e /ry ask/ e /d lear/ e /n bor /e /n

2:160:591:079:045:342:19

In the nouns that have one syllable, an extra syllable is added at end of word by inclusion of the vowel sound /e/. Makes it less intelligible.

Pronunciation (sounds)

Trill of /r/ in:rivermarriedtravelledproblem

Maydream pronounced dr/ai/mlearn pronounced l/i/ren

mountainquiet

1:141:173:231:36

0.52

8:285:34

1:023:28

The trill puts a stress on the word therefore emphasizing this word in the sentence.

Error in pronouncing vowel sounds affects comprehensibility.

Unintelligible but deciphered through context.

16


Azheen’s extrovert personality assists her spoken skills demonstrating

confidence, clarity and motivation to communicate. She uses discourse markers,

such as ‘Ok’ and ‘Then’, to structure her conversation using them to marking a

change in topic. She is less confident in using deixis, tending to repeat nouns

rather than using pronouns and determiners. This guarantees meaning, but

unfortunately diminishes the rhythm of her conversation. Azheen communicates

clearly when expressing herself using clauses joined with coordinating

conjunctions, ‘and’ or ‘but’ and with the subordinating conjunction ‘because.’

However, attempts to explain more complex matters often end in confusion and

unsuccessful communication heard in her attempt to compare the English she

studied at University to spoken English. In these instances, it is the learning of

more complex grammar alongside a wider range of vocabulary that will aid her

accuracy and fluency (Thornbury, 2000). This is not always the solution, as in

Azheen’s consistent omission of the verb ‘to be’ in her spoken language which

contrasts to her consistent accuracy in writing. Instead of a grammatical error it

may be an example of not hearing the individual sound, ‘is’ in connected speech

leading to incorrect production. Further challenged by Kurdish being a syllable-

timed language, this necessitates focused teaching and learning on unstressed

syllables, particularly within sentences.

Azheen makes many grammatical errors, detailed in the table below. Some are

minor, as in the omission of a preposition or indefinite article, which do not hinder

communication. However, some errors do impede communication, as in the

17


incorrect use of the preposition, ‘for’, conveying a completely different meaning

from the one intended. Some errors are influenced by the differences between

her L1 and L2, as detailed in the below table. Other errors result from areas of

grammar either not yet learnt or applied. In Azheen’s current situation,

opportunities to embed language in real life interactional or transactional

conversations are limited and therefore must be prioritised within class time.

Area of spoken English

Error Place in recording

Cause of error and impact on communication

Grammatical accuracy

Verb ‘to be’ omitted:‘My first language Kurdish.’‘Our village a beautiful city’‘I think 2 years ago.’‘My English not perfect.’

Modal auxiliary and infinitive omitted: I like dentist.

Wrong verb tense‘I can writing’‘I was working’‘His family living in the UK.’

Adjective positionHe got passport Swedish

Indefinite and definite article omitted:‘I was…child in Iraq.’‘…at hospital.’‘in…city of Erbil.’‘…first language in

0.28

0.43

1:338:40

9:26

1:593:144:50

4:25

0.363:010.40

Inconsistent with writing.Could result from not hearing the unstressed ‘is’ in sentence.Comprehensible but affects rhythm.

Conveys wrong meaning.

Creates confusion for listener.

Confusion caused by L1 inference where adjectives always follow noun.

Caused by L1 inference where indefinite and definite articles formed by adding suffix to noun.

18


Kurdistan was Arabic.’‘He’s from…UK.

Preposition incorrect or omitted:‘I went for my country.’It is different for speaking.He’s clever for languages.Just _ 3 months.

2:227:18

7:036:46

5:11

7:05

Impedes communication in example three.

Can impede communication by changing meaning intended. In first example learner meant ‘in my country.’

Range of vocabulary

Repetition of ‘every time’ to explain frequency of things.

‘Three years ago he lived in the UK.’

‘Two day in a week’

‘I was child in Iraq’

4:30

5:42

3:01

Limits communication sometimes implying different meaning from one intended.In last example learner referring to childhood or ‘growing up’ in Iraq.

Teaching and Learning Priorities

These are based on the learner’s diagnostic assessment and in accordance with

the Adult ESOL Curriculum (DfES, 2001) for Entry Level 3. Teaching and

learning will include both individual and peer work to enhance interaction and aid

differentiation.

Spoken skills

Priority will be given to:

1. Learning how to give an account or narrate events in the past using:

19


a range of verb forms time markers adverbial phrases subordinate clauses, particularly relative clauses a wider range of subordinating linking words to indicate sequence of

events

2. Giving personal information and opinions and asking questions to obtain

personal or factual information focusing on:

using a range of tenses adapting the register to suit the context

3. improving stress and pronunciation by:

becoming aware that English has a stress-timed rhythm recognising & pronouncing the unstressed vowel sound ‘schwa’ knowing where stress falls in multi-syllable words selecting appropriate words to place stress on in a sentence

Teaching and learning will use a top down model and incorporate varied

approaches including:

relevant scripted and real life dialogues (different varieties of English) authentic resources task based learning role-plays learner’s experiences of language encounters

Writing skills

Improving writing skills focusing on:

Text level: register, purpose, organisation of paragraphs and linking of sentences

Sentence level: developing verb forms and accuracy in clauses Word level: widening range of vocabulary by building lexical sets Handwriting practice (independent work)

20


Teaching and learning will consist of using a top down model using a variety of

approaches including:

genre approach to writing scaffolding using writing frames inductive approach to teaching grammar learn to self correct with marking scheme

Reading skills

Incorporate regularly to help learner:

develop larger lexicon become aware of how grammar is written accurately develop awareness of good organisational and sequencing skills distinguish different purposes of text encourage critical thinking

Teaching and learning will use a three-staged process to reading (text, sentence

and word level) using relevant and authentic texts and a variety of approaches

including:

Critical Discourse Analysis a genre approach to reading QAR (question-answer relationship approach) DARTS (directed activities related to texts) providing a collaborative and

active approach to reading.

4,390 words

References

21


Carter, R. and McCarthy, M. (2006) Cambridge Grammar of English: A Comprehensive Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crystal, D. (2010) The Changing Nature of Text: A Linguistic Perspective. In: Peurson, W., Thoutenhood, E. and Weel, A. Text Comparison and Digital Creativity: The Production of Presence and Meaning in Digital Text Scholarship. Leiden: BRILL, pp. 229-251.

Crystal, D. (1994) What is Standard English. [Online] Available from: http://www.davidcrystal.com/. [Accessed 24 May 2020]

Department for Education. (2018) Barriers to learning for disadvantaged groups. [Online] Available from http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/. [Accessed 28 May 2020].

DfES (Department for Education and Skills). (2001) Adult ESOL core curriculum. [Online] Available from: https://cdn.cityandguilds.com/ProductDocuments/Skills_for_Work_and_Life/English_Mathematics_and_ICT_Skills/4692/Centre_documents/Adult_ESOL_Core_Curriculum_v1.pdf [Accessed 28 May 2020].

Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, R. (1976) Cohesion in English. London: Longman.

Hughes, N and Schwab, I. (2010) How Language works. In: Teaching Adult Literacy: Principles and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 51-99.

Lightbrown, P. M. and Spada, N. (2013) How languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Paton, A. (2009) The Spoken Language. In: Paton, A. and Wilkins, M. (eds.) Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 81-103.

Paton, A. and Wilkins, M. (2009) ESOL learners. In: Paton, A. and Wilkins, M. (eds.) Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 7-18.

Spiegel, M. and Sunderland, H. (2009) The written word. In: Paton, A. and Wilkins, M. (eds.) Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 103-131.

Smith, B. and Swan, M. (1987) Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

22

https://cdn.cityandguilds.com/ProductDocuments/Skills_for_Work_and_Life/English_Mathematics_and_ICT_Skills/4692/Centre_documents/Adult_ESOL_Core_Curriculum_v1.pdf



http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/

http://www.davidcrystal.com/


Sutter, J. (2009) Second language acquisition (SLA) and the contexts of UK ESOL practice. In: Paton, A. and Wilkins, M. (eds.) Teaching Adult ESOL: Principles and Practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 57-78.

Thorbury, S. (2000) Accuracy, fluency and Complexity. English Teaching Professional, 16, pp. 3-6.

23