Background Information

Antonella is a university undergraduate. She is a native Italian who speaks Italian fluently as her first language. She also broadened her linguistic skills and knowledge by learning French at an advanced level. She eventually learned enough English to communicate on an elementary level. She has had a lot of issues with her daily day-to-day practices and functions, the most significant of which is her English language proficiency.

Tenses, futile repetition of sentences and incorrect word replacement are three areas of grammar where this learner struggles. I know this is a recurring issue because I observed this same issue on at least two occasions.

On one occasion she said ‘I went go to Torino’ instead of ‘I went to Torino’ And on another occasion, she said wrote substituting ‘errore instead of error’, and word substitution ‘speaking instead of talking’.

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In order to help my learner address this area of grammar, I have selected the following supplementary activity taken from Harmer’s (1998) Engage-Study-Activate model. If she want to be able to speak English language, learning the fundamentals of the language such as basic grammar sentence structures and vocabulary and most of all putting it into practice by speaking, supplementary exercises in use of English grammar. They will help her understand why certain words are used in certain places. The grammar supplementary books will explain to her the use of fillers, idioms, and colloquial language. Understanding these sections are vital to enable her learn and execute correct grammar. I would recommend grammar books, such Macmillan-Intermediate Language Practice, with keys at the end of them as in Appendix I. They will provide her with a very thorough explanation of all the most important aspects of English grammar and also exercises she can work through to test her understanding of each section. This will help her correct her English language mistakes.

This will help the learner address this particular lexical issue because it works in such a way that the learner is able to master the English words in a more fruitful manner. Grammar, vocabulary and spelling will be polished with time through the exercises done after every topic or challenge by looking up to the answers.

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One specific area of pronunciation that this learner has an issue with is her articulation due to her accent. She often struggles with ways of saying words because she speaks fluent German and Italian but her Italian accent has dominated her pronunciation problem. I know this is a recurring issue because I observed this same issue on at least two occasions.

On one occasion Antonella said ‘I brosh mi hear’ instead of ‘I brush my hair’.

And on another occasion, she said ‘aj æm tirred/ instead of /aj æm tajərd/ for ‘I’m tired’ and /bət nat finissh ɛd/ instead of / bət nat fɪnɪʃt / for ‘not finished’.

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In order to help my learner address this area of pronunciation, I have selected the following supplementary activity taken from Batstone and Ellis (2009) principles.Whenever she reads, ensure she has a dictionary, a thesaurus and a designated book to write in and a pen & pencil at hand. Use the pencil to underline the new words she comes across or those words, the meaning of which is not very clear to her. Once she finishes reading, she should go back and check on the underlined words and look up the meaning in the dictionary and the synonyms in the thesaurus. She should jot down the words in the book she has with her along with the meaning and synonym.

Form a couple of sentences using the new words she has learned and write them down. She should check with a friend who is good in English if the sentences are correctly framed and more importantly if the word has been correctly used in the sentence. She should try to form the habit of using the new word in her conversation over the next few days. This will reinforce the word and its usage in her mind.

This will help the learner address this particular lexical issue because it works in such a way that the learner is able to master the English words in a more prolific manner. Grammar, vocabulary and spelling will be polished with time.

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One specific area of lexis that this learner has an issue with is vocabulary. Specifically, the learner has difficulty with learning new words and mastering their correct spellings. She at time misspells certain words that she can avoid by mastering her grammar well. Correctly writing some words in a sentence proves to be an issue for her. She has difficulties in writing certain words. I know this is a recurring issue because I observed this same issue on a few occasions.

On one occasion she wrote “I brosh mi hear”, instead of I brush my hair.

She has not mastered the usage of different types of words in a sentence. She doesn’t take into consideration the basic structures of a sentence. She mixes pronouns with possessive determiners. She also doesn’t take prepositions and constantly omits a number of important words in sentences making them less meaningful.

On one occasion she wrote I watched Peppa Pig TV in instead of I watched Peppa Pig ot the TV.

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In order to help my learner address this area of lexis, I have selected the following supplementary activity taken from N. Ellis (2002) suggestion. She should make the effort to have a group of English speaking friends and ensure she talks to them in English. She must even encourage them to correct her English language mistakes.

She needs to maintain a diary or write a blog in which she summarize the key events of the day. If possible incorporate the new words she learned into her writing. She can even try to paraphrase the key ideas of the content she read or try to write the summary of what she read.

I would also like to endorse the suggestions of Arif Hussain, where he suggests an individual uses games like Scrabble, Crosswords and similar word games (many of these appear in the leisure section of English Newspapers) to make the learning fun, interesting and informative.

This will help the learner address this particular pronunciation issue because it works in such a way that she can continuously pronounce different words over and over again. Continuous practice of using such words familiarizes her with the English words. Using games like crosswords would sharpen her vocabulary and additionally makes the learning process more interesting.

References

Batstone, R., Ellis, R., 2009. Principled Grammar Teaching. System, 37, pp. 194-204.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2008.09.006

Ellis, N. C., 2002. Frequency Effects in Language Processing: A Reviewwith Implications for Theories of Implicit and Explicit LanguageAcquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24 (2), pp. 143– 188.http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0272263102002024

Harmer, J., 1998. How to Teach English. Harlow: Longman

APPENDIX 1

Part I. Read the sentences below, and fill in the blanks in the rules with nothing or anything:

We use ______ with negative sentences and the meaning is negative.

We use ______ with positive sentences, but the meaning is negative.

_____ also means “everything” in positive sentences.

1)…letter again and again. "That's wonderful news," he said. "NOTHING can stop us now!” The next day, when Edward came down.

2)…the cabin boy. "But nothing, Tom!" replied Pugwash sternly. "NOTHING to do with you that is. This is man’s work. Run along…