Assignment 1: Focus on the Learner

CELTA Candidate’s Name: Elham Zamani

Observed Student’s Name: Henifah

Part A: Learner Profile

● Level, nationality and mother tongue

Henifah is a 45-year-old woman who lives in Istanbul. She is originally from Turkey and speaks
Turkish as her mother tongue. She studies English in an elementary level class (A2) with seven other
students.

● Background and language learning experience

Twenty seven years ago, Hanifeh had some English lessons at high school. She repeatedly notes she
has forgotten all those high school lessons and that she decided to learn English from scratch by
attending ITI online classes nearly one year ago. She has hardly been exposed to English throughout
that 27-year-long period since English is a foreign language in Turkey.

● Motivation for learning English

Henifah is the mother of a nine-year-old son, Guvenc. She wants her son to carry on his studies at
European or American universities after high school. She has intrinsic motivation for learning English,
since she aims intends to learn English to be able to communicate with people overseas on her
future visits to her son. She believes that being able to speak English as an international language is
essential for effective communication on her future travels.

● Learning preferences

H. D. Brown (2007) characterises a reflective learner as someone who prefers to take time to
mentally sort through linguistic complexity and speaks out only when certain of the language they
use. According to my observations, Henifah adopts reflectivity as a learning style. She takes time
before starting to talk. She tries to make correct sentences. Most often, when she makes a mistake,
she pauses, goes back and corrects herself.

● Strengths and weaknesses

She refers to reading skill as her main strength in learning the language. She believes she can find the
meaning of unfamiliar words one by one on her own which leads her to ultimate reading
comprehension. My observations also confirm her autonomy in reading-related activities. She tends
to take time and ponder on reading texts and seems to enjoy reading the same text over and over
again in order to obtain the correct response to a question either asking for the gist of the text or
specific information and details. Listening, on the other hand, is where she needs most assistance
according to her. She reasons that she recognizes words in their written form whereas distinguishing
the same words in an auditory text is a real challenge for her. She clearly feels anxious and frustrated
while listening to a text especially when she is nominated to answer a listening-related question.
Even when listening to the instructions provided by the teacher, most of the time she asks for
clarifications despite the simple language being used. Based on what I observed, she tends to read
the words and texts with incorrect pronunciation and huge interference from Turkish language,
meanwhile she receives limited adequate auditory input. Both these factors may have affected her
listening skill negatively.

Part B: Identifying language problems and providing suitable

activities to address these

Based on the observations on the learner’s speech verbal utterances during the lessons and also the
interviews, two rather salient problems were identified.

Language problem 1: Pronunciation

Like many other Turkish learners, Henifeh pronounces the vowel /e/ before n as it is /æ/. Ian
Thompson in Swan (2001) notes that for Turkish learners “ /e/ as in bed is often far too open before
n, approaching /æ/”. Following is record of a number of her problematic utterances in this regard:

Her utterances Expected pronunciation

I went /wænt/ to …. I went /went/ to …

orange pen /pæn/ orange pen /pen/

those three men /mæn/ those three men /men/

They keep hens /hænz/ They keep hens /henz/

Activity & rationale: Tree or three?: An Elementary pronunciation course (Appendix 1)

Henifah mispronounces the vowel /e/ before n in monosyllabic words and tends to replace the /e/
with /æ/. The activity in Appendix 1 provides a chance to compare and contrast the two vowels
through minimal pairs which highlight the target vowels since the words vary in only one single
sound. She can hear the difference between them, see the phonological representation of each sound
and practice saying them. This is a controlled-type of activity for improving pronunciation accuracy
which is perfectly in line with Henifah’s need and learning preferences. This activity is particularly
useful in dealing with the above-mentioned mispronunciation problem that Hanifah faced in the way
that it focuses exactly on the two vowels that she misuses interchangeably. It is very clear-cut and
focused since the lexis used in this activity are at the same level or even below Hanifeh’s English
competency level, so she does not have to deal with new words which can distract her from the main
aim of the activity i.e. pronunciation practice. This activity provides the learner with two sources for
correct modelling of the target vowels: a) phonetic transcription b) audio file. Therefore, a reflective
learner such as Henifah can practise the vowels individually, keeping up with her own pace and with
the chance of receiving the right model being unlimited.

Language problem 2: Grammar

Another problem area for Henifah is using unmarked comparative adjectives. Here is a sample of her
incorrect usage of language in this regard:

She said …… She should have said …..

Your son is old than daughter. Your son is older than your daughter.

Elham hair is long than Hanifeh. Elham’s hair is longer than Hanifa’s.

Orange pen is short than red pen. The orange pen is shorter than the red pencil.

Activity & rationale: Essential Grammar in Use (Appendix 2)

The activity in Appendix 2 focuses on grammatical accuracy and requires controlled short answers
which is in accordance with Henifa’s reflective learning style. This activity sufficiently contextualises
the target language. Two people, (Ben and Kate) differ in many aspects. The learner is asked to make
sentences using comparative structure. Therefore, it provides a good opportunity for adding er to the
end of comparative adjectives before than. The learner can also benefit from the first two model
sentences for doing the activity. This is a good activity in many ways. First of all, it focuses exactly on
the area Hanifeh has difficulty with e.i. comparatives. Second, the words and structures in the
instructions and the sentences are level-appropriate for Henifah, so she does not have to deal with new
lexis and structures. Third, two answers have already been provided which the learner can use as
models in front of her while doing the activity. Fourth, there are a reasonable number of items in this
activity to give the learner enough opportunity to practise the target language. They are neither too
scarce to leave the learner still unfamiliar with the structure, nor too extensive to make the learner
disinterested. Fifth, there are items in this activity (multi syllable adjectives and irregulars, items 7 and
10) in which the learner needs to deeply ponder on form. Therefore, a door for curiosity is opened and
in this way the learner is hopefully encouraged to explore the target language more deeply.
Sources Cited:

Baker, A. S. (2006). Tree or three?: An Elementary pronunciation course. CAMBRIDGE

Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching. LONGMAN.

Murphy, R. (2001). Essential Grammar in Use, with answers. CAMBRIDGE

Swan, M. (2001) Learner English: A Teacher’s Guide to Interference and Other

Problems. Cambridge University Press.

Appendices:
Appendix 1
Appendix 2