Celta assignment 1 focus on the learner
Part 1: Background
a) There was a reasonably wide range of ability in this intermediate level group, although the majority of students were able to form coherent sentences. Some students were more confident in answering questions aloud, while some needed to use their dictionaries regularly during lessons, and were less assured with speaking in front of the class. The age ranged anywhere between mid-20’s and late 50’s. The most common interests of the group were listening to music and watching TV. Three students listed some kind of sport (such as football or swimming) as their main hobbies, while two students put reading as their main interest. Other hobbies included cooking, going to the theatre and travelling.
Most students have been learning English for somewhere between 1 year and 2 years. The most inexperienced student said she’d only been learning for 2 months, whereas the most experienced had been learning for nearly 3 years. There was a very wide range of cultural backgrounds. About half the students were from somewhere in Asia such as Iraq, South Korea and Afghanistan. There were also many students from Europe, and some from South America and Africa.
While their reasons for learning English varied from student to student, the most common reasons included wanting to further their careers and being able to interact with other people more comfortably.
In the questionnaire handed to the students, the most commonly preferred activity was speaking, either in groups or pairs. This was probably inherent to the fact that the vast majority of students wanted to achieve a general increase in their conversational ability in English. No students listed writing as a preferred activity, and upon further conversation with students it seems that reading and writing are seen as a means of achieving better speaking and listening. With regards to learning styles, it seems that visual learning activities initiated the best response, with things like photos and
a) There was a reasonably wide range of ability in this intermediate level group, although the majority of students were able to form coherent sentences. Some students were more confident in answering questions aloud, while some needed to use their dictionaries regularly during lessons, and were less assured with speaking in front of the class. The age ranged anywhere between mid-20’s and late 50’s. The most common interests of the group were listening to music and watching TV. Three students listed some kind of sport (such as football or swimming) as their main hobbies, while two students put reading as their main interest. Other hobbies included cooking, going to the theatre and travelling.
Most students have been learning English for somewhere between 1 year and 2 years. The most inexperienced student said she’d only been learning for 2 months, whereas the most experienced had been learning for nearly 3 years. There was a very wide range of cultural backgrounds. About half the students were from somewhere in Asia such as Iraq, South Korea and Afghanistan. There were also many students from Europe, and some from South America and Africa.
While their reasons for learning English varied from student to student, the most common reasons included wanting to further their careers and being able to interact with other people more comfortably.
In the questionnaire handed to the students, the most commonly preferred activity was speaking, either in groups or pairs. This was probably inherent to the fact that the vast majority of students wanted to achieve a general increase in their conversational ability in English. No students listed writing as a preferred activity, and upon further conversation with students it seems that reading and writing are seen as a means of achieving better speaking and listening. With regards to learning styles, it seems that visual learning activities initiated the best response, with things like photos and