Case Analysis and Study of the Problems of the English Language - Essay Example

?ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS CASE STUDY What is happening in this Vignette As far as Elsa is concerned, there are two major forms of situations that can be pointed to as what is currently happening with her. The first has to do with what we do know and we do not know. As far as what we do know is concerned, it can be said that a number of factors including the absence of a good and reliable model at home, absence of constant practice after school, interferences in learning and lack of attention are inhibiting Elsa from mastering the English language and gaining control over some of the basic concepts and ideologies that English language learning comes with. For example, we are told that Elsa does not have enough people around her with whom she would practice the speaking of English language when she goes home. Worse of all, there are not as many English language learning materials around her at home as there are Spanish learning materials. Meanwhile, learning through literacy development brings out the idea that practice is one of the best ways to master the learning of English language (Smiley and Salsberry, 2007). This is because as people practice what they have learnt, they get the opportunity to make mistakes and also correct these mistakes. Constant practice also speeds up the process of gaining proficiency as it makes the learner have the luxury of devising personal methodologies of learning the language. Again for Elsa, what is happening is that she is suffering interference in her attempt to learn English as a second language as in school, she gets the opportunity of speaking Spanish with other colleagues who are Hispanic. Indeed, if English had been the only language she spoke in school, the need for her to take her English lessons seriously would have gone up because that would have been the only way by which she would have had people to communicate with. As far as those happenings that we are not particularly certain about are concerned, mention can be made of the fact that Elsa is not receiving much parental support as far as the learning of English as a second language is concerned. This assumption is made against the background that in the case of Elsa, we read of no drastic attempts being made by the parents or other relations at home to get the little English learner motivated to learn English at the fastest rate possible. It is said that motivation are different and comes in different forms. The two generalized types of motivation that can be applied to a young English language learner like Elsa are intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Presently, any of these forms of motivation seem to be absent at home for Elsa. If intrinsic motivation was available for Elsa, we would have read of her parents trying to motivate her by trying to speak English with her, getting her as extra class teacher, praising her on her attempts and efforts in learning the English language, and planning special holidays for her for efforts she puts up at school. If extrinsic motivation were also available, we would have read of parents of Elsa buying English language learning materials like wall charts, books and films for Elsa. Indeed, motivation is an important element and reinforcement that speeds up the rate of learning for any new English language learner like Elsa. Four different relevant issues Judging from the readings, there are number of important issues that come up to describe the type of English language learner that Elsa is. Most of these issues also help us in knowing precisely what is wrong with the progress rate of Elsa and how this problem can be corrected or minimized. The first issue that is directly related to the type of English language learner Elsa is has to do with the issue of a learner who lags behind when it comes to English language learning experience. This was made manifest when she was presented with the chapter to read. It is a good sign that Ms Smith also identified this and started thinking of ways of helping Elsa to get more out of the reading experience. The second issue is one that is directly related to the first issue and it is equally important. This is however that speaks more on the cause of the problem identified above and that is the issue of interactivity. Interactivity is an important learning technique that research say is highly conducive for English language learners at the lower grades like Elsa (Lucas and Freedson, 2008). Presently, there is enough evidence that Elsa is a kind of English language student who lacks sufficient practice because she has not been offered the opportunity to interact more with learning materials. To this end, it is strongly advocated that there becomes the adaption of a series of techniques that would improve the interactive learning skills of Elsa. Some of these techniques could include writing, drawing and more reading. Directly related to the second issue is the issue of teaching strategy or instruction; and as far as the teaching strategy presented to Elsa is concerned, Ms Smith would be the one to be looked upon to make a lot of things work out. Currently Ms Smith uses a teaching strategy whereby Elsa is put in a group with other students who speak English fairly well because English is their first language. But this may be judged as a miscalculated strategy or technique to get Elsa to master English language. Clearly, Ms Smith made her calculations based on the fact that Elsa can speak basic conversational English and express herself in simple and short sentences and phrases. Indeed, it would be important for Ms Smith to appreciate the fact that oral or spoken English is totally different from written or reading English. Indeed, oral or spoken English is acquired before written or reading English. Early English language learners like Elsa should therefore not be mistaken to be achievers of the language. Instead of a group teaching strategy, there should be a means for Ms Smith to use an individualized teaching technique that would allow her to come to terms better with problems that confront Elsa than she (Ms Smith) knows now. The final issue is that of assessment, whereby it would be reiterated that the absence of sufficient motivation is becoming a disincentive for Elsa to learn English. Given the fact that Elsa can get friends to speak Spanish with parents to speak Spanish with, it will only take a well packaged motivation to get a young girl at her age to appreciate how important it is for her to take the learning of English as a second language more seriously. Challenges Elsa faces in Comprehending the Chapter As far as the text that was presented to Elsa is concerned, the challenge of Elsa can be identified by diagnosing the kind of mistakes she was making with the text or chapter of book given to her. Looking at the fact that she pronounced “bright” and “bridge” for instance, it can be said that Elsa faces a challenge in basic phonetics. Defining phonetics as the study of sounds that human beings make and the rules that guide the vocal formation of these sounds, it would be realized that Elsa does not have much command over how she would pronounce words using their phonological interpretations (Lucas and Freedson, 2008). For example if Elsa had had better command over basic phonetics, she would have known that /ght/ and /dge/ have not phonic relations and so would not have pronounced bright as bridge. What is more, is could be that Elsa has a challenge with eye coordination whereby she is not able to have a mental grasp of words at first hand. In this case, it could be that she knew the pronunciation of the word “bright” fairly well and also knew the pronunciation of the word “bridge” fairly well but her failure in eye coordination prevented her from having a proper hold of the word “bright” and so mistook it to be “bridge”. Finally, the fact that Elsa could not answer basic questions on the text read means that her ability to pronounce some words well might have been learnt using rote learning instead of intuitive learning. Modified Instructional Plans Clearly, the discussions so far has pointed to the need for a restructuring of instructional plans for Elsa to help her speed up her reading comprehension and language development. The first form of instructional restructuring is recommended to be directed at the group learning process, whereby there should be a follow up individualized teaching and learning session for Elsa. This is going to be a very important plan to identify problems that are peculiar to Elsa and coming up with specialized and individualized solutions to these problems. Again, conscious efforts should be made to ensure that there is being enough interactive learning experiences being put together for Elsa. This would ensure that learning is done in a more practical and intuitive means rather than through a rote system of learning. Then again, assessment and feedback should be restructured to ensure that as much as possible, there is the adoption of both student based assessment and teacher-based assessments for Elsa. A student based assessment will ensure that Elsa appreciates her weaknesses in a more friendly environment and atmosphere that is free of all forms of intimidation (Smiley and Salsberry, 2007). A teacher-based assessment would also ensure that Elsa received constant feedback on what right responses were expected from her whenever she makes mistakes. CITED WORKS Lucas, T Villegas, A & Freedson, M. Lingisticaly responsive teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(4). 2008. Pp. 1 – 9. Smiley P & Salsberry T. Effective Schooling for English Language Learners. Chapters 2: Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Strategies. Read More