Fluency and Accuracy of English Learner - Case Study Example

Running head: ASSESSMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY Case Study: Assessment of English Language Proficiency [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Case Study: Assessment of English Language Proficiency Introduction "Bilingualism is to intelligence as food is to human fitness....A simple statement about bilingualism and intelligence is as impossible as prescribing one simple food for human survival" (Baker 2001). For 30 years experts have had ongoing discussions concerning the bilingual adults and his mental abilities relating to intelligence and education. Originally, experts believed that a bilingual person could not be an intellectual, since he/she was carrying two or more languages in their head. Consensus has changed considerably over the past three decades, with the development and use of new testing. Adults with bilingual ability offer an opportunity for researchers to explore the connections between language and thought (Bialystok 1988). Bilingual adults have advantages in education, due to cognitive development, divergent thought, and mental flexibility. Cognitive ability relates to mental activity, such as thinking, remembering, learning, or using language. Research demonstrates the differences in cognitive functioning between monolinguals and bilinguals. Analysis and control are language components that develop later in monolinguals than in bilinguals (Bialystok 1988). These abilities refer to representation and selective attention in language that aid in comprehension and understanding. Adults who speak two languages in childhood are profoundly affected in their cognitive development (Bialystok 1988).This advantage can be manifest itself in several ways. The majority of field researchers conclude that this ability allows bilinguals the advantage of diversity and flexibility in cognition to a significant level over monolinguals (Latham 1998). Gonzalez (1982) proposes that bilingual adults naturally develop cognitive representation verbally, non-verbally, and symbolically (230). Truly bilingual students surpass monolingual students on many intelligence tests, both verbal and nonverbal (Latham 1998). Language fluency is determined by listening, speaking, and reading abilities (Rosenberg 1996). This paper comprised of two parts. The first one introduces a general review about the learner and his/her background in the English language. In the second part the paper is further dividend into two sections fluency and accuracy. In the Fluency section, the subject’s listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills are analyzed. While, in the accuracy section, the for pronunciation, grammar, and lexis shall be analyzed. Background Khalid is the person who I am going to work with in my case study. He is 19 years old from Hail in the north of Saudi Arabia. He completed his formal high school in Saudi Arabia and now came here to Australia to study Bachelor of Business. Prior to his coming to University for study, he was introduced to English as a second language taught in intermediate and high school in Saudi Arabia. His English language background is inadequate since he has less experience in practicing the language and there was not much emphasis focusing on improving his English language skills. Knowing him as a friend, I can tell that his knowledge and skills in English language is gradually improving as he attended English language trainings and exposed much to English speaking practices every day. Fluency section Fluency means the ability speak write read or listen without any difficulty it increases as a student shows progress in learning the second language. For this reason when a person’s language skill is analyzed his fluency also is and imprint element of the analysis. Below Khalid’s’ fluency shall be analyzed against each competence in each skill focusing on the strengths and weaknesses. Reading Reading is one of the four main skills in language learning and also one of the hardest one for a second language learner. Moreover, this situation is stated by writers: According to Susser and Robb (1990), reading is a skill, that is most emphasized in a traditional teaching, and also still it has been a base for some countries in teaching English. An example for these writers is Japan; they say that in Japan at the university level, English instruction is based on analyses of short passages, translation of these passages and exercises like that. Cecilia (1999)claims that in his study there is an alternative method for learners to like reading and enjoy it, it is “extensive reading”.(p.14) According to Cecilia, main focus will be on the interest and so this method will improve their reading abilities, increase their individual success and it will develop linguistic competence. Moreover according to Day and Bamford (2000), there are some principles in order to make students like extensive reading: 1. Students read as much as possible. Variety of materials on a wide range of topics3. Students select what they want to read. The purposes of reading are usually related to pleasure, information and general understanding5. Reading is its own reward6. Reading materials are well within the linguistic competence of the students7. Reading is individual and silent. Khalid loves to practice his reading as he knows it will improve, he believes that Not all fast readers are good readers. Khalid is average readers; he mostly used the bottom-up approach in order to describe the situation in this as he puts together letters to form words, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs to catch the meaning. Thus, by doing this reading activity is conducted by the structure of the text that is read by Khalid. He basically is building textual meaning from the smallest units to largest, and then modifying pre-existing background knowledge and current predictions on the basis of information encountered in the text. Khalid loves to read may article which interest him. He even reads books and issues them from libraries. This has greatly improved his reading skills. As for the accuracy and fluency of reading he can read quite accurately and fluently yet he still has to work on his pronunciations. He also ahs a dictionary in which he finds the meanings of difficult and new words. Speaking A person who is bilingual may be said to be one who is able to communicate, to varying extents, in a second language. This includes those who make irregular use of a second language, are able to use a second language but have not for some time (dormant bilingualism) or those who have considerable skill in a second language (Crystal, 1987). This type of alteration, or code switching, between languages can also be found in Khalid’s speech , he may take a number of different forms, including alteration of sentences, phrases from both languages succeeding each other and switching in a long narrative. There are a number of possible reasons for the switching from one language to another and these will now be considered, as presented by Crystal (1987). The first of these is the notion that a Khalid may not be able to express him/herself in one language so switches to the other to compensate for the deficiency. As a result, Khalid may be triggered into speaking in the other language for a while. This type of code switching tends to occur when the Khalid is upset, tired or distracted in some manner. Secondly, switching commonly occurs when an individual wishes to express solidarity with a particular social group. From frequent observations, he is still progressing and many Australian teachers and friends praise his mastery of speaking, questioning how many years he has in Australia. He inserts many meaningful words, synonyms, and Australian indigenous words in his speech. For example, he often exchanges the word "think" with "reckon" and commonly involves "no worries" and "hello mate" in dealings with his friends. Moreover, the person’s character to whom he speaks affects the degree of his speaking competence. For example, he always expresses himself comfortably with his friends though he finds it difficult to speak with his coordinator. However, he has a group of friends who are native English speakers, he speak English with then so that his fluency and accuracy can be improved. He is an average speaker of English. He speaks English even at home so that he can prefect his speaking power and gain the necessary confidence he needs to speak English. Listening Listening is an important of any language. According to Rivers (1981) during daily routine, listening is utilized more then speaking, even more times then reading and writing. Khalid is a good listener; he carefully listens to the words and pronunciation which the speaker uses. He realizes the fact that listening is most easiest and important part the process of learning any language Khalid does not tune out topics which he is not interested in. he tries his best to pay attention to all kinds of topics, so that he can comprehend and improve his speaking power. As Khalid knows that if he remains an active listener soon he will be bale to be an active participant in the discussion of topics spoken in English. In order to improve his spoken English from average to best he has to be an active listener first. Writing Writing skill was frequently practiced at school especially at the secondary grade. Students were asked usually to write a short paragraph using the new words of a certain lesson. However, this was not enough to become a professional writer. In the program where Khalid went to learn English he was intensively exposed to the learning of the grammar aspects (i.e. tenses). Due to the exercises done in the program his writing skills greatly improved. He was thought how to write small paragraphs and essays. Apart from this they even though him how to use conjunctions for sentences in the essay. They even gave assignments like short stories. They helped him to improve him his sentence structure and punctuation. I read a few of his essays and noticed that his writing became more organized and more coherent. His first few essay were much unorganized but as I went through the present ones I saw the improvement. Whilst in the first outline, he seemed untidy and less straightforward about the topic. Some of spelling mistakes, singular/plural errors, and verb tense errors were committed at Level two while writing an outline, choosing suitable words, spelling correctly, composing the topic sentences, and including a conclusion were clear. However it could also be noted that the improve in his writing skills was wonderful. Infact his writing skills were better then his speaking and listening skills. This meant that he could be able to write prefect English within a few months. He took up more writes task after he entered his Bachelor of Business as he knew he needed to improve his written and spoken skills if he wanted to excel in his field and studies. I have noticed certain points still need to be improved. First, are improvements in using punctuation, spelling, and capitalization in his writing. He keeps writing a lot of free paragraphs at home on paper as well as on the system. He has joined various English language forums to help himself improve his writing skills. Second, the word choice; hence, he is unable to employ some words which he already knows. For example, he has asked me for a word better than 'make' in 'I have made this web site according to…. '. My reply was 'constructed' and he immediately knew the word, but it did not come in his mind. This issue probably goes back to the idea of knowing a word without using it frequently for speaking. This example illustrates the interrelationships among the skills (i.e. speaking-writing). The following chart gives a general view for the assessment results for Khalid’s skills. Logically, being good at speaking, his listening skills will improve and this is the same for his reading and writing skills. Chart 2: Overall View of Khalid’s Skills Assessment. 2) Accuracy Accuracy is 'the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences' (EDLA519 Study Guide 2010: 72). Moreover, it covers the correct pronunciation and lexis. In the following, we will discuss all of them inside Khalid’s language. Pronunciation As Khalid comes from Saudi Arabia an has come to Australia, his accent is a bit messed up but he has improved by watching movies and listening to Australian music . Apart from this he spends his free time with his native Australian class fellows with whom he speaks only English. The recent observations reveal that his intonation decreases whenever he is not sure about the correct pronunciation of the word. It was also noticed that a lot of words which he pronounces in the Arabic English accent are very hard for him to change. As he has been in Arabia all his life his accent has become quite rigid. However he is trying his level best to adjust and adopt the new accent. Grammar Khalid had a strong foundation for grammar before he came to Australia , his English language program had helped him a lot in his grammar . He knows the tense usage properly and the passive form, for example, he writes 'I have done my work , 'I had done my work ', and the work had been done'. Furthermore, he has complete knowledge regarding the use of verb, noun, adjective, and adverb and possessive pronouns. It is also seen in the essays which he has written. But when it comes to technical writing him his quite weak. He can not use technical terms with simple grammar , it was also noted that Khalid still shows weak use of tenses, pronouns, and irregular verbs. He seems to want to improve this weakness as well . If he does overcome it he may be able to write prefect English regardless of the context. Lexis Khalid is to some extent considered familiar with a limited range of vocabulary. Most of the words relate to the Business language such as 'organizational structure ' and ' market '. He did come across with many words at his university learning, he kept revising what eh leant in his English program and thus, his vocabulary was average. If he would have not revised his work he would have had a very poor and weak vocabulary. However, still he does come across some words which are new to him. He tends to recall them and look up the meaning in the dictionary. He is quite serious about increasing and retaining his vocabulary On the other hand, Khalid becomes more proficient in choosing meaningful words in speaking or writing. Previously, I have remarked to him his use of many words in one sentence to convey his message. Now he is able to convey his message in a few words. For example, he no longer says "a small supermarket" and now he uses simply the word "grocery". Moreover, he is very proficient in generating verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs from the root. For example, he writes 'complete', 'completion', 'completed', and 'completely'. However, I little weakness could be noted here too Khalid at times knew the correct pronunciation but was making mistake sin his spelling. A major mistake much he was making was that he had a hard time in spelling the words with silent letters in them. Thus it may be noted that he would mentally break up the words and try to spell them which h made him miss out the silent letters in the word. Conclusion By the above case study it may be noted that Khalid is student who ahs worked hard to improve his English language skills and that a personal benefit of studying a foreign language is the knowledge which Khalid gained about his or her native language. Khalid learned how to transfer skills and content of the foreign language in ways to better understand the skills, vocabulary, and content of the first language. Khalid also could successfully make connections that reinforced content and skills in other areas which include fluent and accurate language. The two skills which Khalid mastered very well are listening and writing while the lowest one is the speaking. He needs to read more in order to speak better and vice versa. Moreover, he needs more practice in reading, speaking, pronunciation, and grammar to overcome his weaknesses and strengthen his abilities. References Baker Colin (2001) , Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 3rd ed. Multilingual Matters Bialystok, E. (1988), Levels of bilingualism and levels of linguistic awareness. Developmental Psychology, 24, 560–567. Cecilia (1999), “Learning to Read Words: Linguistic Units and Strategies.” CIERA/University of Michigan Crystal, D. (1987), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Chapter 23, Cambridge University Press; Day, R. R., & Bamford, J. (2000), Reaching reluctant readers. English Teaching Forum Online, , 38(4). Gonzalez, AB. (1982), Bilingual Schooling at De La Salle Grade School (Taft Avenue): A Case Study. Manila, Philippines: De La Salle University Latham, Andrew S (1998), "The advantages of Bilingualism." Educational Leadership 56.3 79-80. Rivers, W. M. (1981). Teaching Foreign-Language skills (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rosenberg, M. (1996), Raising bilingual children. Teachers of English as a Second Language, 2(6). Susser, B., & Robb, T. (1990), EFL extensive reading instruction: Research and procedure. JALT Journal, 12 (2). Read More