The Key to Learning English - Assignment Example

The class consists of 18 students from European countries.  12 come from Europe and lived in Manchester for six months. Three students are French, two are German, four are Italian, one is Czech, two are Swedish and two from Poland. The rest of the class is from Senegal, China, and Japan.

Needs lacks and wants: All the students have basic knowledge of English. They are able to perform simple tasks like asking for direction in English. They find it difficult to communicate with native English speakers since their English is not that good. This makes them feel embarrassed from speaking in public, for fear of being laughed at. For these reasons, the students are eager to learn proper English, so that they can communicate fluently incorrect English.

Strength of the class:

1. They are so enthusiastic and the high level of motivation comes from the fact that each student faced some limitations that can only be solved through formalized learning environments.
2. Homogeneity in English skills: Although the students come from different backgrounds, they have similar needs in terms of deficiency in language proficiency.
3. Demographic characteristics: the age and gender distribution of the class creates a balanced learning environment which makes it easy for learning.
4. A feeling of healthy competition in the class means that attendance is good and homework is regularly completed to a very high standard. Consequently, students tend to retain new information well and are able to employ it in a discussion.

Weakness of the class:

1. The diversity in the backgrounds of the students influences the confidence to participate in the oral lessons.
2. The lack of grammatical accuracy is diverse due to the differences in mother tongue influences. There are at least nine different dialects, which makes it challenging for the instructor to focus on a singular perspective in pronunciation, oratory, and communication skills.
3. They are problems with intonation, sentence stress, and errors in words, which limits the ability of the learners to participate in effective peer-to-peer learning.