Assignment number 2, Kiss Kinga Iulia, 16/09/13 Background: Section A Pre-Intermediate group The majority are A2 learners with

the exception of two who are B1 learners, this could be mainly due to the fact that they finished school 10 to 30 years ago and they have not practised the language so they lack despite mastering many theoretical (grammar) aspects. Aged between 3050 with just one mid-twenty and one mid-fifty student, the group is homogenous and manages to bond very well in the class owing to common outdoor hobbies with only two students who prefer more artistic pastimes. Their interpersonal character makes pair-work both enjoyable and efficient enabling them to become less risk averse learners in just two weeks. A group made up of five integrative (1 couch surfing) and two instrumental learners (helpful at workplace) is a fine example of intrinsic motivation fostering a positive learning environment. The groups preferred activity types are speaking and listening (4 students) followed by reading (2) and grammar (1). Based on their age they must have been exposed to a wealth of traditional ways of learning English which may have formed them as mainly visual learners (in questionnaire all referred to WB) however many of them expressed their wish to improve their listening skills which makes me believe they have not been much exposed to it so most students cannot be termed as competent auditory learners and even less so as kinaesthetic. 226 words Section B In communicative situations a considerable number of students can react to content and convey a message even if in a linguistically limited manner. Due to their basic vocabulary, a small number of students often make strange translations (bird milk, windrose) but this does not generally impede communication but does affect appropriacy and inherently fluency. A greater number still struggle with being fluent even with common topics consequently their tolerance to ambiguity has been very low at the beginning of course and managed to lessen as they have developed their interpersonal learning style. 214 words An impressive number of students have proven throughout gist and detailed reading tasks that they are highly competent and this skill has been their strength followed by speaking and listening; skills that at certain times have been more challenging than expected. In addition, controlled practice and freer practice stages in speaking lessons generated much debate and similarly did the post-listening stages. However the groups tolerance of ambiguity during listening is still high and they find difficult to decipher message in spite of having context and relevant intonation. As writing tasks have been collaborative, they usually managed to implement the recently acquired knowledge and enjoyed the competitive nature of the tasks, fact that led to genuine interest and hard work on everybodys side when having to write letters, brochures, and reviews.

Part 2: Strengths and Weaknesses 137 words SUCCESSFUL LANGUAGE GRAMMAR VOCABULARY PRONUNCIATION I have not been to Croatia. Spoken language. I dont like bony fish. Spoken language During restaurant lessons. After the gist task about Machu Picchu one of the students said: The place is spectacular. Spoken language.

WEAKNESSES What the student said Grammar What is wrong? I can dancing Spoken language -ing form after the modal verb can instead of short Why did the student make the infinitive. mistake Vocabulary irelevant Written language What is wrong? The correct spelling is irrelevant Why did the student make the L1 interference (direct transfer mistake from students mother tongue) Pronunciation I sink that. Spoken language What is wrong The pronunciation of th as /s/ Why did the student make the The inexistence of this sound mistake? in mother tongue. Part 3 /Th/ Sound pronunciation. The aim is to raise awareness of correct pronunciation as this greatly affects meaning and encourage students toward this. The IRP is not the target in itself but I consider that some problematic sounds must be dealt with at the stage when students have reached the suitable level in the language. The main reason for mispronouncing this sound is the lack of it in the mother tongue consequently students have to learn to pronounce a completely new sound. This pre-intermediate group cannot produce the / / with the exception of one or two students and this is not their fault. We must bear in mind that they all have learned English in traditional manners in which pronunciation rarely was the focus. These students know they have problems with pronunciation and word stress so they expect teachers to provide the good example of uttering words. Ultimately, students need to be self-conscious about their weaknesses and willing to work on improving them.
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The aim of the lesson is to identify the error and highlight how this can affect meaning then I would introduce the new sound and insist on its proper way of pronouncing it individually and then as part of a whole i.e word. My next stage focuses on the further practice of pronouncing the minimal pairs. In the controlled practice stage students work in pairs and need to pronounce the words while their partner shows the picture corresponding to what they said. In the final exercise they have to recognize the / / sound and also pronounce it (see worksheet). The tongue twister will challenge them positively and the final part of the lesson aims to offer a memorable story about how bad pronunciation can lead to a disaster. Activity 2: The il-, ir-, im- prefixes. The aim of this activity is to revise and consolidate the correct usage and spelling of prefixes. If they are aware of prefixation, they will become more confident when dealing with word formation and this is a valuable tool for our students interested in acquiring more vocabulary, nevertheless prefixes can be misleading in terms of meaning, usage and spelling. Pelmanism just seems to me a good kinaesthetic activity for a lead-in. Once the WB is covered by prefixes and words just like in the table (see Worksheet), teacher can resort to discovering the meaning of the words without and with the il-,ir-, im- prefixes. Through student-centred work, they will conclude that without them they have positive and with il-, ir-, im- they have negative meaning. Next, we need to identify and refer to them as prefixes and notice the spelling rule. Final stage focuses on consolidation. 570 words Bibliography: 1. Headway, Intermediate pronunciation, Bill Bowler, Sarah Cunningham 2. Ship or Sheep? An intermediate pronunciation course. Ann Baker 3. English Pronunciation in Use, Self-stude and classroom, Mark Hancock 4. A Way with Words, Resource Pack 1, Stuart Redman, Robert Ellis with Brigit Viney.