The Systems and Language Skills of English
The Systems and Language Skills of English
1. Take a look at the list of items below. Decide which system
these relate to: lexis, phonology, grammar or function. I went to
London; Ive been to London. GRAMMAR Lend me $5. Could you possibly
lend me $5? FUNCTION Library; bookstore. LEXIS Foot; foots. Grammar
Id rather not; No way? Function Hit; heat. Phonology Photograph;
photographer. Lexis Should; must. LexisTwo suggestions:
1. Try not to meander so much and make more of an effort to get
right to the point, right to the heart of the matter in the
beginning of your assignment.
2. In keeping with the tone and philosophy of the TELF Online
course, please pitch your work to be more personal and practical,
less academic and formal.Imagine that you work in a language
school. You have just received a new student from Korea who wants
to study English prior to entering a university in the U.S. The
student takes the placement test, which are all grammar and
vocabulary and mostly multiple choice. She scores quite high;
however, she does not speak very well and has difficulty
understanding even the simplest spoken language. What balance of
the four skills and the four systems would you recommend for her
study program? For example, would you focus on reading and writing
or utilize her strengths in grammar to introduce topics, but make
the exercises mostly listening and speaking? Would you focus on
function, pronunciation, productive skills because the test was
multiple choices and not a fair assessment of her success in a
university with writing papers and listening to lectures? Explain
what an appropriate balance would be. How did you reach that
recommendation? I will be categorizing the students study program
into 4 levels with respect to both the four skills and the four
systems. From Class 1 to Class 4, Class 1 states that the student
has high urgency on that particular skill/function at the moment;
Class 4 states that the student has the least urgency. An
appropriate balance in a study program will first taken into
considerations the students cultural and educational background,
the students English level of proficiency and an appropriate
balance in all 4 levels of functions and skills.
In the placement test, I would believe that the student has a
strong foundation on English grammatical rules and has a large pool
of vocabularies. Mastering the English Language however also
requires proficiency in, lexis, grammar function, phonology,
listening, speaking, reading and writing, these eight elements are
interconnected. However, the scores of the placement test do not
reflect students levels of English proficiency because it is
biased, not only the test skewed heavily on grammar and lexis only,
it is also a multiple choice test.
In order for her to cope with the English requirement in a U.S.
college, I would be creating a study program as follows: Class 1 on
function, phonology, listening and speaking. Class 2 on writing,
reading and vocabulary; Class 3 grammar; This will best suit the
students intention in entering a U.S. university since professors
teach through lecturing and students learn from listening; students
asks questions to the professor and often they are require to write
and submit reports. Moreover, in developing a successful ESL
training program for the students, the teacher should also be aware
of the Korean cultural and educational background of the student.
First and foremost, the confidence of the student would initially
play a large part in the development of an individualized approach.
While we want to increase STT, we do not want to challenge a
persons self-esteem by putting their mistakes on display before
they are confidence in risk-taking. This can have a dramatic effect
in our planning approach for the student. For example, when the
student failed to listen to the teachers instruction, do not make
her feel awkward; a simple smile or hand gesture to make her feel
inclusive and follow-up guidance are crucial, by doing so, you are
presenting yourself as an understandable and approachable teacher;
and possibly igniting the students initiative in learning the
English language. My best teacher Mrs. Lavelle, who had been
practicing this ideology, has lured me into what seems to be boring
but extremely intriguing English Literatures. Secondly, in order
for the student to excel in her U.S. College studies, she should
have good command in English oral and aural skills. Because the
student has what seems to be a highly developed sense of
grammatical structure and vocabulary, we will use these strengths
as a platform upon which to structure activities that focus on
developing her oral and aural skills. For example, some activities
in which other students in class, especially those with a highly
developed sense of verbal prosody and fluency, coupled with
confidence and clarity would speak or read aloud, perhaps even act,
for the rest of the group. The other students, including our Korean
student, would be provided with a copy of the text that is being
read. That way, she can follow along as they recite picking up on
the relationships between sounds and letters, solidifying her
understanding of the alphabetic principle. This activity would
focus on phonological system of English, as well as a listening,
English and reading skill. As the student gets more comfortable and
has been given a chance to see good fluency and prosody modeled in
this way, she could give reading aloud a shot herself. Summary of
Suggestions
1) Allowing appropriate access to the numerous civil engineering
equipments and tests at LECM as listed in
