Focus on the Learner Assignment

Personal background and motivation

Gianluca is an Italian student, who has lived in Catania, Sicily for most of his life. He completed
school and studied Electronics and Telecommunication at a hiher education collee. !urin and
since this time, he has held many different "o#s, the most recent of which involved doin
administrative wor$ for a lare, international shippin company. He en"oyed wor$in in this
industry and now has am#itions of wor$in in Spain for an import%e&port firm.
Gianluca revealed that this is his motivation for learnin Enlish, as dealin with international
traders re'uires the a#ility to communicate in Enlish. The reason that he finds this field of wor$
appealin is that it provides plenty of opportunity to tal$ with people from around the world. In the
interview, he ave the impression that he felt confined and unfulfilled in Italy and that he wants to
#ecome part of the lo#al community. Therefore it would seem that his am#ition is #ein a#le to
interact with people from all over the world and wor$in in Spain for an import%e&port firm would
ena#le him to do realise this.
Previous learning experience
Gianluca had to study Enlish alonside his course of Electronics and Telecommunication at
collee. This was over a five year period #ut in his opinion the teachin was not very ood, as the
teachers mainly spo$e Italian and the students were not iven much opportunity to practise
spea$in. He is currently at pre(intermediate level.
English outside the classroom
Gianluca has #een livin with other Italians, #ut he is a#out to move into a new flat sharin with
one Italian and one Spaniard. He is pleased that he is to live with some#ody who isn)t Italian, as it
will force him to use Enlish more fre'uently. Gianluca is currently wor$in in a #ar and says that
he tries to tal$ to as many different people as possi#le, as often as possi#le. He also reads the local
newspaper when he is travellin on the #us.
Expectations of the teacher
Gianluca #elieves that it is important for a teacher to spea$ slowly and clearly. He li$es when
instructions are repeated so that he $nows e&actly what he has to do. Havin 'uestioned him a#out
the importance of accuracy compared to fluency, he stronly #elieves that accuracy is important.
He #elieves that a teacher should always correct his mista$es, so that he can improve, reardless of
whether he has #een a#le to communicate his ideas. This is consistent with an attitude that Swan
*2001+ identified as common with Italian learners. He writes that the insistence on )correct Italian)
that is common in mother(tonue teachin leads to concern over rammatical accuracy when
learnin Enlish *p. 73+.
Behaviour in class and attitude to learning
Gianluca)s #ody lanuae suests that he is e&tremely rela&ed in lessons. He is enaed and li$es
to ta$e notes from the white#oard. In whole(class feed#ac$, he does not volunteer answers, #ut has
always #een confident to share answers when invited. He has wor$ed well in all of the pairs that he
has #een put in, and always stic$s to the instructions he has #een iven. In controlled tas$s, he
prefers to have a o independently #efore wor$in with a partner to chec$ answers. ,hen tas$s
have #een iven for pairs to wor$ throuh toether, he has occasionally started independently if
wor$in with a less confident partner.
Recommendations for later teachers
I would recommend that Gianluca is invited to spea$ and that he is put into many different pairs.
-s he wants to converse with people from all over the world in his career, it is important that he has
discussions with learners from as many different #ac$rounds as possi#le. I would also recommend
that he has more practice doin listenin tas$s, as these are what he finds the most difficult to
complete.
Specific linguistic difficulties
.ronunciation
Gianluca can #e 'uic$ly identified as an Italian spea$er from the way he ends a lot of words.
Swan e&plains that Italian final consonants are rare and this can result in learners ivin a
followin vowel sound to Enlish words with final consonants, usually schwa. /or
e&ample, I have- a small- family.
Swan mentions that that voicin the contrast #etween %s % and %z % can cause pro#lems, as
these are positional variants in Italian. This was a pro#lem that Gianluca occasionally had,
pronouncin words li$e slowly as % zl li: %.
Gianluca often pronounced the as %d %. Swan says that it is common for % % and % % to
#e mispronounced as %t% and %d%. The e&ample that he ives is other #ein pronounced as
udder. However, unli$e the theory, Gianluca was a#le to pronounce the % % sound in
#rother perfectly. It was only with the word the that he made this mista$e.
Swan states that the letter r is always pronounced in Italian *p. 76+ and carryin this into
Enlish meant that Gianluca pronounced words li$e person as % pers n %.
0uch of his pronunciation was very accurate and he did not ma$e many of the mista$es that
Swan identifies as common with Italian learners. /or e&ample, his pronunciation of #us was
correct and not said as %bz%.
Grammar
In #oth his spea$in and writin, Gianluca missed out some articles, #oth definite and
indefinite.
Swan writes that there is no Italian e'uivalent of the au&iliary do and that this can lead to
learners creatin dou#le neatives. Gianluca made an error of this $ind in his writin1 I
don't learned nothing.
He made a mista$e with neatives in his spea$in too, sayin that, It is no very good.
Swan states that in Italian, neatives are always made #y addin the neative particle non,
and that this often causes learners to use no instead of not.
Swan writes that Italians often find Enlish prepositions ar#itrary and difficult to use. In his
spea$in, Gianluca fre'uently left out to when usin the ver# to tal$. /or e&ample1 When I
tal yo!" instead of, When I tal to yo!.
He used apostrophes correctly in words li$e don't and it's, #ut there were two misused
apostrophes, where he wrote #ooin' and #l!$$in'. This mista$e may have #een caused #y
drillin sentences and him realisin that the sound is often dropped. However, if he is
#rinin this into his writin, it will cause many mista$es. It is encourain thouh that he
realises that apostrophes are used to denote dropped letters.
Gianluca made a mista$e writin, I feel me instead of I feel. Swan notes that refle&ive
ver#s are more common in Italian than in Enlish, which is li$ely to have caused this
mista$e.
2oca#ulary
Gianluca is not afraid to use voca#ulary he has recently learned. He descri#es himself as not
#ein a #o!#h potato, which was a term he learned recently.
He also attempted to use the phrase last #ut not least, althouh he made a mista$e #y
writin, in the last $!t not in the least. This demonstrates a commenda#le confidence to
use phrases he has learned.
Addressing these difficulties
The issue with mi&in up %s % and %z % sounds in words could #e resolved with a #ino
e&ercise *Harmer, 3445+. ,ords such as the ones #elow should #e written down and then
students tic$ the words once they thin$ they have heard the teacher say them.
%low
&is
&e's
&iss
'ose
(ags
%top
)ost
*ost
This would allow the student to hear the correct pronunciation of the words, #efore
em#ar$in upon a follow(up activity.
The follow(up activity would involve post(it notes of these *and more+ words, which all
contain an s. Students would have a ta#le with two columns, %s % and %z % and decide
which sound the s ma$es in each word, movin the post(it notes to the appropriate column.
To address Gianluca)s difficulty with usin articles correctly, I would recommend an
e&ercise which involves identifyin when it is appropriate to use a+an and when it isn)t *see
,ppendi- ,+. I chose this e&ercise in particular, #ecause the mista$es he made involved
omittin articles rather than usin incorrect articles.

Bibliography
! 6eaumont and C Graner, .nglish /rammar, Heinemann 7898
: Harmer, 0he *ra#ti#e of .nglish 'ang!age 0ea#hing, ;onman 3445
0 Swan and 6 Smith, 'earner .nglish, C<. 3447
: =enworthy, 0ea#hing .nglish *rono!n#iation, ;onman 7895
0 Swan and C ,alter, 0he /ood /rammar (oo, >&ford 344?