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. Lexis
Two 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 balance of 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. Taken into
consideration 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 requires a student to
excel in all 4 levels of functions and skills by heart; namely 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 student 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 her speaking and listening skills, developing oral and aural skills. For example,