language learner profile

1LANGUAGE LEARNER PROFILE

LANGUAGE LEARNER PROFILE

Dannae Del Campo - Gabriela Quezada

Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC)


Language Learning Profile Framework

In the past years it has been considered really important how the student develop

their learning in a second or in a foreign language in an independent manner. It has been

recognized that much of the responsibility in the success of learning a second language

depends on the student’s ability to take the opportunities that are given.

However, the strategies taken by students are equally important in the process of

acquiring a second language. These strategies are tools which are used by the student to

make learning easier, more enjoyable and also more effective. Therefore, the role of the

teacher it is to identify each student’s difficulties and guide them to choose and to apply the

correct strategy for each student.

Moreover, it is beneficial to us, as future teachers to be, to understand Oxford and

Chamot’s believes about how students can learn and become more successful by their

selves. Thus, we can learn about our students’ mental processes at the moment of their

learning by discussing which strategies they apply to remember and understand each task

given.

At the end students can get to apply strategies and understand their own cognitive

process, so they can become independent, self-confident and also develop their language

skills, which is more difficult to achieve in a second language.


Language Learner Profile

I. Student’s Background

Mirko was born on February 4th, 1996 in Concepcion. He is 17 years old and this is

his last year on school, next year he would like to study Medicine at the University.

He attended to Colegio Concepcion since he was in kindergarten in this school he

started with the learning of English language as a subject since he was in 1st grade of

elementary school.

He loves listening to English rock bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and

watching American horror movies and series therefore he thinks that it has helped him to

improve his listening and oral skills.

The Student pointed out that even though when he wants to study Medicine and it is

related to biology and science subjects, English is one of his favorite subjects at school, he

mentioned that English can help him to reach success in his future life as Medicine student,

due to he mentioned that he would like to study abroad.


II. Testing of knowledge and skills

Taped Interview

Interviewer: (I) Dannae Del Campo

Interviewee: (S) Student

1 I: What’s your name?

2 S: My name is Mirko

3: I: What’s your favorite music style?

4 S: My favorite music style is rock

5 I: Where do you live?

6 S: I live in center of the city

7 I: Where is your favorite place there?

9 S: My favorite place is Ecuador Park

10 I: Can you describe it?

11 S: It have many trees eeeh and many eeeeh there is many persons

12 I: What are your plans for Independence Day?

13 S: Be with my family and eat food


14 I: Can you tell me a funny story about yourself?

15 S: Yes yes aaaaam one time when I was eeeeh when I when I was eeeeh

16 young I I was in my bicycle eeeeh well eeeeh I I I was going down aaaam a

17 hill and suddenly a cat appear eeeeeh so I fell and I crap my pants.

18 I: When is your birthday?

19 S: My birthday is fourth of February

20 I: What did you do for your birthday?

21 S: I was with my family

22 I: What your addres

23 S: Mm is Paicaví 387

24 I: Whats you cellphone number?

25 S: My cellphone number is nine eight six seven three four two five

26 I: What’s your favorite food?

27 S: My favorite food is eee potatoes

28 I: And where do you see yourself in ten years?

29 S: I see myself as a doctor because I want to study medicine in

30 Universidad of Concecpcion.


Interview Analysis

The Student’s interview will be analyzed based on the systems of the language which

are grammar, vocabulary and finally pronunciation.

1.-Grammar:

A) Omission of the article

In the student’s interview there is a lack of article after the preposition.

Example:

A: “I live in center…” instead of “I live in the center…” (Line 6)

The omission of the article in the student’s example demonstrated the lack of

knowledge in terms of the second language grammar rules.

B) Misuse of the verb to have (third person)

Most Spanish native speakers have this problem at the moment of using these verbs

in the present third person singular form.

Example:

“It have many…” instead of “It has…” (Line 11)

This may happen because of two reasons. The first one is that the student does not

know the irregular form of the verb and the second possibility is that the student is not aware

of the third person singular rule in the present tense.


C) Misuse of the verb to be in plural forms:

This may happen because students tend to confuse the word many with a singular

word because it does not end with an –s which it usually happens in Spanish.

Example:

There is many instead of There are many. (Line 11)

D) No complete sentence:

In any language, sentences are made by subject, verb and complement and in the case

of the student’s interview in the lines 13 and 23 the sentences are not well structures because

there are no subjects.

Example:

Be with my family and eat food instead of I plan to be with my family and to eat food. (Line

13)

Mm is Paicaví 387 instead of my address is Paicaví three eight seven. (Line 23)

E) Omission of preposition.

The interviewee omitted the preposition “on” in the sentence line 16

Example:

“…going down a hill…” instead of “…going down on a hill…”

My birthday is fourth of February instead of my birthday is on February the fourth


F) Misuse of verb tense

It is a common mistake in foreign language students to forget the past form of verbs

at the moment of speaking in a second language.

Example:

“…suddenly a cat appear so…” instead of “…suddenly a cat appeared…” (Line 17)

“…I crap my pants”. Instead of “…I crapped my pants”. (Line 17)

G) Use of Cardinal and ordinal numbers

It is noticeable in the student’s answers the well use of the cardinal and ordinal

numbers.

Example:

“… fourth of February” (Line 19)

“…Paicaví 387…” (Line 23)

My cellphone number is nine eight six seven three four two five.

H) Misuse of preposition

Prepositions are a common mistake among students because there are lots of them

for specific purposes.

Example:

“…study medicine in Universidad of …” instead of “…study medicine at Concepcion

University…” (Line 30)


2.-Vocabulary:

A) Omission of coordinating conjunctions

The learner does not present any use of coordinating conjunctions when developing

ideas.

Example:

“Yes yes aaa one time when I was young I I was in my bicycle I I I was…”

B) Range of Vocabulary

The learner presents an acceptable range of vocabulary knowledge, due to during the

interview he acts in a confident way and know what he wants to say and what it means, he

does not ask for help at the moment of speaking neither he use Spanish language.

3. – Pronunciation

An extract (lines 15- 17) of the student’s interview will be analyzed bellow. An IPA

transcription is provided to systematically understand the student’s utterances from the

phonetically point of view.

Yes yes aaaaam one time when I was eeeeh when I when I was eeeeh young I I was in my

bicycle eeeeh well eeeeh I I I was going down aaaam a hill and suddenly a cat appear

eeeeeh so I fell and I crap my pants.

/jes jes (aaa) gʊʌn ‘taɪm wen aɪ wæz (e) wen aɪ wen aɪ wæz (eee) jɒŋ aɪ

aɪ wæz ɪn mai ‘bɪsɪkl (eee) wel (eee) aɪ aɪ aɪ wæz gɔɪŋ ‘daʊnə gɪl (eee) ænd

(eee) ‘sʌdenlɪ (eee) æ kʌt æ’pɪər (eee) sɔ: aɪ wel aɪ fel ænd aɪ kræp mai

pæntz/


A) Stress

The student does not present problems in terms of word stress.

Example:

/‘taɪm/

/‘bɪsɪkl/

/æ’pɪər/

B) Fluency

In many occasions the student’s speech is interrupted by his numerous hesitations and

pauses.

Example:

Yes yes aaaaam one time when I was eeeeh when I when I was eeeeh young I I was in my

bycicle eeeeh well eeeeh I I I was going down aaaam a hill and suddenly a cat appear

eeeeeh so I fell and I crap my pants.

C) Mistakes in the pronunciation of consonants and vowels.

Word Student’s pronunciation

Analysis Correct pronunciation (RP)

one / gʊʌn/ Use of the phonemes /ʊ/ and /g/ instead of /W/

/ wʌn/

was /wæz/ Use of the phoneme /æ/ instead of /ə/.

/wəz/

young /jɒŋ/ Use of the phoneme /ɒ/ instead of /ʌ/.

/jʌŋ/


going /gɔɪŋ/ Use of the diphthong /ɔɪ / instead of the phoneme /ə/, and Use of the diphthong /ʊɪ/.

/ˈgəʊɪŋ/

hill /gɪl/ Use of the phoneme /g/ instead of /h/ .

/hɪl/

and /ænd/ Use of the phoneme /æ/ instead of /ə/.

/ənd/

suddenly /‘sʌdenlɪ/ Use of the phoneme /e/. /ˈsʌdnlɪ/

cat /kʌt/ Use of the phoneme /ʌ/ instead of /æ/.

/ kæt/

appear /æ’pɪər/ Use of the phoneme /æ/ instead of /ə / and use of the phoneme /r/

/əˈpɪə/

so /sɔ:/ Use of the phoneme /ɔ:/ instead of the diphthong /əʊ/.

/səʊ/

pants /pæntz/ Use of the phoneme /z/ instead of /s/

/pænts/

Writing task


1 Rudolf has traveled a lot, but now he is in Runitanía. In there he meet Johan who

2 works for the Duke.

3 The duke want to be the king so he tried to poisoned Rudolf with a fish but Rudolf

4 looks just like the prince and he went to the coronation replacing to the real

5 prince.

6The duke knows that and now he want to kill this false prince. For that he used

7 Antonneite , but she helped Rudolf, because she wasn’t agree with the Duke’s

8 plan.

9 However Detchord, one of the famous six, and Hentzar , the most dangerous of

10 the famous six, tried to kill the prince. But in that moment Sapt and his men went

11 to the rescue.

12 Finally they safe the prince and Rudolf went back to England with the best

13 adventure of his life.

Writing analysis


The criteria to analyze this piece of writing will be Grammar and Vocabulary. It has

been possible to analyze the following:

1.- Grammar

A) Use of Parallelism:

In English grammar the balance between two or more similar words, phrases or

clauses is necessary to promote clarity and readability. The student did not use properly the

parallelism rule in the following sentences:

Example:

“The duke want to be the king so he tried to poisoned Rudolf”

Maybe she wanted to say:

“The duke wanted to be the king so he tried to poison Rudolf”

“Rudolf looks just like the prince and he went to the coronation”

Maybe she wanted to say:

“Rudolf looked just like the prince so he went to the coronation”

B) Disagreement between subject and verb in 3rd person:


Is difficult for students to understand the agreement that must exist between the

subject of a sentence and the verb in simple present. Therefore is common to see the

following mistake in writing:

Example:

“The duke want to be the king” instead of “The duke wants to be a king”

“In there he meet Johan” instead of “In there he meets Johan”

C) Inappropriate use of verbs:

In the analysis we could notice that the student had confusion at the moment of using

verbs.

Example:

“….the king so he tried to poisoned Rudolf” instead of “…the king so he tried to poison

Rudolf”

She used two conjugated verbs in the same idea of the sentence.

D) Inappropriate use of the verb to be:

In the case of this particular student the interference of L1 in her L2 is the reason of

her mistake. She translated what she wanted to say in English exactly how Spanish speakers

do.

Example:


“because she wasn’t agree with the Duke’s plan” instead of “because she didn’t agree with

the Duke’s plan”.

2. - Vocabulary

A) Lexical Profile

For Spanish speakers it is difficult to choose the correct word in English when the

sound and the spell are similar.

Example:

“Finally they safe the prince” instead of “Finally they save the prince”

“…the king so he tried to poisoned Rudolf” ” instead of “…the king so he tried to poison

Rudolf”

Conclusion and Proposal


After interviewing and analyzing a piece of writing of the learner we can conclude

based on each system of the language that:

1.- Grammar: the student presented problems in the use of verb tenses, especially in

the case of present simple, in the 3rd person singular; moreover in past tense, and also at the

moment of conjugating verbs, this issue will create a lack of parallelism at the moment of

writing and speaking. This is one of the reasons that we will create a lesson plan based on

the improvement on this area using prediction strategy.

2. – Pronunciation: the student committed some mistakes, but his performance in

general was quite acceptable. He did not present problems in word stress nor intonation,

finally In terms of fluency the learner committed some hesitations and pauses but he was

able to finish his ideas.

3. – Vocabulary: The student presented a wide range of vocabulary learning at the

moment of expressing his ideas, but it cannot be said the same in terms of the use of

coordinating conjunctions at the moment of linking ideas, due to the student present a lack

of them at the moment of speaking and writing.

From the previous analysis carried out, it would be suitable to create a lesson plan

based on the learner’s needs. In order to that it will be use the prediction strategy. The lesson

will be focused on the use of verb tenses and it will be use a worksheet and a video to help

him to improve it.

Proposed Treatment


In this stage of the Learner Profile a lesson plan one-to-one class is require in order

to help the student to improve in one of the linguistic needs that he presented above. In this

case the students presented a great number of mistakes in the area of grammar, specifically

the use of verbs, so the lesson plan will be focused on this area.

Adapted from “Prediction with Story Telling” “The Learning Strategies Handbook..Chamot, (1999)

Lesson Plan

Language Level: beginner Language: Fl (English)

Grade Level: 4th year Focus LLS: Predicting

LANGUAGE OBJECTIVE: Use verbs in the correct tense (simple past and simple

present)

STRATEGY OBJECTIVE: Use Prediction to practice past tense and present tense.

MATERIALS: Worksheet

PROCEDURES

Preparation:


1. - Teacher activates background knowledge by asking the student which activities

he/she usually did when he/she was a child and what he/she usually do know as a

teenager. The teacher gives an example:

“When I was a kid I usually sang to my neighbors and I also helped my mother with

the housekeeping. Now as a gown up woman I usually read novels and study a lot.”

Now the teacher asks the student what kind of things her/his best friend usually does.

2. Finally this activity helps the teacher to know what the student already know and

how he/she can help the learner to improve his/her use of the tenses.

Presentation:

The teacher explains to the learner that he/she is going to learn how to use the

prediction strategy to help him/her when she/he cannot remember the correct form of a verb

tense.

“I want to help you to improve your management of verb tenses in their

corresponding contexts. Therefore today we are going to learn a strategy that will help you

to remember every form of a verb tense; especially with the ones you have problems. You

are going to learn how to use the prediction strategy which means you will have to guess

from the words of each sentence, for example adverbs, to know which is the corresponding

verb tense.”


Practice:

1.-The teacher gives the student a worksheet with incomplete sentences in it. The

student has to predict from the context of the sentence which is the missing verb and in

which verb tense it need to be written.

2.-The teacher gives a second task in which the student has to watch a short video

about a story. After watching the video the student has to retell the story using the correct

verb tenses.

Evaluation:

The teacher helps the student to evaluate his/her use of the prediction strategy. The

teacher asks the learner how he/she uses the strategy in each task and how he/she could use

in writing and speaking.

“While you were reading the sentences did you pay attention if there was any adverb

or adjective inside the sentence? Did that help you to predict which tense was the correct

one? .For example in the sentence “Last month I….. to the beach or When I …… little” . In

the second activity, Did you make predictions while you were watching the video? , Did you

make these predictions in the same way you did in the last activity?

Expansion:

The teacher encourages the learner to apply the prediction strategy to a reading text

and then report on their experiences.


“Have you ever read Harry Potter?. If you did, did you make prediction about the end

of the book? Did you do that with other books that you read?. The next time you read a text,

write down what you predicted so you can notice if you understood the text”.


Anexo:

Worksheet.

1. Last month I _____________ to the beach.

2. When I _____________ a kid , I usually _______________ cachureos.

3. Yesterday, I ________________ out with my friends.

4. She __________________ the dishes.

5. She __________________ five languages.

6. Last year I __________________ 65 years old.

7. I always ______________ up at 7am.

8. She never ______________ before a test.

9. My grandfather _________________ two years ago. It was really sad.

10. Yesterday, I _________________ French fries.


References

Chamot, Anna Uhl, et al. The Learning Strategies Handbook. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman, 1999.

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