Written Assignment 3
Case study of a learner
Part 1
The learner
Juliana is a 29 year old Brazilian woman who lives in Malta with her partner.
Her hobby is running, in Brazil she used to run for 12 km., two or three times a
week. Recently, she had an interview at MFSA and was offered a job in the IT
department but she is still waiting for her work permit. Previously, Juliana
worked in a construction company in Brazil for five years as an IT Systems
Analyst Specialist and she is looking forward to her new job in Malta. She is
determined to improve her English because in her new job speaking English
fluently plays a major role.
Juliana studied Spanish at school for a year but decided to drop it and take
English instead because she wanted to live and work in an English speaking
country. Learning English proved difficult at first, especially pronunciation but
in time she improved and gained confidence which motivated her to continue
learning.
At the moment, she feels that her strengths in English lie in understanding
spoken language. On the other hand, Juliana has encountered difficulties in
grammar, particularly tenses. She mentioned that in school she used to be good
at grammar in terms of grammar exercises but when it comes to using it in real
life she is not always able to apply what she knows.
Juliana tries not to mix on a regular basis with other Portuguese people and she
actually made it a point to make foreign friends and socialise. She enjoys
watching Netflix and listening to popular American songs and recently she
started reading news in English, mostly what comes up on Facebook.
In the class Juliana prefers communicative lessons because she has the chance
to practise language in a controlled manner which makes her aware of her own
mistakes and it is an opportunity to correct them. Also, she finds varied
interaction patterns very helpful especially when it’s a mixed nationality
classroom.
, During the interview, we had encountered some communication barriers when
Juliana was talking about her work experience. She used present perfect to
describe a period of time in the past ‘’I have been working five years in IT in
Brazil in a construction company’’. This is a clear example of her struggle in
applying her grammar knowledge into real life situations.
Part 2
Language Analysis
a) THE WRITTEN TASK
Juliana wrote an email to a friend recommending things to do in Brazil.
Grammar
‘’Last week you asked me_ some advices’’.
In this sentence we can see that the preposition ‘’for’’ in the phrasal verb ‘’ask
for’’ is missing. This is a case of L1 interference. In Portuguese asking for
something it is not a phrasal verb and it limits itself to just ‘’ask’’ which is the
direct translation of ‘’ask for’’.
In this sentence Juliana seems to also struggle with countable and uncountable
nouns ‘’advices’’. This error occurs due to the fact that in Portuguese the noun
‘’conselho’’=’’advice’’ is countable and takes ‘’s’’ in the plural.
Vocabulary
‘’good travel’’- here we have a case of literal translation of a lexical chunk and
also as observed from her writing task, Juliana uses the word ‘’good’’ in
different contexts and for different purposes which reminds us of a point made
by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith in ‘’Learner English’’- ‘’ Confusion
arising because there is one Portuguese word for two or more words in
English’’.
Case study of a learner
Part 1
The learner
Juliana is a 29 year old Brazilian woman who lives in Malta with her partner.
Her hobby is running, in Brazil she used to run for 12 km., two or three times a
week. Recently, she had an interview at MFSA and was offered a job in the IT
department but she is still waiting for her work permit. Previously, Juliana
worked in a construction company in Brazil for five years as an IT Systems
Analyst Specialist and she is looking forward to her new job in Malta. She is
determined to improve her English because in her new job speaking English
fluently plays a major role.
Juliana studied Spanish at school for a year but decided to drop it and take
English instead because she wanted to live and work in an English speaking
country. Learning English proved difficult at first, especially pronunciation but
in time she improved and gained confidence which motivated her to continue
learning.
At the moment, she feels that her strengths in English lie in understanding
spoken language. On the other hand, Juliana has encountered difficulties in
grammar, particularly tenses. She mentioned that in school she used to be good
at grammar in terms of grammar exercises but when it comes to using it in real
life she is not always able to apply what she knows.
Juliana tries not to mix on a regular basis with other Portuguese people and she
actually made it a point to make foreign friends and socialise. She enjoys
watching Netflix and listening to popular American songs and recently she
started reading news in English, mostly what comes up on Facebook.
In the class Juliana prefers communicative lessons because she has the chance
to practise language in a controlled manner which makes her aware of her own
mistakes and it is an opportunity to correct them. Also, she finds varied
interaction patterns very helpful especially when it’s a mixed nationality
classroom.
, During the interview, we had encountered some communication barriers when
Juliana was talking about her work experience. She used present perfect to
describe a period of time in the past ‘’I have been working five years in IT in
Brazil in a construction company’’. This is a clear example of her struggle in
applying her grammar knowledge into real life situations.
Part 2
Language Analysis
a) THE WRITTEN TASK
Juliana wrote an email to a friend recommending things to do in Brazil.
Grammar
‘’Last week you asked me_ some advices’’.
In this sentence we can see that the preposition ‘’for’’ in the phrasal verb ‘’ask
for’’ is missing. This is a case of L1 interference. In Portuguese asking for
something it is not a phrasal verb and it limits itself to just ‘’ask’’ which is the
direct translation of ‘’ask for’’.
In this sentence Juliana seems to also struggle with countable and uncountable
nouns ‘’advices’’. This error occurs due to the fact that in Portuguese the noun
‘’conselho’’=’’advice’’ is countable and takes ‘’s’’ in the plural.
Vocabulary
‘’good travel’’- here we have a case of literal translation of a lexical chunk and
also as observed from her writing task, Juliana uses the word ‘’good’’ in
different contexts and for different purposes which reminds us of a point made
by Michael Swan and Bernard Smith in ‘’Learner English’’- ‘’ Confusion
arising because there is one Portuguese word for two or more words in
English’’.
