LLP

1. Language Learner Profile 1
‘’Language Learner Profile’’
By: Tania Contreras Novoa.
Katherine Jofre Novoa.
Teacher: Gabriela Sanhueza Jara.
Course: English as a Foreign Language Methodology

2. Table of contents
Theoretical framework.........................................................................................................3
Learner’s background..........................................................................................................4
Oral diagnosis test ...............................................................................................................4
Analysis and assessment of specific diagnosis ..............................................................5
Proposal: LLS Lesson Plan CALLA ..................................................................................8
Post lesson comments ..................................................................................................10
Discussion and Conclusions ............................................................................................11
References..........................................................................................................................12

3. Language Learner Profile 3
Theoretical framework
Teaching English encompasses plenty of different factors which have an
important role in the process of teaching and learning the language, some of them
are related to the context or learning environment, and the characteristics of the
learner and the teacher. Besides, apart from the aspects that were mentioned above,
there are four skills which must be developed by the learner during the process of
learning English, which are listening, reading, writing and speaking. That is why
teachers should know the importance of language learning strategies, because they
guide students in order to integrate the four skills in the process of acquiring the
language. Furthermore, teachers should develop their own strategies so that they
will be aware of their strengths and weaknesses at the moment of teaching
(Archibald, 2006).
However, what exactly is meant by the term learning strategy? Learning strategies
are steps or procedures which are used by learners in order to overcome difficulties
at the moment of learning. These strategies can be useful when the learner ‘’makes
learning easier, faster and more enjoyable’’ (Oxford, 1990).
Nevertheless, the efficacy of these strategies will depend on the learner’s attitude,
motivation, style of learning, prior knowledge and the learning environment (Gu,
2012).
What is more, learning styles and strategies are linked together. That is why it is very
useful to apply learning styles and strategies in the classroom in order to know the
individual needs of students, address the diversity and to assist students in learning
English efficiently and effectively (Numan, 2003).
In addition, Oxford (1990) developed a language learning strategy that can be
categorized into direct and indirect. Direct strategies involve the use of language and
can be divided into three subcategories such as; memory, cognitive and
compensation strategies (Oxford, 1990). The second category, which is called
indirect, supports language learning and can be divided into social, affective, and
metacognitive strategies (Oxford, 1990).
Needless to say, the importance of language learning strategies, due to the fact that
it helps students to become better learners and to be able to associate their strategy
to their learning styles (Gu, 2012). That is why teachers need to teach strategies
during their lessons because ‘’the more teachers know about their students' style
preferences, the more effectively they can orient their L2 instruction’’ (Oxford, 1990).

4. Language Learner Profile 4
Learner’s background
The learner’s name is Nelson Enrique Gutiérrez Lagos, who is a first year
student of General Primary Pedagogy at the UCSC. He is twenty six years old and
he lives with his aunt and uncle in San Pedro de la Paz.
When he was asking about his future he mentioned that after this major he would
like to study a master degree at the UCSC in order to get a job in an institute or
university.
Moreover, Nelson considers that he is going to be a good professional because he
has the ability to explain different subjects and he really enjoys teaching. Finally,
Nelson declared that his interests are related to listen to music, play football and to
play video games in English.
English studies
Nelson Gutiérrez studied during his entirely primary education at the ‘’Casino
School’’, which is a municipal school and it is located in Quillón. Besides, he revealed
that in this school he only had the opportunity to learn English during the last two
years that he studied there; which means 7° and 8° grade, respectively.
Furthermore, when he was thirteen years old he decided to study at ‘’Liceo Industrial
A-8’’, because his relatives moved to Chillán. Moreover, as similar as his primary
education, Nelson had English classes in 3° and 4° medio. During those years he
realizes that he was good at English; however, he argues that he never had the
opportunity to speak English, because in both schools his teachers only taught him
how to write texts and some grammatical rules.
In addition, Nelson really enjoys English because he usually watches TV series and
movies in order to learn new words. Besides, he appreciates the possibility to have
a good English language teacher at the UCSC, because he has had the opportunity
to speak English during most of his lessons.
Finally, Nelson is an excellent student who has one of the best marks of the English
class, and who would like to improve his level of English in order to study an extra
course related to this international language.
Oral diagnosis test
T: interviewer

5. Language Learner Profile 5
S: interviewee
T: Could you tell me your name, age and occupation please?
S: Ok, my name is Nelson Gutierrez I am twenty six years olds I am studying.
T: Now I want you to answer these questions with your personal opinions:
T: Why are you studying pedagogy?
S: Because I like teaching.
T: Why did you choose to study in this university?
S: Because is better university.
T: Does money bring happiness?
S: No definy not. Because has other things.
Analysis and assessment of specific diagnosis

6. Language Learner Profile 6
To begin with, this investigation arises from the need to identify our student current
learning strategies, in order to help him to improve his performance in the second
language. After the student answered a written diagnosis test we decided to assess
his oral performance on the language. Therefore, we decided to design an oral
interview for him in which after the interview we applied a think aloud individual
interview (Chamot, 2004) in which we asked him to describe his thoughts after the
student had completed the task.
We did it by asking him “what were you thinking when answering these questions?”
the student replied that he was focusing just on answering the specific points that he
was asked to answer and not on explaining why. Besides, after talking with him and
after several observation classes we have noticed that he has an inner motivation
for learning English that is why, despite of the fact that he is not studying to be a
teacher of English he puts all his effort when learning the language and he has the
best mark in his class.
Moreover, as Nelson is studying English just as any other subject he does not know
many strategies to improve his proficiency in the language. After being by his side in
many observation classes he highlighted the fact that currently he has a very good
teacher, even though he has not have the opportunity to teach strategies in classes.
According to O’Malley and Chamot (1990), speaking strategies are crucial because
they help foreign language learners “in negotiating meaning where either linguistic
structures or sociolinguistic rules are not shared between a second language learner
and a speaker of the target language” (p.43).
Furthermore, to assess our student needs we have designed a CALLA lesson plan
in which we are going to teach him two metacognitive strategies and the last one is
a social strategy for him to improve his oral performance. The first one has to be with
using language to talk about language, it means that the teacher will teach him how
to ask questions to clarify when misunderstandings occurs or when they had not
understand the instructions clearly. It will help the student to feel more confident
when talking and will also help to create an authentic practice environment within the
classroom.
The second one is using pantomime when they do not know how to say something;
we hold the opinion that this is one of the most important strategies, because even
advance learners forget how to say certain words at times. For him, will be very
helpful, because we noticed that sometimes he cannot continue talking because he
do not know the word in English to say it, but if he have the opportunity to practice
more this strategy he will considerable improve his fluency when talking in an L2.
We are going to teach the last strategy in another lesson. This final strategy is for
him to evaluate his own performance and we are going to talk with him in order to
raise the student’s awareness that making mistakes is part of learning and that he
must take risks in order to learn.

7. Language Learner Profile 7
Then, he will be more secure and less anxious when speaking in English, because
he will be sure that nobody is going to laugh at him and if a classmate do that Nelson
will be aware that it is because they do not have the courage that he has to speak
and that the more he practices the more he will learn.

8. Language Learner Profile 8
Proposal: LLS Lesson Plan CALLA
Content objectives
The students will use pantomime to explain different pictures and will use
questions to ask for clarification when the need.
Language Objective (target language)
These are scrambled eggs.
Could you repeat that again, please?
Learning strategies
Ask questions to clarify
Pantomime
Strategies objective: SWBAT use pantomime and ask for clarification in
different situations.
Materials: -Flash cards
-Whiteboard.
Procedures
Content area: Speaking
Grade: Beginner
Topic: Learning strategies.

9. Language Learner Profile 9
Preparation
The T will ask the Ss what you do when you do not understand what you have
to do? What do you do when you do not know how to say something in English?
Presentation
The T will say this strategy is called pantomime, you need to use your body
language. You will use this strategy when you do not know how to say a word in
English. This strategy is very important, because by using it you can go on with
a conversation without problems. The teacher will model the use of pantomime
by explaining verbs use for cooking, such as; chop, dice, slice knead, roll out,
mash grate and whip.
The teacher will address the students who seem not to get what the teacher is
modelling and the T will explain the Ss how to ask for clarification.
Then, the T will write on the board some questions to ask for clarification, such
as; Can you explain it again? Sorry, I did not get it, etc.
This strategy is called asking questions to clarify, you use this strategy when you
do not understand something or when you are not completely sure, whether you
have understood or not. You can use it in any situation when the person who
was saying something had finished. The T will say that this strategy is very
important, because if you misunderstand something and you do not ask for
clarification. Then, you will not able to continue a conversation or to complete a
task
Practice
The Ss will play a guessing game in which they will work in pairs. One of the Ss
will pick a card who has a picture with the name who belongs to the picture. This
Ss will use pantomime to make his/her classmate guess what the picture is
about. The other Ss will need to ask for clarification when he/ she does not
understand the pantomime clearly. Finally, they will exchange roles.
Evaluation

10. Language Learner Profile 10
The T will lead a class discussion to reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies
that has been presented. The T will ask the Ss do you think those strategies
work with you? Are they useful? Would you use others? Were you capable of
putting them into practice?
Expansion
The T will share her personal experience when using these strategies. The T will
say I always use pantomime with my friends when I forget the word or when I go
to buy something and I do not know the name, but I know what is for. I use
pantomime to model the use of the object so the seller can guess what I need to
buy. One of the strategies that I used the most is asking for clarification, overall
in tests because me and I suppose that most of you are always having troubles
understanding instructions. As you can see you can use these strategies in
different situations, in all subjects and also in real life. Finally the T will ask the
Ss to apply these strategies in different context, could be in a market, at the
University, etc. and the next class the T will ask them to share how it worked.
Post lesson comments
The learner understood almost the whole class, because the teacher conveyed
meaning through pantomime and when he did not understand something he asked
his classmates to repeat the mimic again, using the questions thought by the teacher
to ask for clarification.
Pantomime and asking for clarification were very useful strategies, because Nelson
spoke more fluent when he was using these strategies.
The learner was engaged during the entire lesson because of these strategies.
Teacher should use pantomime and also should teach her students questions to ask
for clarification, in order to catch the attention of her students during the lesson and
to avoid Spanish.

11. Language Learner Profile 11
Discussion and Conclusions
Talking everything into account, this language learner profile was an interesting task
that provided us the opportunity to develop an in-deep analysis of one of our teaching
practice students in order to identify his linguistic needs, weaknesses, and possible
recommendations to support him.
In considering how to apply learning strategies in the classroom, we discovered that
the learner analyzed employs cognitive strategies, because during each lesson he
takes notes and summarizes information. Currently, this learner is developing these
two metacognitive strategies, because he is practicing how to convey meaning
through pantomime and also how to ask for clarification when the meaning is not
clear enough. These kinds of strategies are very helpful, due to the fact that plenty
of studies related to second language learning have claimed that the use of
strategies can create a good English language teaching environment which assists
students in the process of learning English. Moreover, the use of pantomime helps
the learner to communicate more fluent despite of his lack of vocabulary.
Finally, as far we saw these strategies also helped the student to lower his level of
anxiety, because by using these strategies he could feel more confident when
speaking. These strategies also helped the learner to convey meaning easily and to
communicate without misunderstandings.

12. Language Learner Profile 12
References
Archibald, A. (2006, January). Learner strategies: an interview with Steven
McDonough. ELT Journal, pp. 63-70.
Gu, Y. (2012). Language Learning Strategies An EIL Perspective. In S. L. Mckay,
Principles and Practices for Teaching English as an International Language
(pp. 319-334). United States of America: Routledge.
Numan, D. (2003). Chapter 13: Learning styles and strategies. In D. Numan,
Practical English Language Teaching (pp. 267-288). London: McGraw Hill
Higher Education.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle.