Comments on: Long-term English language learners

By: Charles

Charles — Sun, 18 Nov 2018 04:15:12 +0000

Although I am commenting several years after the initial post, this is a topic of interest for me as I am currently working on a dissertation I plan to call “6 +1 years of writing assessments: predicting at-risk L2 writers”.

Our school has currently gathered seven years of direct writing samples from Grade 3-12 students; scored with analytic scoring using the 6 +1 Oregon Traits Rubric. The interesting phenomenon in the data is L2 students who score less than 3 out of 6 in the six trait areas never cross the threshold of 3 even after repeated years of attempts. In contrast, L1 students who initially score below 3 do progress; as well as L1 and L2 students that score 3+.

The purpose of the study will be to validate the assessment as a predictive tool to identify at-risk L2 writers as early as Grade 3. If the tool can be validated, we don’t need to wait to investigate intervention strategies before the gap in their development widens.

I would be interested if others have come across any other predictive tools in identifying potential LTELs for early intervention; especially in K-12 schools outside the US.

By: KyKy

KyKy — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 12:27:01 +0000

As students experience unbalanced focus on academic skills, it’s the teachers’ duty to find solutions for it. In my own view, teachers should identify the issues, then give a workshop to students on introduction to academic writing because they don’t know how to do it yet their professors expect them to be proficient in a genre they’ve never encountered. Though tests do not accurately show students’ abilities, it can be effectively used to check the academic skill levels of entering students.

By: Siqi

Siqi — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 03:59:40 +0000

Unbalanced language skills is a quite common problem in China as students are not required to take any oral test during their course of learning English. Students who do pay attention to their oral proficiency are mostly comprised of those who want to pursue higher education in foreign countries, and since English is not used in daily life in China, many students lack the motivation to improve their oral performances.

By: Nguyen Thien Duyen Ngo

Nguyen Thien Duyen Ngo — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 07:11:59 +0000

From my view, the LTELL situation can happen not only in English native speaking countries but also many places in the world. I somehow consider myself as the case of LTELL because of my difficulties in writing the formal essay in my mother tongue as well as in English. I really love reading in both Vietnamese and English; however, my writing skills do not improve that much. I consider this problem as my aptitude and I think it will be an endless fight and try to improve my academic writing skills in both languages.

By: Rochelle

Rochelle — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 11:52:59 +0000

This article reminds me a lot about the people from my country, Singapore. We are bilingual and at the same time, we are also LTELL. Due to our society background with Malays, Indians, and other races, we are brought up in a way to know one another’s languages. At the same time, it becomes hard for us to be proficient in either English or one particular language academically. Albeit this fact, it based on the students’ capabilities, determination, interests, and motivation for the subject.

By: Yan Yan

Yan Yan — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:01:29 +0000

I think this example of Korean students is very typical. Since I am also an international student, I have noticed that many international students are more or less unbalanced in English language communication. For example, some students are better at speaking and some students are better at writing.
In my experience, international students in Asia are better at reading and writing, and international students outside Asia are better at speaking, which may be related to their English learning environment. Of course, there are exceptions to everything, and this is not based on any statistics or research, just my personal experience

By: Cami

Cami — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 09:00:54 +0000

I feel like I can also sympathise with the LTELLs in this piece. I am fluent in Korean, thanks to self-study and also living with Korean housemates. I learnt most of my Korean by listening and speaking to Koreans and my spoken Korean is good enough that people expect to meet a Korean if they have only spoken to me on the phone and not seen me. In contrast, my written Korean is a disaster. One of my friends who is a Korean teacher always compliments me on my spoken Korean but she told me that since my spoken Korean was so good she was completely shocked when she saw my first text message. After living in Korea for a year and texting people more my Korean spelling has improved but my speaking and writing are so far apart I have given up on improving my writing. I was offered work in Korea, due to my ability to speak Korean and English, however I was quite worried about having to write in Korean and can’t say that I have a real command of Korean since the writing side is so underdeveloped. Unlike listening and speaking skills, it is really difficult to develop writing and reading skills unless you are more diligent and search/create opportunities for yourself.

By: tting

tting — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 04:51:33 +0000

Language and culture are closely related. Learning a language is inseparable from the culture in which it is spoken. Usually orally bilingual, but often with limited literacy skills in their first language; and their academic literacy skills in English are not as well developed as their oral language
abilities. They often “stuck” at intermediate levels of English proficiency or below. Some reach higher levels of English proficiency but do not attain adequate English academic language to be reclassified. These students more likely than other students to be identified as having learning disabilities. Some students may become discouraged in school and be at risk of dropping out of school.

By: Duong Khanh Vu

Duong Khanh Vu — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 05:48:45 +0000

This is unfortunately the case for some vagrant understudies. I have as of late run over an understudy whose oracy is of an abnormal state though his composition/perusing abilities don’t match to a similar level in one of the classes I educate. The speed of expanded English capability for the individuals who move from a non-English talking nation to an English-talking one is commonly high. Be that as it may, this learning is separated into two gatherings, initially of talking and besides of different aptitudes.

By: Nidhi Dhir

Nidhi Dhir — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 12:04:43 +0000

learning a second language is always different experience since it is not inherent from childhood like mother tongue. I suppose this article belongs to me as i found my self quite good at speaking and listening and my writing skills are not that much developed. i have learnt english as second language in english medium school but i often find myself struggling in achieving satisfactory results in writing skill. The LTELL circumstance occurs to native English-talking nations as well as in numerous Asian nations. Consistently, there is an extent of learners who move from secondary school yet get themselves unfit to create a scholarly quality article in their local dialect.

By: Xinyue Ji

Xinyue Ji — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 06:36:07 +0000

The author claims that LTELL students are well performed in speaking and social purposes. It’s true because in ELC in Macquarie, one of my classmates was from Philippines and she had no problems in speaking, but she failed in two-thirds of the writing tests. From this situation, I agree with the author that LTELL students should both concentrate on speaking and academic reading and writing. If they don’t, their English may be out of balance and causes trouble for them.

By: Fern

Fern — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 00:12:37 +0000

This is sadly the case for some migrant students. I have recently come across a student whose oracy is of a high level whereas his writing/reading skills do not match to the same level in one of the classes I teach . As a result, he has failed his examination providing him a conditional offer for post graduate studies. He is a physiotherapist by profession and works as an assistant at a practice here in Australia, another reason I believe why his oral communication skills are of a higher standard.
Fortunately, as failures of this course are given special attention in the skills they need to improve on, on an individual basis, he was able to pass his hurdle at the second attempt. I believe that the focus lessons designed for failures by the institution is an attempt at inclusion of students of diverse levels that help students achieve their goals.

By: Ngoc Hiep Nguyen

Ngoc Hiep Nguyen — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 07:16:27 +0000

This is a truly interesting experience shared by the article’s author. I have also heard somewhere in this international education environment that there are usually a few English native speaking students who are bad at their academic (writing) skill, but now it is confirmed by an expert in this field. Some reasons for this phenomenon as given out by the author are so convincing when they illustrate that these natively oral students are so often highly judged in oral presentation that they overlook the other academic skills (reading and writing), and that the the schooling environment does not supply these students with specialized services to afford their academic skills.
From this sharing I may draw out one my own lesson that “practice makes perfect” – in this case it seems to me that the English native speaking students do not spend enough time for academic skill practicing vis-a-vis their oral performance. Also, this story inspires me a lot, a student learning English as a second language, it still have time and space for me to improve my academic writing skill further.

By: Piiigah (kamali)

Piiigah (kamali) — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 08:30:33 +0000

The speed of increased English proficiency for those who move from a non-English speaking country to an English-speaking one is typically very high. However, this knowledge is divided into two groups, firstly of speaking and secondly of other skills. The power of making connections and involving in conversations improve one’s oral skills but academic writing ability is a complicated topic which cannot approach or learnt easily.

By: Lai Ng

Lai Ng — Sun, 16 Sep 2018 09:13:35 +0000

I guess this is my experience as well. As a second language learner, it is understood that sometimes the speaking ability is not equivalent to the writing ability. The illusion of speaking well means writing well is a key issue in tertiary education in western world. More support in academic learning is encouraged in different fields. Academic writing in science papers must be quite different from academic writing in arts subjects. Academic writing is different from the articles we read daily. I am still learning and it is not easy to be skilful in such writing.

By: Anas

Anas — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 22:50:59 +0000

This article excites me for 2 reasons – 1. the relevance to my own personal experience and that of my friends 2. gives me an insight on how I can understand my future students better as I become a teacher in Jordan. This article has basically put into words what I could not as a LTELL. As mentioned previously in my Task 1 comment, many Jordanian students are able to produce coherent and logical verbal arguments in classroom discussions but fail to produce the same level of competency in writing, in particular, academic writing. This could be related to the L1 (Arabic) in which the sentences are frequently long with no or little punctuations. As such, based on this article, I could reflect on my academic educational journey as I weave my way through my L1 and L2.