Goals can be different for different learners. To me, one universal goal,
and a good measurement of one's level, is the number of words known, and I
mean just passively known. This can be relatively easily measured with cloze
tests. If these words have been acquired honestly,  through reading (and
listening) , it usually means that a large number of them have been acquired
incidentally, and that the learner is on his/her way to acquiring more words
in the same way. Eventually, given the opportunity to speak and write, more
and more of these passive words will become active. But passive vocabulary
is the foundation of language growth, and an excellent measurement of
progress, in my view.


Steve
On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 9:16 AM, Sheryl Rogel <srogel at bates.ctc.edu> wrote:


>  Very nicely explained Wayne.  I will be thoughtful about sharing your

> thoughts with our students.  I think this description would be most helpful

> for students in understanding their own language acquisition struggles so

> they can proceed with confidence when setting explicit goals.   Thank you

>

>

>

> Sheryl Rogel

> English Instructor

> Bates Technical College

> 1101 Yakima Ave S

> Tacoma, WA   98498

> 253-680-7267

>

> *"Every study of young writers I've done in the last twenty years has

> underestimated what they can do; in fact, we know very little about the

> human potential for writing."*  Donald Graves

>

>

>  ------------------------------

>

> *From:* englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:

> englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] *On Behalf Of *Wayne Hall

> *Sent:* Saturday, May 10, 2008 1:46 AM

> *To:* The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List

> *Subject:* [EnglishLanguage 2371] Re: advancing competency

>

>

>

> A paradigm that I have used with advanced adult students of English in

> Korea is to tell them that learning a language is a bit like being in a

> small boat on a body of water. When students first begin learning a

> language, it's a bit like being in a small boat that is passing midway down

> a narrow stream. As the boat moves forward, the banks of the stream are

> passing by, so it is easy for the learner/traveller to have a sense of

> progress, and a sense of where they are going.

>

>

>

> When you become an advanced student, however, you have a problem...the

> small stream has opened up into an "ocean" of English. There are no "banks

> of the stream" anymore; nothing to give you a reference point or a sense of

> direction. The language you've learned is now an ocean...it goes on forever,

> and you can "move" and "see" in any possible direction. However, it is now

> very difficult to have a sense of progress or a sense of direction. You can

> move your boat over to the region of legalisms and legal English, for

> example, and study those for a while...but when you finish, there is still

> something else to learn. And there always will be.

>

>

>

> So what does an advanced learner do? They have to develop new tools to

> give themselves a reference point and be able to determine where they are

> going and how they are progressing. They need a "nautical chart": a set of

> explicit goals, means to achieve those goals, and ways or milestones to

> measure your progress. Then we go through an exercise where the students

> have to develop five very explicit, specific goals ffor language

> acquisition, and how they will achieve those goals. For example, one student

> decided she wanted to learn the names of all the Italian spices, and what

> dishes they are used in.

>

>

>

> Wayne Hall

>

> Global Language School

>

> Gumi, Korea

>

>

> *Holly Dilatush <holly at dilatush.com>* wrote:

>

>  Hello Sheryl, all,

>

> a quick response now, maybe more later --

>

> But setting written specific goals and then developing a rubric (with

> input from learner and facilitator/instructor on observed error/challenge

> patterns) --

>

> then ensuring that the rubric is understood, then editing paragraphs with

> a focus on ONLY one rubric item at a time, repeatedly --

>

> challenge the learner to take one paragraph, edit it looking ONLY for ONE

> of the errors she/he is trying to correct,

>

> then have it reviewed by instructor, then edited / perfected again for

> that ONE error only.

>

> Then repeat with another paragraph and another and another until learner

> feels more confident in that skill (this may be a day, days, weeks; varying

> per learner), then POST a written dated track record of progress, and tackle

> the next item -- I've noticed in informal research that this method yields

> positive results, measurable results, and is a motivator, and often rapid

> incremental progress noted, with fewer backslides than other approaches.

>

>

>

> must dash, hope this makes some sense and is helpful in some way -- will

> try to post/share a sample rubric later,

>

> Holly

>

> On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 3:29 PM, Sheryl Rogel <srogel at bates.ctc.edu> wrote:

>

> Greetings.  I am new to this blogging world; thus, I may be not applying

> this form correctly as I am just 'replying to all' via my email.

>

> I am quite interested in the how teachers advance the language of higher

> level learners of English.  In my regular college prep English courses,

> I work with a few students each quarter at this level, and in the last

> week I have been introduced to two young, 14 year old, Chinese students

> attending a local private school who want to advance their English this

> summer.

>

> They have been excellent students in their Chinese schools and their

> thinking shows depth and much of their speaking and writing in our

> language is delightful --- similar to our high school and adult

> students.   However, their writing also reflects a variety of

> misunderstandings about sentence structure and verb and preposition

> choices, as well as a lack of depth in vocabulary, i.e. overuse of words

> such as 'good' - 'nice' - words that appear in primary school readers.

> They are asked to write page+ long assignments and the misunderstandings

> continue to pile up until we must ask,  "Where do we start?"

>

> Any suggestions focusing on strategies, lessons, and/or ideas that have

> been successful in advancing English competency would be welcomed.

> Thank you.

>

>

> Holly (Dilatush)

>

> holly at dilatush.com

> (434) 960.7177 cell phone

> (434) 295.9716 home phone

> [OK to call 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST / GMT -5 time]

>

> "As soon as we begin to generalize, we fail to have meaningful dialogue."

> (Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt, 2008)

>

> "Live with intention. Share inside~out smiles, inspire hope, seek awe and

> nurture in nature."

>

> www.tales-around-the-world.blogspot.com

> www.abavirtual-learningcenter.org

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult English Language Learners mailing list

> EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> Email delivered to bw_hall at yahoo.com

>

>

>

>

>  ------------------------------

>

> Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it

> now.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51733/*http:/mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ%20>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Adult English Language Learners mailing list

> EnglishLanguage at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/englishlanguage

> Email delivered to steve at thelinguist.com

>




-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
1-604-922-8514
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/englishlanguage/attachments/20080512/20ae4488/attachment.html