A Successful Language
Learner -- Alan Hong
9231304 Erica Chang
9231308 Fanny Yang
9231380 Jessica Chiu
9231382 Stacy Fang
9231390 Charlotte Shi
Five Stages
elementary school ~ junior high school
five-year college & a month studying
abroad
NKFUST
preparing for TOFEL & GRE tests
master study in the U.S.
First Stage
1.1 Elementary school
 Background
Alan’s parents asked him to go to cram school to learn
English when he was in the six-grade.
 Learning environment
Alan’s teacher did some activities such as playing games
in the class.
 Alan’s reflection
He was not interested in learning English then. He
didn’t remember what he learned in the cram school.
First Stage
1.2 Junior high school
 Background
Alan studied English as a required course in the
junior high school.
 Learning environment
1. Teachers taught English in a traditional way.
For example, teachers read and translated the content
in the textbooks (grammar-translation approach).
2. Besides, they also asked students to memorize a lot of
vocabulary and grammar rules. At the same time,
students had to take a lot of quizzes (audiolingual
approach).
First Stage
1.2 junior high school
Learning environment
3. If students didn’t get good grades, teachers
punished them (behaviorism).
Alan’s reflection
In this kind of teaching approach, Alan didn’t
like English very much.
He studied English for avoid being punished.
(Instrumental motivation)
Second Stage
2.1 The first year in the junior college:
 Background
He was a first year student in the junior college.
 Learning environment
During this time, his English teachers gave lessons in
traditional ways. In class, the teacher controlled
everything.
 Alan’s reflection
He thinks this kind of class, a traditional class, has its
advantage and disadvantage.
Second Stage
2.2 The summer English course:
 Background
In the second year of his junior college ,he got a
chance to have a summer English course in America.
 Learning environment
He mainly had three courses, which are pronunciation,
reading, and writing courses.
 Alan’s reflection
He started to become interested in learning English.
He started to have motivation to learn English.
Second Stage
2.3 The second year in the junior college:
 Background
Some English courses were different from the previous
ones. Meanwhile, he participated in many English speech
contests, which helped to build his confidence in English
learning.
 Learning environment
A course that impressed Alan most was “English Speaking
and Communication.” In this course, the students always
sat in a circle.
 Alan’s reflection
About the class
About the speech contests
Second Stage
2.4 The summer camp:
 Background
Because of winning the prize in the competition, Alan
got a chance to join a summer camp for free.
 Learning environment
They had a variety of different courses there, such as
American cooking, videotaping, movie appreciation,
and so forth.
 Alan’s reflection
Attending those different cooperative activities
increased not only his self-confidence but also his
motivation to keep on learning English.
Third Stage
Background
Alan preferred to learn applied English (i.e.,
speaking) to literature, so he chose to study in
two-year college instead of general university.
Alan studied in NKFUST for two years.
Learning environment
Teachers did a lot of activities in classes.
For example, group work.
Third Stage
 Alan’s learning and reflection
1. For Alan, he liked to participate in group
discussion and interact with other people.
2. This kind of teaching approach is good for Alan to
practice speaking English. Besides, he shared his
ideas and learned many things from others.
(Interactionist Position)
3. The communication strategy: circumlocution.
4. He made good use of every chance to practice
speaking English and tried his best to express his idea
in English.
Fourth Stage
 Background: after graduating from the NKFUST
 Preparing for the TOFEL test
high motivation
think in English way
monitor himself
notice & restructure
 Preparing for the GRE test
be confident & willing to give a try
practice and practice
Fifth Stage
Background:
Indiana University - Language Education
 Alan’s learning attitude
 Alan’s learning motivation
 Teachers’ teaching styles
 How to overcome frustration
Conclusion
High motivation & self-confidence
Find his own way and take charge of his
learning.
Make opportunities for practicing English.
Learn to use effective strategies.