Beginning Learners

Beginning Learners 

Brown (2001) characterizes beginning learners as students who have little or no prior knowledge of the target language. With this condition it is quite impossible for the students to be able to comprehend the expression of emotions, needs, thoughts, or desires communicated in English. Their knowledge of English grammar does not permit them to understand the language. Their repertoire of vocabulary is not adequate for the learners to understand communication in English. Their knowledge of English sounds systems and English orthographic system does not allow them from being able to understand written or spoken language in English adequately. That is why, according to Brown (2001), in teaching students of this level the teacher should consider the following factors:

 (1) Students’ cognitive learning process

All the students’ processing with respect to the second language itself is in a focal, controlled mode. Therefore, teacher can expect the students to engage in plenty of repetition of a limited number of words, phrases, and sentences.

(2) The role of the teacher

Beginning students are highly dependent on the teacher for models of language, and so a teacher-centered or teacher-fronted classroom is appropriate for some of your classroom  time. In a foreign language situation, where the students speak the same native language, some negotiation might be possible in the native language, allowing for a small amount of student control

(3) Teacher talk

Teacher’s input in the class is crucial. Every ear and eye are indeed focused on the teacher. Teacher’s own English needs to be clearly articulated. It is important not to let the classes go to excess in the use of the students’ native language.

(4) Authenticity of language

The language that the teacher exposes  his/her students to should be authentic language, not just because students are beginners

(5) Fluency and accuracy

Fluency is a goal at this level but only within limited utterance lengths.

In teaching speaking skills, it is extremely important at this stage that the teacher be very sensitive to students’ need to practice freely and openly without fear of being corrected at every minor flaw. On the other hand, the teacher needs to correct some selected grammatical and phonological errors so that students don’t fall into the trap of assuming that “no news is good news.”

(6) Student creativity

The ultimate goal of learning a language is to be able to comprehend and produce it in unrehearsed situations, which demands both receptive and productive creativity.

(7) Techniques

Short, simple techniques must be used.

(8) Listening and speaking goals

Listening and speaking functions for beginners are meaningful and authentic communication tasks.

(9) Reading and writing goals

Advertisements, forms, and recipes are grist for the beginner’s reading mill, while written work may involve forms, lists, and simple notes and letters.

(10) Grammar

Typical beginning level will deal at the outset with very simple verb forms, personal pronouns, definite and indefinite articles, singular and plural nouns, and simple sentences, in a progression of grammatical topics from simple to complex.

If the teacher is teaching EFL (in a non-English-speaking country) and his/her students all speak the same native language, he/she may profit from occasionally using their native language to explain simple grammatical points.

The development of students’ comprehension is very much influenced by the quantity and the quality of English inputs they are exposed to. The more inputs the learners have the more chances for them to get involved in understanding the messages, and in turn, the more they have understood the messages conveyed through the language the more chance for them to be able to communicate with other people. 

In addition, students’ capacity for taking in and retaining new words, structures, and concepts is limited (Brown, 2001). The implication of this situation is that the teacher should not teach English words, structures, and concepts beyond their retention capacity. Long and detail explanation about language grammar, for instance, is one example, that is recommended not to be used in helping the learners to understand language. The words, structures, and concepts of English language and culture might be better taught through teaching activities that do not require the learners to take and retain those language points for a quite long time. On the contrary, it may be easier for the learners to understand language skills and language concepts through practical activities.