ASSIGNMENT – IF

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN THE LEARNER’S DEVELOPMENT

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

This assignment has to be done in pairs following these formatting guidelines:

- Length: 6 pages (cover, table of contents, and appendices are not included in the
page count).
- Font: Arial or Times New Roman.
- Font size: 11.
- Line spacing: 1.5.
- Alignment: Justified.

The assignment has to be written in this Word document and has to follow the
instructions on quotes and references detailed in the Study Guide.

Also, the assignment has to be submitted following the procedure specified in the
document: “Subject Evaluation”. Sending it to the tutor’s e-mail is not allowed.

It is strongly recommended to read the assessment criteria, which can be found in the
document “Subject Evaluation”.

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Assignment instructions:
Design a questionnaire to retrieve information on a group of students and their learning
needs.

The assignment has to include the following sections:

a) Description of the context the questionnaire is designed for (institution,

characteristics of the course, number of students, etc.).
b) Questionnaire proposal.
c) Justification of questionnaire design: all the questions included in the
questionnaire must be justified regarding the group of students it is designed for
and the contents covered in “Individual factors in the learner’s development”.

Important: you have to write your personal details and the name of the subject on
the cover (see the template on the next page). You have to include a table of
contents after the cover. Assignments that do not fulfil these conditions will not
be corrected.

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Students’ full names: Tania Escalona Ostalé

Group: 2017-06

Date: October 15th/2018

A) DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEXT

This questionnaire is designed in order to identify students’ needs in an intermediate
course in English as a second language at the university of Zaragoza. They are around
50 students and their English proficiency is B1-B2 according to the international
framework for teaching languages. They have to take an exam in order to know their
average level before starting their English courses in such a way that students who get
a better grade are promoted to higher levels and students getting the lowest grades are
organized in groups.

B) QUESTIONNAIRE PROPOSAL

Name

Age

Degree

Academic year

Give a number to the following states where 1-5 correspond to:

1  none
5  a lot

1. What motives you to learn a second language?

 I would like to meet new people and be able to communicate with

them

 I want to understand English books, films, magazines, newspapers...

 To use in my future for getting a job

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 I like the language and I feel motivated just to learn but I don’t have a
specific purpose in mind

2. How often do you use the English language in your daily life?

 Working

 Reading books

 Doing career’s jobs

 Using internet

 Listening songs

 Watching films

 Talking with friends

3. Your confidence and proficiency when you are…

 Reading and understanding articles, magazines, newspapers…

 Talking in English

 Writing letters, emails, academic essays…

 Participating in conversations in small groups

 Listening and understanding songs, films, conversations…

4. How do you think that you achieve better results in English

learning?

 Speaking with other people

 Doing exercises after reading the grammar

 Listening the teacher

 Reading books, articles…

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 Watching films and series

 Searching the information on your own

 Memorizing the different rules

5. How do you prefer working in class?

 In pairs

 Individually

 In groups

 In a big group

6. How much time do you use to prepare this subject? (Outside the
class)

 Every day

 Just before the exam

 Twice a week

 Other time (To specify)

7. How do you prefer to check the homework?

 To compare with classmates

 The teacher asks a student directly

 Be a voluntary

 To send the activity to the teacher

8. Regarding your expectations on this subject give a number

according to the importance you give.

 Acquisition of vocabulary and expressions

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 Ability to communicate with native people

 To read an English paper

 To write in English

 Mastery of the four skills

C) JUSTIFICATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Question 1. Why do you want to learn English?

Question 2. How often do you use the English language in your daily life?

Question 1 and 2 is related to the motivational factor because it is not possible to think
of learning without motivation. It is the main and key factor in learning a second language.
Motivation could be defined as "impulse, emotion or desire and these terms motivate the
learners to perform in a particular action" (Brown, 1994). Oxford and Shearin (1994)
mostly agreed with Brown as they believe in self-desire to achieve a goal.

The question one has four different answers. Some of them are related to intrinsic
motivation. In other words, the student learns because of self-satisfaction. On the other
hand, when students learn a language for getting a job or a better salary, we can refer
to extrinsic motivation.

We as teachers can make the materials or classroom atmosphere more attractive.

Students can learn in a very positive way. If students feel demotivated to learn teachers
could bring some positive points to motivate them. Students who have a positive attitude
and motivation will surely succeed to achieve their goal. In consequence, students will
be able to use English in more diverse situations.

Question 3. Your confidence and proficiency when you are…

Question 4. How do you think that you achieve better results in English learning?

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I believe that these two questions can give the student and the teacher information about
the learning process. Each student can identify the aspects which he is not so good.
Perhaps, we can see each of their capacities, abilities and the difficulties. Teacher and
student can work together and improve the learning.

Question 5. How do you prefer working in class?

I added this question because I believe that the way of learning is important. Some
students prefer working in groups, socializing. On the other hand, some students favour
working individually.

Question 6. How much time do you use to prepare this subject? (Outside the class)

Turney said “that the two major factors in school achievement are intelli­gence and
motivation, and that the latter is most important.” Book likewise asserts that “motivation
is the control factor in every learning process.” In the same manner McMurry concluded
“I believe that motivation is the most important principle in education.”

It's clear that if a student spends a lot of time studying the subject is because of two
factors. The first one, the student needs time to understand the subject's content and the
second one could be that the student is motivated to learn. If the student is motivated,
he will be able to learn more and better.

Question 7. How do you prefer to check the homework?

This question reflects different ways to check the homework. Motivation and shame could
influence the student's answer. The teacher will be able to detect shame students to
speak English. After revising the questionnaire, the teacher can ask students because
of the answer.

Question 8. Regarding your expectations on this subject give a number according

to the importance you give.

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This last question tries to summarize the student's needs and what they desire to learn
on the course. In general, speaking is usually the most important skill for our students.
However, I would like to know the importance they give to the rest of the skills.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Ellis, R. (1994). The study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxfor: Oxford

University

- Grenfell, M. & Harris, V. (1999). Modern Languages and Learning Strategies: In

Theory and Practice. London: Routledge

- Oxford, R. L. (1994). Language learning strategies: UN updates ERIC Digest, ERIC

Digest. ERIC clearinghouse and linguistic Washington DC.

- Oxford, R.L. (2001). “Language learning strategies” in R. Carter & D. Nunan. (Eds.).
The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (p 21).
UK: Cambridge University Press

- Ushioda, E. (2012). Motivation: L2 Learning as a Special Case? En S. Mercer, S.

Ryan y M. Williams (Eds.). Psychology for Language Learning. Nueva York: Palgrave
Macmillan

WEBGRAPHY

http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/motivation/importance-of-motivation-in-
learning-657-words/5998 (accessed Oct 2019)