The observation of a student in English class

I observed the student three times for 45 minutes. The 45 minutes entailed a whole class period. The main problem with the student I picked out was limited grammar knowledge. The student lacked communicative competence that comes with using various grammar dimensions during class lessons and in conversing with fellow students during group discussions. His main problem in grammar was on proper sentence constructions and keeping in mind grammar rules. These included the appropriate use of conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives. For example, the student had difficulty in using non-specific nouns such as the use of "a," "an," and "the."

The student's problem was most evident in his speech. He significantly tried to correct his mistakes in his written work, but it was still apparent that he was struggling to differentiate between the use or articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. For example, the student confused the use of "a" and "an" in his written work when referring to a fruit or a book. I realized that the student had difficulty in differentiating how to use "a" and "an." The student would write a sentence such as;

“I would like to have a apple.” Or

“I have an new bicycle.”

Although they looked minor and would easily pass a listener's attention, it was evident in his speech while attempting to connect the words. Often, to a beginner, the use of articles and conjunctions is very challenging and chances of mixing up different articles are very high (Yule, 2016). The student could pause, take some time, or stop mid-way before completing the sentence. His conversion was thus comprised of various pauses, stops, and sudden changes of the subject to divert attention from his error. To a great extent, the student was consciously aware of his grammar challenges and minimized the use of words that would put him in difficulty. However, this was very challenging as most of the time in conversations, nouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and articles comprised a large part of a sentence.

Reference

Yule, G. (2016).  The study of language . Cambridge university press. https://alonot.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/The-Study-Of-Language-3Rd-Edition.pdf