The learner speaks very incorrectly, yet she speaks very fluently. She communicates quite well despite her problems with grammar and pronunciation. She seems to have developed a personality in English. She can tell jokes and stories and uses English very frequently. She doesn't have to think before she speaks and never translates. Although she uses articles correctly she cannot explain any of the rules to you. If she makes a mistake with third person singular, and you tell her, then she will correct herself. She is very interested in getting help and feedback on her English. Currently she is studying a grammar book and trying to learn how to use relative clauses so she can start taking regular classes at a community college.

Learner #2

This learner has a Ph.D. in English linguistics. She has a VERY high TOEFL score. She can discuss the most complicated aspects of the English language in Korean with other Korean professors. She cannot however, have a simple conversation. Every time she tries to speak, communication breaks down totally. She has to think about every rule whenever she speaks English. She has to plan out, even the most simple sentences before she speaks. When she tries to speak, her use of morphemes is very inconsistent. For example, she will be talking about her brother and forget to use the third person singular "s" morpheme and then later, realize that she has made this error. Then when she starts to consciously try to use that form correctly, other forms start being used incorrectly.

Mr. Kim is very fluent in English. In fact, he is a professor in an American university. He has some problems with pronunciation however. Recently, while he was teaching, he had some problems. He finished teaching something and then the students were unusually quiet except for a few who didn't seem to be paying attention or a few who were laughing. He got angry and said "Do you understand?" One of the students giggled. He called on her and asked her to summarize. Then she said, "sorry I didn't understand you at all". Afterwards, he concluded that his students are stupid. He thinks they are stupid and lazy and don't pay attention in class.

Sue speaks English very well. She spent a year in America and has studied ESL a lot. She knows many rules but sometimes has trouble applying them. For example, she still forgets to use the third person singular sometimes when speaking, but if you cue her she can correct herself. She just started taking classes here at SMU TESOL and she participates eagerly in class. She doesn't seem to have trouble expressing herself. One of her typical grammar problems, that has become obvious here in the program is her trouble with making relative clauses. For example, instead of saying "It is the theory that Piaget used to explain cognitive development" she will instead say "It is the theory what Piaget used to explain cognitive development." In this case, when the teacher tells her that she is making an error and tries to cue her, she looks very confused and doesn't seem to know what the problem is.

She is a Korean middle school student. She has many English study videos at home but has never gone to a Hakwon before. She studied English in school last year but mostly learned just ABCs. This year she has started taking Hakwon classes with a Native speaker. She thought that she knew a lot until know. Now she realizes that she knows very little. Usually when the teacher speaks she doesn't understand. It is very stressful for her. Sometimes he asks her questions. He tries to make them as simple as possible for her. When he makes the questions very simple she sometimes understands but when she tries to answer it takes her a very long time to even make the most simple sentences or remember the words she needs to use. Generally her answers are only one or two words long. When writing, she tries to make whole sentences. Some of her sentences look like this: "I English good speaking want. But, I am difficult to speak."