Component Facilitation

Learner's
Background

Learner's name Jaewoon Lim

Age____ Gender M/F 36 // Male

L1 Korean

Level of Education Bachelors Degree in Business

Observed L1 Intermediate/Advanced
proficiency level

Previous L2 experience Middle school and high school English classes, focusing only
on reading.

Academic success Jaewoon scored high on his reading tests in English (no other
methods of testing English were used). His K-12 test scores
were high, however his grades in college were low.

Academic Interests Sociology and history

Academic Focus Business and Mathematics

Previous Career Mathematics teacher at a private institution.

Cognitive
Psychological
Factors

Learning styles Visual learner (slides and diagrams preferred over lectures or
projects)

Learning strategies Walking while reflecting on a lesson from earlier that day to
help reinforce memorization, sometimes walking while looking
at notes. When solving a problem the question is first read
slowly and carefully, and the steps to arrive at the answer are
written down on paper (visual).

Social-Emotional
Psychological
Factors
L2 confidence Very little confidence with English.

Motivational strategies A motivational practice from when he was young was to

imagine himself in the future as a successful adult. A modified
version of this strategy is still used.

Anxiety level Learning English is very stressful.

Attitudes toward He enjoys learning English.

English

Attitudes towards He enjoyed attending school as a student, and enjoyed his

academics time as a teacher.

Past Interests in Past trips for business and pleasure to America planned.
English English would be learned for ease of travel and enjoyment.

Current Interests in Interests in English are based primarily in living in America,

English and an interest in continuing to reside in America. English
learned to comfortably live in a primarily English speaking
country.

Sociocultural Factors

Level of oral When talking to others who share his L1 he only speaks in his
interaction with peers in first language.
English/L1

Family background He has a wife and two sons (ages 4 and 2)

Family use of L1/L2 At home his family only speaks in their L1 (L2 is not practiced)

Current Academic
Factors

Current L2 learning Jaewoon does not take official English classes, however he
environment uses two tutors who focus on different aspects. The tutoring
sessions are largely oral language based, using culture as a
topic point for the lessons.

Use of L1 during Minimal L1 is used during tutoring sessions. English terms for
instruction the L1 word are always provided, often by the student.

TOEFL Test Score 71

 Reading/writing Weekly topical readings are given, and short essays on these
topics are written and reviewed by tutors. Additional text book
reading assignments take place during tutoring assignments.

Listening/speaking Tutoring sessions are largely orally based, with tutors asking
questions to encourage student oral production. Outside of
class English is only used when dealing with English L1
speakers.

Global Assessment

When I first began tutoring Jaewoon Lim I noticed almost immediately that his oral
English skills severely lag behind his written English. He has a large vocabulary, his written
English is decent, and his ability to read and comprehend hefty English texts is impressive.
However, at first even simple questions had to be repeated and reworded a few times for him to
be able to make sense of them, and long pauses were needed before any utterances over a few
words in length could be produced. In South Korea, where Jaewoon is from, English is part of
the curriculum, but spoken English is not always a required part of English learning. Jaewoons
classes in school were composed almost entirely on reading English texts, not writing them, and
certainly not speaking in English.
Jaewoons visual style of learning immediately prepared him for the specific tasks asked
of him during his K-12 years of school, but did not push him to work on the areas of the
language he was not as keyed in on. This focus entirely on reading does account for Jaewoons
beginning trouble areas with English, as well as offer an explanation as to why his vocabulary
was so advanced when he was noticeably lacking in other areas.
Jaewoon may prefer visual learning styles, but fortunately he learns from audio focused
lessons very easily, and has been able to translate some of the techniques he employs when
reading into a modified form for listening. When listening, especially when listening to quickly
spoken English, Jaewoon uses key vocabulary words and context to glean meaning from an
utterance, and he is quick to ask clarification questions as they are needed. While he is not
taking any official English classes, he has two separate English tutors, and both of his tutoring
sessions focus heavily on oral discussions in order to allow him the maximum amount of practice
with spoken English.
Jaewoon is a quick study, and despite the lack of previous oral L2 practice, the focus on
oral language in his tutoring sessions has allowed him to advance quickly. While he is still not
near a native speakers English abilities, over the course of a few months he has managed to
move himself from a beginner/intermediate level to an intermediate/advanced level. His ability
to successfully communicate his thoughts and ideas in both writing and speaking are at an
advanced level, however because his growth in all areas of English outside of reading happened
in a relatively short and rapid period of time there are grammatical mistakes he makes that are
often not apparent in advanced speakers who are regularly attending ESOL classes. However,
these errors are usually slight, and do not usually affect the comprehensibility of his words.
Despite the limited nature of his previous English classes, Jaewoon has been practicing
from a relatively young age in a controlled academic setting. It has not given him much
experience in actual English communication, but it has offered a good foundation of English
knowledge on which to build his current communication skills. On top of that, Jaewoon has
done relatively well in his academic career when he puts effort into his studies. By his own
admission, his grades in university were poor, because of a lack of studying and a focus on a
social life. His grades in high school and middle school, however, were very good, and he
consistently scored well on his English reading tests. His interests in academics extended to a
teaching career in mathematics, despite the fact that his degree in college was in business.
When he applies himself Jaewoon seems to have a knack for learning, and learns new
vocabulary and terminology quickly, however certain grammatical elements can be challenging
for him. While he usually understands these elements when they are explained to him, and can
use them correctly when explicitly asked to produce sentences or utterances using these
elements, he will often omit them or use them incorrectly when focusing on explaining his ideas
or thoughts on an unrelated topic matter.
The most difficult areas of grammar for him seem to be articles, prepositions, and verb
tenses. Often these problems seem small, and do not create much, if any, confusion in his
sentences. However, all of these listed grammatical issues are systematic and are worth focusing
on, as their small presence in sentences often enables Jaewoon to overlook these errors he should
be self-monitoring for. Verb tenses in particular can affect sentence comprehensibility the most,
and should be adjusted sooner rather than later.
Jaewoon also does not practice English much outside of the classroom. Jaewoons
normal methods of study involve self-reflection and isolated thoughts. When learning another
language communication is key in order to advance your skills. According to Jaewoon most
Koreans living in the United States that he knows do not like to use English when speaking to
each other. There is a perceived lack in their own skill and fluency that can make many speakers
self-conscious, and the fact that within their own community is the only place they are able to
relax and speak their native language. Despite his quick growth in English learning, Jaewoon
also admits to feeling like his English is lacking, and finds his inability to fluently speak English
at times stressful.
He also does not practice English at home with his wife and two sons. His wife is a
student at the University of Virginia, and does use English in her own classroom settings. His
sons are four and two years old respectively, and the four-year-old son is on the autism spectrum.
Both Jaewoon and his wife have decided to attempt to continue residing in America in large part
due to the fact that the United States offers more support and special attention in school to
children on the spectrum. Though Jaewoon and his sons could benefit from increased English
use at home, Jaewoon and his wife have understandably opted to focus on teaching their sons
Korean, so they do not lose their L1 as they grow up in America.
While Jaewoon learns very quickly on his own, and can retain a great deal of knowledge
almost immediately after learning it, he needs to practice it in order to feel more comfortable
with the language. Jaewoon is also looking to get a job that makes enough money to help
support his family, but is also intellectually stimulating enough to keep him engaged. He is
interested in finding a position as a professor at a local community college, but in order to teach
he will need a variety of lessons and practice with academic English, as well as the interpersonal
English he is currently learning, and would benefit from at least auditing a college class in order
to gain more experience with the type of language used in academic settings.