Dtlls - Analyse a Chosen Resource

The text was taken from Writing Skills: A problem-solving approach by Coe, Rycroft and Ernest (see Appendix 1).  

The book is a FCE level textbook, originally published in 1983, and from this we can surmise that some, if not the majority, of the tasks will be more relevant to the lives of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students as opposed to ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).   It is not an ideal distinction but for the purposes of this essay is taken to mean those students from overseas who are here to improve their English before returning home, or going onto university/further study and those who have settled in the UK and need English for their everyday lives, who often have a refugee/asylum seeker background or speak a community language respectively.

Learners: This is a group of L1 learners, some of whom are working towards the Skills for Life examinations in all skills.   The learners are all from outside the UK, with the largest country groups being represented by China, Iran and Afghanistan.   One Chinese student is classed as a home student equivalent, whereas the remainder are Full-time Overseas Students (International).   The majority of the students have a refugee/asylum seeker background, with a further two coming from Holland.   Their ages range from 18 to mid 40s.   Additionally, whereas the International students have all completed secondary education and perhaps the first years of a degree course not all the refugee/asylum seekers will have done so.   This is especially so for the younger members of the class, who perhaps left their countries before completing secondary education.   Few of the students have jobs; those that do are employed part-time in jobs ranging from taxi-driving to health and social care. The majority of the class are in receipt of some form of benefits, either Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or NASS – payments made to asylum seekers.

The text has been made to resemble a page from a travel brochure or one-page...