Module LANG40315: LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Department: English Language Centre

LANG40315: LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODOLOGY

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• at the end of this module, students will:
• have acquired an up-to-date understanding of the principles currently considered relevant to (English) language teaching methodology
• to develop a principled, theoretically supportable rationale to guide decisions about syllabus design, materials development and language teaching practice
• to be able to evaluate critically and, where appropriate, rethink existing practice and methodological stance

Content

• the content of this module is designed to raise awareness of major issues in language teaching and learning, including how practice is informed by theory, thereby determining the methods/approaches as well as the materials teachers use and their impact in language classrooms. This will involve revisiting established methods/syllabus principles and re-analysing their appropriateness in view of new knowledge about language and the changing role of English in the world, as well as considering radical alternatives such as the postmethod hypothesis. It will also involve considering the extent to which both cognitively and affectively motivated contemporary mainstream approaches and instruction procedures are theoretically supportable and whether current pedagogy has found the right balance between learning language and learning to learn.

Learning Outcomes

• a developed understanding of the major issues of debate in language teaching methodology and the implications of these for language teachers and learners, leading to a developed understanding of the principles guiding current approaches to language teaching and an assessment of their relevance to the students' future professional practice and teaching context (specific)

• the ability to design appropriate syllabuses, select and develop relevant materials and take principled decisions about (English) language teaching practice
• the ability to identify new trends as they emerge in the future and to evaluate their relevance to English language teaching

• ability to read, understand and evaluate primary texts in language teaching methodology
• ability to contribute to debate in areas relevant to professional practice and the rationale on which it draws

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• the teaching modes will include pre-class study of recorded powerpoint-based tutor presentations, tutor-fronted sessions, student-led seminars, discussions, debates, workshops, mini-conferences and experiential activities designed to raise awareness of methodological issues in ELT. As well as engaging actively with the reading required for the classes, the students will be expected to formulate positions and argue over them in class. There will be advance reading and study for some classes and follow up reading for others, much of it drawn from research and professional journals. The assessment will be 'continuous' in the sense that the students will have tasks whose relevance will be increasingly clear as their learning progresses and which will therefore require ongoing revision as a calculated part of the writing task.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Summary presentations of teaching 'styles' (Cook, 2008). Reflective journal based on past and present learning experiences.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University