Teaching Methodology
Code: 100259 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500245 English Studies | OT | 3 | 2 |
| 2500245 English Studies | OT | 4 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Elisabet Pladevall Ballester
- Email:
- elisabet.pladevall@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- english (eng)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Prerequisites
Students should have passed Use of English 1 and 2 to register for the course.
The course requires an initial level of English of C2-Proficiency of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. With C2, students can understand almost everything they read or hear without effort; they can summarise information from different oral and written sources, reconstruct facts and arguments and present them in a coherent way; they can express themselves spontaneously, with fluency and precision, distinguishing subtle nuances of meaning even in the most complex situations.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This basically practical subject applies theories of Second Language Acquisition to the learning and teaching of foreign languages. It focuses on the knowledge and teaching techniques that an English language teacher needs to know. This applies to both general English teaching and teaching in more specific contexts. This subject complements another two courses called English LAnguage Acquisition and Individual Learning Factors.
By the end of the course students will:
- understand and critically analyse different teaching methododologies and theories of instructed second language acquisition.
- have mastered a set of teaching techniques
- be equipped to design teaching materials relevant to the four skills
- be able to critically evaluate published material.
This year and as an optional activity, this course will ask students to carry out on the the assessment activities within the callenge based learning methodology. Those students who opt for this will face real problems identified by real professional agents so that they can identify and define them and put forward a number of solutions. Challenge-based learning is a widely recognised approach which allows students to deal with real cases as well as place them in key environments for their future professional careers.
Competences
- English Studies
- Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
- Describe synchronously the main grammar units, constructions and phenomena of the English language.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
- Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
- Generate innovative and competitive proposals in research and professional activities.
- Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Using the acquired knowledge in order to solve problems related to any professional activity in the field of the English language, specially to the teaching.
- Working in an autonomous and responsible way in a professional or research environment in English or other languages, in order to accomplish the previously set objectives.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply the acquired knowledge in order to improve the general knowledge of linguistic and cultural diversity.
- Apply the acquired knowledge to the generation of innovative and competitive research on a basic level.
- Applying the acquired methodologies of work planning to work in an environment in the English language.
- Applying the acquired scientific and work planning methodologies to the research in English.
- Applying the knowledge about language teaching as a context of learning and the types of discourse in the classroom from the communicative to the non-communicative aspects.
- Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
- Demonstrate a master of the specific methods of individual academic work that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
- Describing the contemporary currents of teaching of languages.
- Designing educational activities in order to develop oral and written expression and comprehension, as well as to develop the grammar and lexical knowledge of students, selecting and adapting published educational resources and authentic material.
- Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Generate strategies to facilitate the increase and improvement of mutual respect in multicultural environments.
- Mastering the advanced knowledge and scientific methodologies related to linguistics, literature, history and culture that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
- Organising the teaching in situations where languages are being used with certain aims.
- Planning the teaching unit: establishing the linguistic and communicative teaching objectives of every unit, selecting the educational resources and most appropriate activities, and establishing the organizational patterns in every unit.
- Produce new professional initiatives.
- Properly analysing and using both published and authentic educational material in order to complement class activities.
- Recognising the nature of errors and applying the different oral and written correction techniques, adapting them to every task carried out by the student.
- Relating the individual factors with the linguistic and psychological theories of first and second languages.
- Students must analyse the nature of the acquisition of every receptive and productive skill, and the learning of grammar and vocabulary.
- Students must be capable of comprehending advanced academic or professional texts in their own language or the another acquired in the degree.
- Students must be capable of precisely arguing ideas and opinions in their own language or another acquired in the degree.
- Using techniques to present and practice languages, integrating formal (grammar, vocabulary) and functional aspects (communicative purposes).
Content
Instructed Second Language Acquisition (implicit and explicit knowledge, focus on form and focus on meaning)
Language teaching methodologies.
CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)
The learner: young learners, adults, primary and secondary learners. Individual differences in foreign language learning.
The teacher
Material design and lesson planning.
Methodology
The following teaching methods will be used:
Guided activities (Theoretical and practical sessions)
- Lectures with ICT support and class discussion.
- Practical exercises.
Supervised activities (tutorial sessions and oral presentations)
- Tutorial sessions to provide feedback on course assignments.
- Teaching unit preparation and presentation (microteaching).
Autonomous activities (Read and study time, online activities and course assignments)
- Reading selected bibliography.
- Individual and groups assignments and projects.
If students decide to carry out the classroom observation following the challenge-based learning methodology, this item and the lesson planning and microteaching will be done in groups of 3 and will be assessed together. These groups will have to go through 3 stages which will lead to the final presentation of results: discovery, research and proposals for improvement. The groups will have to identify a problem in an English classroom and propose ideas to improve it.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures with ICT support | 25 | 1 | 16 |
| Practical exercises and class discussions | 25 | 1 | 16, 3, 4, 2, 21, 20, 9, 22 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Teaching unit preparation and presentation (microteaching) | 15 | 0.6 | 3, 21, 9, 22 |
| Tutorial sessions | 10 | 0.4 | 20, 22 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Read and study time, course assignments | 50 | 2 | 16, 3, 4, 2, 21, 20, 9, 15, 22 |
Assessment
Assignment 1 (Critical review): 15%
Assignment 2 (Classroom observation): 15%
Lesson planning and microteaching: 35%
Final exam: 35%
Assignment 2 and Lesson planning are assessed togehter if the student decides to take part in challenge-based learning (50%).
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
The level of English (C2) will be taken into account in the correction of written work and in the final evaluation.
Procedure for reviewing grades awarded
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
Reassessment
Only those students who have handed in all assessment activities, have obtained a final mark higher than 3,5 and have passed 50% of the course will be elligible for reassessment. Those items with a mark lower than 4 will have to be reassessed (irrespective of the final mark). Students are not allowed to sit reassessment to improve their marks.
The maximum mark a student can obtain in reassessing a given item is a 5.
Please note:
VERY IMPORTANT: Total or partial plagiarism of any of the exercises will automatically be considered "fail" (0) for the whole course, not only for the plagiarized item. Plagiarism is copying one or more sentences from unidentified sources, presenting it as original work (THIS INCLUDES COPYING PHRASES OR FRAGMENTS FROM THE INTERNET AND ADDING THEM WITHOUT MODIFICATION TO A TEXT WHICH IS PRESENTED AS ORIGINAL). Plagiarism is a serious offense. Students must learn to respect the intellectual property of others, identifying any source they may use, and take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the texts they produce.<spanstyle="font-size: small;">
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero forthis activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1: Critical review | 15% | 5 | 0.2 | 16, 19, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 21, 20, 12, 7, 8, 9, 10, 6, 15, 17, 22 |
| Assignment 2: Classroom observation | 15% | 5 | 0.2 | 16, 19, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 21, 20, 12, 7, 8, 9, 10, 6, 15, 17, 22 |
| Final exam | 35% | 2 | 0.08 | 16, 19, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 21, 20, 12, 7, 8, 9, 10, 6, 15, 17, 18, 22 |
| Lesson planning and presentation (microteaching) | 35% | 13 | 0.52 | 16, 19, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1, 21, 20, 12, 7, 8, 9, 10, 6, 11, 15, 13, 14, 17, 22 |
Bibliography
Benati, Alessando (2013). Issues in Second Language Teaching. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd edition) Heinle & Heinle.
Cook, Vivian (2016). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. New York: Routledge.
De Graaf, Rick and Alex Housen (2009). Investigating the Effects and Effectiveness of L2 Instruction. In M. H. Long and C. Doughty (eds.) The Handbook of Language Teaching (pp. 726-755). Oxford: Blackwell.
Ellis, Rod (2003). Task-based language learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ellis, Rod (2008). Principles of Instructed second language acquisition. CAL Digest, available at http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/instructed2ndlang.html
Ellis, Rod (2009). Task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 221-246.
Hall, Graham (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Language Teaching. New York: Routledge.
Harmer, Jeremy (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.
Harmer, Jeremy (2007). How to Teach English. New Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Hedge, Tricia (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford:Oxford University Press
Hughes, Glyn, Josephine Moate and Tiina Raakitainen (2007). Practical Classroom English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane and Marti Andreson (2011). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP.
Lightbown, Patsy and Spada, Nina (2006). How Languages are Learned. 3rd Edition.Cambridge: CUP.
Loewen, Shawn (2015). Introduction toInstructed Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge.
Long, Mike (2015) Second Language Acquisition and Task-Based Language Teaching. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Mitchell, Rosamond, Myles, Florence and Marsden, Emma (2019). Second Language Learning Theories. New York: Routledge.
Richards, Jack C. and Willy A. Renandya (eds.) (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Richards, Jack C. and Theodore Rodgers (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Scrivener, Jim (2005). Learning Teaching (2nd Edition) London:Macmillan
Willis, Dave & Willis, Jane (2007). Doing Task-Based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Software
Not applicable.