Principles and Practices of English Language Teaching
Code: 45371 ECTS Credits: 5| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| English Studies: Linguistic, Literary and Sociocultural Perspectives | OP | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Julio Miguel Cebrian Puyuelo
- Email:
- juli.cebrian@uab.cat
Teachers
- Elisabet Pladevall Ballester
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have a C1 level of English according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) to follow the course as well as oral and written English academic skills.
Previous knowledge of linguistics is necessary to be able to follow this subject. In particular, knowledge of English grammar and of general and English phonetics will facilitate following the content of this subject.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The aim of this course is to analyse theoretical approaches to the teaching of foreign languages and English in particular, to become familiar with the most relevant teaching and learning techniques, to analyse various teaching contexts and factors that may play a role, and to assess the importance and role of pronunciation in foreign language learning and the most effective pronunciation teaching methods.
Learning Outcomes
- CA22 (Competence) Formulate research proposals to correct gender inequalities in English as a foreign language teaching and learning environments.
- CA26 (Competence) Create teaching sequences and innovative educational material to teach English as a foreign language.
- CA27 (Competence) Design activities and questionnaires to evaluate the impact of English as a foreign language teaching programmes.
- KA28 (Knowledge) Identify the main theoretical approaches to the study of learning and teaching English as a foreign language.
- KA29 (Knowledge) Relate theoretical concepts and approaches to teaching and classroom management practices in English as a foreign language teaching and learning contexts.
- SA35 (Skill) Organise data collected in EFL teaching and learning environments based on codification.
- SA36 (Skill) Analyse different management practices both in the classroom and in teaching planning when teaching English as a foreign language.
- SA37 (Skill) Examine the different individual factors that impact teaching and learning English as a foreign language.
- SA38 (Skill) Use tools for analysing data collected in EFL teaching and learning environments.
Content
The course is structured around two main issues: a general introduction to the teaching of foreign languages and the teaching of grammar (topics 1, 2, and 3; taught by Dr. Elisabet Pladevall, from February 11 to March 18) and the teaching of the pronunciation of a foreign language (topics 1, 4 and 5; taught by Dr. Juli Cebrian, from March 25 to April 29).
Content
1. Basic concepts in the study of the learning and teaching foreign languages.
2. Approaches and methodologies in the teaching of foreign languages.
3. The teaching of grammar.
4. Relevant theories and key factors in the learning and teaching of pronunciation.
5. Approaches and techniques for teaching the different features of English pronunciation (consonants and vowels, accent, rhythm, intonation).
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures | 15 | 0.6 | |
| Practical sessions | 15 | 0.6 | |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Assignments | 30 | 1.2 | |
| Readings and discussion | 20 | 0.8 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Homework exercises, reading and study | 20 | 0.8 |
Master classes and practical classes, readings and discussion, homework exercises, exercises done in class and/or in the laboratory, discussion of exercises and assignments, class presentations, data collection and analysis.
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.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 40% | 8 | 0.32 | CA26, CA27, KA29, SA35, SA36, SA37 |
| Final papers or exams | 50% | 10 | 0.4 | CA22, CA26, CA27, KA28, KA29, SA35, SA36, SA37, SA38 |
| Practical activities and class participation | 10% | 7 | 0.28 | CA22, KA28, SA36 |
- Final papers or exams: 50% (at the end of the term)
- Assignments: 40% (throughout the course)
- Practical activities and class participation: 10% (throughout the course)
Students are required to complete all the assignments and final papers or exams to pass the course.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade if they have not completed more than 30% of the assessment items.
Exam or paper review procedure
On carrying out each assessment 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
The reassessment of this subject will be carried out item by item with the following conditions:
- Students must have completed a minimum of two thirds of the assessment items and must have an average course grade of at least 3.5 out of 10.
- Only items with a grade lower than 4 may be reassessed.
- The maximum grade for any reassessment item is 5 out of10.
IMPORTANT: PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources –whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text– with the intention of passing it off as the student’s own production. It includes cutting and pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student’s own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors’ intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
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 for this 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. Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indicating authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.
Important note for exchange students (Erasmus, etc.) on exams and other tests. Erasmus students who request to bring forward an exam or any other type of assessment activity must present the teacher with an official document from their home university justifying their request.
Single evaluation
Students opting for a single evaluation of the subject will be assessed by means of a final paper or exam (50% of the final mark) and a practical exam and analysis of data (40% of the final mark). The date of the single-assessment exam and of the submission of the paper or assignments will generally coincide with the date for the final exam or paper submission in the continuous assessment. Reassessment will follow the same conditions as in continuous assessment.
Bibliography
Avery, Peter & Ehrlich, Susan. (1992) Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Benati, Alessandro & Schwieter, John, W. (2019). Pedagogical Interventions to L2 Grammar Instruction. In J. W. Schwieter & A. Benati, (eds). The Cambridge Handbook of Language Learning (pp. 477-499). Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. 477-499.
Brown, Adam. (2014). Pronunciation and Phonetics. A practical guide for English Language teachers. Routledge.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne, Donna Brinton, Janet M. Goodwin. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: a reference for teachers of English to speakers of other language. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Derwing, Tracey M. & Munro, Murray J. (2015). Pronunciation Fundamentals: Evidence-based Perspectives for L2 teaching and research. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Hall, Graham (2016). Introduction. English language teaching in the contemporary world. In G. Hall (ed.)The Routledge Handbook of English Language Teaching (pp. 1-10). Routledge.
Hall, Graham (2025). Method and Postmethod in Language Teaching. Routledge.
Harmer, Jeremy (2007). The practice of English language teaching (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
Harmer, Jeremy (2007). How to Teach English. New Edition. Pearson Education.
Kelly, Gerald. (2000). How to teach pronunciation. Harlow : Longman.
Kenworthy, Joanne. (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation. London: Longman.
Kirkova-Naskova, Anastazija; Henderson, Alice, & Fouz-González, Jonás. (eds.) (2021). English Pronunciation Instruction. Research-based insights. John Benjamins.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane and Marti Andreson (2011). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. OUP.
Levis, John. (2007). Computer technology in teaching and researching pronunciation. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 27:184 – 202. DOI: 10.1017/S0267190508070098
Levis, John. (2018). Intelligibility, oral communication and the teaching of pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.
Loewen, Shawn. (2020). Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.
Loewen, Shawn & Sato, Masatoshi (2024). A Practical Guide to Second Language Teaching and Learning. Cambridge University Press.
Munro, Murray J. & Tracey Derwing. (1995). Foreign accent, comprehensibility, and intelligibility in the speech of second language learners. Language Learning 45:1, pp. 73-97.
Murphy, John (Ed.). (2017). Teaching the Pronunciation of English: Focus on Whole Courses. University of Michigan Press ELT. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.8307407
Nassaji, Hossein. (2017). Grammar Acquisition. In Loewen, Shawn and Sato, Masatoshi (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Routledge.
Renandya, Willy A. & Widolo, Handoyo P. (2016). English Language Teaching Today: An Introduction. In W. A. Renandya and H. P. Widolo (Eds.) English Language Teaching Today. Linking Theory and Practice (pp. 3-12). Springer.
Richards, Jack C. & Rodgers, Theodore S. (2022). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Scrivener, Jim. (2010). Teaching English Grammar. What to Teach and How to Teach it. Macmillan Education.
Ur, Penny. (2024). A Course in English Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
Online resources
See English phonetics and pronunciation in Barcelona for an extensive and up-to-data list of online resources on general phonetics, English phonteics and English pronunciation (https://englishphoneticsbcn.com/).
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/resources
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/resources-for-teachers/
Software
Praat (speech analysis software): www.praat.org
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |