Language Learning and Teaching (P00368)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : EDU-P-LLTLING

This core course explores critically the relevance of recent theories about language learning to classroom teaching. Coverage of a range of theoretical SLA approaches - cognitive, functionalist, interactionist and so on - is provided at the TESOL and the Learner lectures, for which the main readings are Ellis (1994), Mitchell and Myles (1998). Language Learning and Teaching sessions have been scheduled to run in parallel with the relevant TESOL and the Learner lectures, drawing on them to assess the potential implications of theory and research for teachers' classroom decision-making. The course comprises two week's work on each of five key issues: (1) the role of different forms of interaction in promoting language learning; (2) the notion of the 'communicative' task and task-based learning; (3) the value of a sociocultural perspective - in particular, the Vygotskian concepts of mediation, scaffolding and dialogic interaction; (4) the contemporary debate over the distinction between 'focus on form' or 'focus on forms' (Long) and how best to assisting learners' language awareness and development; and (5) the options and strategies available for promoting learner autonomy. The main readings for Language Learning and Teaching will include research studies (for example, in Lantolf 2000) on the learning and teaching of French, Spanish and Japanese, as well as English.

Venue: IALS, 21 Hill Place

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Education, (The Moray House School of Education, Schedule C)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) 20 minutes per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
18/09/2007	09:00	11:00			IALS, 21 Hill Place

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	09:50	Central
Lecture	Friday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course students will be able to:
- understand better the principles underlying some recent proposals for changes to classroom practice, such as learning activities carried out wholly of partly in the learners' first language
- evaluate the likely benefits of alternative forms of learner activity, such as dictogloss, and teacher activity, such as the provision of feedback, in terms of their potential for promoting learners' language development
- analyse transcripts of classroom interaction to identify language related episodes (Swain), for evidence of short-term noticing and longer-term learning
- appreciate the contextual (e.g. cultural) constraints on attempting to encourage language learners to take more responsibility for their own learning
- assess what may be 'particularisable' (Clarke) from theory- or practice-based proposals in one pedagogic learning/teaching context to the students' own teaching situation.

Assessment Information

Option 1
A portfolio of essays (5,000 words in total) on three of the five key issues - classroom interaction; the role of tasks; sociocultural theory; focus on form; learner autonomy - interpreted in the light of the student's particular teaching context. The portfolio will comprise a 500-word introduction specifying the features of the context and three 1,500-word essays. Each essay will offer a concise literature review and a reasoned outline of the changes the student intends to make to their teaching as a result of their encounter with the literature.

Option 2
A 5,000-word data-based research project, reporting the student's investigation of some aspect of classoom interaction. The specific details will be negotiated individually, but in overall terms, the project will comprise the recording, analysis and interpretation of learner-learner or teacher-learner interaction in a language classroom, with specific reference to one of the five key issues (see Option 1).