Teaching the Spoken Language (P00388)

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

This option course focuses on the evaluation and design of classroom materials for teaching listening and speaking. It begins with Allwright's fundamental question - What do we need teaching materials for? It then analyses the system and skill components that make up the macro-skills of listening (Rost) and speaking (Bygate, Hughes), how they can be developed in classroom tasks in a principled way, and the extent to which specific materials do that effectively. Among the issues addressed in evaluating materials are the authenticity of text and task. As well as evaluating published materials, the course includes the design of listening/speaking tasks based on non-pedagogic texts, which leads on to discussion of alternative forms of grading (e.g. text, task and interaction-based). This option course draws most directly on the students' learning in the core courses Language Learning and Teaching and Language Description for Language Teaching, as well as on their previous classroom experience. Among the key readings is the Council of Europe volume on language materials development (Fenner and Newby 20), featuring contributions on a wide range of European languages.

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 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 20 minutes per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
09/01/2008	12:00	13:00			IALS, 21 Hill Place

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Wednesday	12:10	13:00	Central
Lecture	Friday	11:10	13:00	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students will:
- be aware of research into the interplay of the components required for effective performance in listening and speaking
- understand the key criteria for evaluating materials for listening and speaking
- have created/adapted an evaluation checklist for materials to teach listening skills
- have adapted existing listening/speaking materials for their own teaching context
- have designed and piloted their own materials based on authentic sources
- have revised those materials in response to feedback.

Assessment Information

Option 1 - Evaluation project
- A 5,000-word project involving the preparation, trialling and assessment of an evaluation checklist for use with speaking textbooks. The checklist should combine qualitative and quantitative assessment, with numerical scores weighted to reflect the priorities in the specific teaching context.
Option 2 - Design project
This involves preparing a complete set of materials for two consecutive listening/speaking lessons, based on authentic materials. In writing up the project (5,000 words) students should:
- describe the context in which the lessons will take place
- provide teacher's notes comprising outline lesson plans showing objectives, lesson stages, materials and aids, and estimated timings for each stage
- justify the production of completely original material for the specified context
give a rationale for the choice of materials and the ways in which they have been exploited.