Postgraduate Course: TESOL Methodology (EDUA11329)
Course Outline
| School | Moray House School of Education and Sport |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In taking a critical approach to English language teaching (i.e. that it is neither a morally nor politically neutral activity), this core course aims to equip Teacher Learners (TLs) with ideas backed by research to take forward into their professional practice as a member of the worldwide community of teachers.
Teacher Learners (TLs) will investigate and practise research-led teaching and learning approaches in today's post-method communicative context of language teaching. We will explore the evolution of language pedagogy and gain an understanding of how, when and what to use in our classroom through practical tasks in workshops informed by lectures. TLs will be encouraged critically to analyse and evaluate methods they can use in their context, and develop an awareness of language use within today's diverse global community.
Teaching approaches will be presented within an historical, critical and inclusive context, taking into consideration the United Nation¿s Sustainable Development Goals. Coursework will integrate principles of language teaching and ecological practices, provide an introduction to 21st century literacies, and include awareness of the classroom environment.
Issues of concern to teachers, such as integrated approaches to the receptive and productive skills as well as language systems will be explored in detail through lectures and workshops on Task Based Learning, CLIL, Translanguaging, interdisciplinary and critical intercultural pedagogies, including assessment styles, as well as opportunities to engage with these through micro-teaching. Alongside, concepts of authenticity in terms of materials appropriate for the global classroom will be discussed.
Teacher identity will be woven into the fabric of the course as we explore old and new concepts of teaching and learning, the teacher as member of a community of transformative practice, and the teacher as agent of change.
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| Course description |
Course description Indicative Content
Block 1 (weeks 1-2): Introducing English Language Teaching: The Teacher Knowledge Base and Teacher Identity
In block 1, we'll explore the field of English Language Teaching. We will examine the teacher knowledge base from the perspectives of pedagogical content knowledge (the capacity to transform content into accessible and learnable forms Richards, 2008). We will examine the teacher's identity, the reflective practitioner, collaborative learning and teaching and the demands of educational policy.
Assessment: TLs will work in groups, beginning in collaborative online learning spaces. There, they will co-create units of learning, developing an individual assessed lesson plan and written evaluation (75%) and their team presentation of a co-designed unit of work informed by the teaching approaches explored (25%).
Block 2 (weeks 3-4): Lesson planning in the 21st Century Language Classroom: global citizenship, inclusion and differentiation, technology, pluriliteracies, and the place of English teaching in the world.
Here, we'll explore how constructing language prioritises certain agendas and examine how you and your students might identify and deploy these. We'll investigate the UN Sustainable Development Goals, looking at sustainable and inclusive professional practice; we'll explore English language teaching as enabling global citizenship, and teacher experiences of differentiation and inclusion in the classroom through lesson planning. We'll also look at the evolution of literacy and the demands of today's global society, including technological innovation in language teaching and the presence or absence of technology in the classroom.
Block 3 (weeks 5-7): Approaches to Language Teaching and Assessment
We will examine and practise the contemporary application of teaching approaches, focusing on Task Based Learning, Translanguaging, interdisciplinary and intercultural approaches and CLIL. We will apply the theory to an integrated skills approach, addressing the structure and function of language, and different learning contexts. Teacher learners will collaborate in planning and designing lessons for micro-teaching and assessment of/as and for learning, and through our connected classrooms initiative (the Sunrise and Sunset Club) it is hoped they will dialogue with teachers worldwide to engage with the global teaching community of practice. Teacher learners will reflect on their teaching experiences, adopting critical incident analysis and the principle of the critical friend.
Block 4 (week 8) Revision, Questions and Reflection
In this last week, we will revise and explore questions relating to teaching approaches, the assignment, and situated contexts, engaging with teacher learners' lived and hoped-for professional experience.
The assignment
TLs will engage with tutors both face to face and online in their wiki groups, where regular feed-forward opportunities and questions will be explored collaboratively. They will collaborate in their group in the design of an online presentation of a unit of work consisting of a sequence of 7 lessons (25%), one each and one introducing and ending the sequence (these two lessons to be designed collaboratively). Each student will take their individually designed lesson as their 3,000 word essay topic, justifying and evaluating their choices from the literature (75%).
Further Opportunities
Students on this course benefit from the TESOL Methodology School Visits which provide them with the opportunity to observe teachers in action during a two-day visit to a Scottish school. In 2020-21, this will take place differently. They will also benefit from collaborative lesson planning and micro-teaching opportunities throughout the course.
We are hoping to introduce the Sunrise Sunset Club to look at collaborative planning with teachers in international contexts via the Shared Spaces initiative.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
21/09/2020 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 8,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 16,
External Visit Hours 16,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
156 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment will be in two parts:
Overview:
Teacher learners (TLs) will engage with tutors both face to face and online in their wiki groups, where regular feed-forward opportunities and questions will be explored collaboratively. They will design in a group an online presentation of a unit of work consisting of 7 lessons (25%). Each TL will take one of these lessons as their 3,000 word essay topic, justifying and evaluating their choices from the literature (75%).
A. Lesson plans (25%)
1. Design a lesson plan (within a grid) for a learning context decided upon by your group. This can be a plan for a single lesson (90 minutes) or for two subsequent lessons (45 minutes each). Taking an integrated skills and language systems approach, the teacher learner will choose one of the pedagogical approaches covered on the course, presumably the one most suited to their context, providing evidence from the literature for this. The lesson plan is assessed in the online presentation. It should be submitted for formative evaluation before step 2 is undertaken.
The lesson plan targets Learning Outcomes 3, 4 and 5.
2. TLs in groups will co-create a unit of work consisting of at least 7 lessons, presenting this as an online animation using a variety of software programs available through the University (to be confirmed). The presentation will take the viewer through a systematically organised progression in language learning, designed for a contextually appropriate group of students, integrating the 4 language skills. TLs may choose to target a specific skill or system, but should show awareness of the integrated nature of language learning. TLs may choose a teaching approach and are not expected to provide an in-depth evaluation of the entire unit, but will justify their choices through consideration of their teaching context. This exercise should also inform part 2 of the assignment. The presentation will be assessed online, it is expected that each student will contribute 3 minutes of content including audio.
The focus is on the progression of learning ¿ an awareness of connection to previous and future lessons, creating learning aims and objectives and assessing these.
The online presentation will target Learning Outcomes 1, 3 and 5.
B. Teacher learners will produce one 3000 word essay (75%). The essay should be completed in two steps:
1. Provide a rationale for the individual lesson plan you have written. The rationale must discuss the reasons for the choices you have made within the lesson plan. Your choices must be supported by a theoretical discussion that draws from the literature related to the systems and the skills you have chosen to integrate within the lesson plan. This part is assessed.
The rationale for the lesson plan targets Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 5.
2. Give an evaluation of the lesson plan. The evaluation should show an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the texts and the activities chosen, and of their appropriateness in the context in which they are to be used. Again, support your discussion by reference to the literature. This part is also assessed.
The evaluation of the lesson plan targets Learning Outcomes 1, and 4.
The essay is marked in line with the common post-graduate marking scheme as detailed in the taught Masters generic handbook which students receive at the start of their studies.
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| Feedback |
Feed-forward will be provided online by tutors to wiki groups. (After micro-teaching in class, feedback will be given by the course tutor and peers). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the literature and research in the field of English Language Teaching
- Review in a critical and theoretically-informed manner the different approaches and methods that currently dominate the field and their historical antecedents
- Evaluate critically and on the basis of explicit criteria the ways in which specific language teaching methodologies bridge the skills and systems of English and contribute to the development of communicative ability in learners
- Analyse and appraise the principles that influence the globally diverse, sustainable and reflective practice of teaching and teacher identity in ways that extend knowledge and thinking in the field
- Apply the theoretical principles and practical approaches discussed on the course to their own teaching, laying foundations for the critical practice of language pedagogy in the context in which they are likely to practise
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Reading List
Core Texts
Kumaravadivelu, B 2006: Understanding language teaching - from method to post-method Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum
Douglas-Brown, H; Lee, H: 2015 Teaching by Principles - an interactive approach to language pedagogy White Plains NY, Pearson
Coyle, D; Hood, P; Marsh, D (2010) Content and Language Integrated Learning Cambridge, CUP
García, O; Ibarra Johnson, S; Seltzer, K (2017),
The Translanguaging Classroom: Leveraging Student Bilingualism for Learning, Philadelphia, PA: Caslon
Willis, D; Willis, J (2013) Doing Task Based Teaching, Oxford: OUP
Also useful:
Celce-Murcia, M; Brinton, D M; Snow AM: 2014 Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, National Geographic Learning.
de Dios Martinez Agudo, J (Ed): 2019 Quality in TESOL and Teacher Education New York/ Oxford Routledge
Richards, J.C. and Rogers, T.S (2014) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (3rd edition) Cambridge, CUP
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
You will be curious, engaged and inspired about teaching English. You will be equipped to teach and learn using a variety of methods.
You'll develop a personal, principled theory of practice to take with you on your career journey. |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
9 lectures and 8 workshops, with supported reading and discussion groups.
Learning will take place online in the first semester of the academic year 2020-21.
Lecture format : 30 minutes input (asynchronous) 30 minutes live (synchronous) Q&A the following week.
Workshops: 2 hours, tasks will depend on the readings and will be based on the lecture content, including micro-teaching.
Classes: 25 students in each, divided into groups of 5 for micro-teaching and collaborative lesson planning.
Students will read 2 chapters or articles a week, one from the core texts and one extra. Students will discuss these in reading groups during the week.
Tutor input: tutors and lecturers will be available for questions from groups. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Janet De Vigne
Tel:
Email: Janet.deVigne@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Moira Ross
Tel: (0131 6)51 6206
Email: Moira.G.Ross@ed.ac.uk |
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