Postgraduate Course: Language and the Learner (EDUA11248)
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 | Available to all students |
SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
Summary | This course is suitable for both practising teachers and for non-teachers who have an interest in the teaching, learning, acquisition and use of languages. The course gives students the opportunity to develop further their understanding in the following areas:
- current research on language teaching and learning
- current approaches to language teaching and learning
- first and second language acquisition
- changing social and cultural contexts of language practice and language education
- multicultural and multilingual literacies and practices
The course aims to give students the opportunity to develop from an individual perspective their theoretical and practical understanding of language learning and teaching. To achieve this, the course will emphasise:
- the processes involved in acquiring and learning a first and second language
- factors which facilitate and inhibit effective language learning;
- teacher/learner perspectives on language learning;
- the social and cultural contexts of language learning;
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Course description |
Indicative outline of content
This course analyses language education and learning theories and their underlying ideologies from different perspectives over a period of time to the present day. It takes a critical look at how different theories define processes which impact on meaning-making and language(s) development, multicultural communication and literacies. It also explores a range of factors, including investment, identity and interculturality, which influence how learners learn and use other language/s.
BLOCK 1
Theories of Language Learning and Implications for Language Education
Lecture 1: The landscape of language learning theories and implications for language education today/Language in Education
Lecture 2: Social, cognitive, cultural and linguistic resources for language learning [i]/Language for Education
Lecture 3: Social, cognitive, cultural and linguistic resources for language learning and meaning-making [ii]/Language through Education
BLOCK 2
Language Learning in Context
Lecture 4: The Multilingual Turn
Lecture 5: Towards pluriliterate global citizens
BLOCK 3
Factors which influence how learners learn and use other languages
Lecture 6: Identity and Investment in language learning
Lecture 7: Intercultural language learning
Lecture 8: Roundup, Formative and Summative Assessment Instructions
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Additional Costs | - |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | None |
High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Course Start Date |
16/09/2024 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 8,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 16,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Additional Information (Assessment) |
Task One (100% weighting)¿
Word Count: 4000 (2000-word essay, + five 400-word blogs).
Blogs are required evidence to reflect course engagement; critical reflection with reference to blogs in the main essay is required to show development.
Meeting learning outcomes:
Essay: LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Blogs: LO 3, 4 |
Feedback |
Students are given personalised written feedback under the categories of:
Knowledge and understanding of concepts
Knowledge and use of the literature
Critical reflection on theory and practice
Application of theory to practice
Constructing academic discourse
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No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- evaluate critically a range of current language theories
- demonstrate a critical understanding of how these inform language education
- demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural and cognitive implications of bilingualism and mutilingualism
- investigate and evaluate pluriliteracies and linguistic practices
- demonstrate critical awareness of how language is used in a variety of social and language-learning environments
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Reading List
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2023). Investment and motivation in language learning: What's the difference?¿Language Teaching,¿56(1), 29-40. doi:10.1017/S0261444821000057¿
Díaz, A. R. and Dasli, M. (2016). Tracing the ¿Critical¿ Trajectory of Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. In Dasli, M. and Díaz, A. R. (Eds.). The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice.¿Milton : Taylor and Francis¿
Douglas Fir Group et al. (2016). A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World. The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.), 100 (S1), pp.19¿47.
Liddicoat, A. J. and Scarino, A. (2013). Language Teaching and Learning as an Intercultural Endeavor. In Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning. pp. 47-62. Blackwell Publishing.
May, S. (2014). The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. New York: Routledge.
Mitchell, R., Myles, F. and Marsden, E. 2019. Second Language Learning Theories. Fourth edition. London: Routledge. Pp. 1-28
Tochon, F. V. (2019). Decolonizing World Language Education: Toward Multilingualism. In D. Macedo, Decolonizing Foreign Language Education: The Misteaching of English and Other Colonial Languages. pp. 264-281. New York: Routledge. doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429453113
VanPatten, B., Keating, G. D., & Wulff, S. (Eds.). (2020).¿Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction. Routledge.
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Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
Additional Class Delivery Information |
8 lectures and 8 two-hour workshops |
Keywords | language education,meaning-making,literacies,interculturality,sociocultural contexts |
Contacts
Course organiser | Dr Madeleine Campbell
Tel: (0131 6)51 6044
Email: Madeleine.Campbell@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Sinead Holohan
Tel:
Email: sholohan@ed.ac.uk |
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