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LANG43515: The Practice of ELT

It is possible that changes to modules or programmes might need to be made during the academic year, in response to the impact of Covid-19 and/or any further changes in public health advice.

Type Tied
Level 4
Credits 15
Availability Available in 2023/24
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Durham Centre for Academic Development

Prerequisites

  • Students must have completed core module Language Teaching Methods

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To develop an understanding of the importance of planning appropriate lesson sequences and reflecting on teaching practice.
  • To review and expand the approaches, techniques and methodologies for second language teaching introduced in the core modules.

Content

  • Students will consider planning different lesson sequences based on the theories, methods and approaches reviewed in the module and additional micro teaching techniques.
  • Students will explore ways of reflecting on their own and others teaching practice. They will practise this themselves through peer teaching and peer observation, in order to inform and improve their future English language teaching.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • By the end of this module students should be able to:
  • consider theories and methodologies of language teaching and teaching micro skills and how they influence the planning of lesson sequences for both skills and language lessons.
  • demonstrate the practical application of a range of methods, approaches and micro classroom techniques in teaching and lesson planning
  • understand what it means to be a reflective practitioner
  • critically reflect on teaching practice both as observers and as practitioners and make links between theory and practice

Subject-specific Skills:

  • Ability to critically evaluate teaching techniques and reflect on own and other's practice.
  • Ability to give appropriate feedback to others on their teaching performance.
  • Ability to design and deliver lessons that reflect the needs of specific learners and contexts.
  • Ability to design and deliver lessons appropriate to the needs of a specific context and group of learners, applying pedagogical techniques, micro teaching skills and methodological approaches demonstrated and discussed on the module
  • Ability to use subject specific lexis to describe classroom events
  • Ability to make the connections between theory and the practice of language teaching

Key Skills:

  • Ability to understand and critically evaluate one's own performance and that of others
  • Ability to communicate analysis and arguments clearly and in an appropriate style

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Pre-recorded and live lectures will be used to deliver some key areas of knowledge.
  • Group work both in seminars and outside of class time will encourage discussion and practice of teaching techniques outlined in the lectures. Seminars will also include some observation of recorded teaching for students to begin their reflective journey.
  • This module also contains practical teaching sessions where students will peer teach in order to try out the techniques and approaches discussed in the lectures and seminars on the module. They will then engage in reflection on their own and their peers teaching to encourage them to see the importance of reflective practice.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lectures94 in term 1 5 in term 2 2 hours18 
Seminars42 in term 1 2 in term 2 2 hours 8 
Practicals5Twice in the term2 hours20 
Reading and preparation104 
Total150 

Summative Assessment

Component: Reflective journal weekly entriesComponent Weighting: 20%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Reflective journal writingweekly entries no word count100No
Component: Reflection on teaching practice 2,500 wordsComponent Weighting: 80%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Reflection on teaching practice2,500 words;100Yes

Formative Assessment

Formative draft with peer evaluation.

More information

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