LANGTCHG 300

Theory and Practice of Language Teaching


Please note: this is archived course information from 2019 for LANGTCHG 300.

Description

This course aims to develop a critical understanding of principles and practices of teaching a second/foreign language in various contexts with a particular focus on teaching language systems and skills.

Various issues and puzzles related to language teaching explored include:

  • How are language teachers’ practices (or what we regard as "good practices") shaped by different sets of principles and ideas? Where do those ideas about language teaching/learning practices come from?
  • What are the various diverse social contexts in which language teaching takes place and what effect might it have on our language teaching practices?
  • What cognitive processes are we also developing when we teach language and how might they contribute to language learning?
  • What affective aspects need to be taken into account when conducting a language lesson? How do we stimulate students’ interest in language learning? (e.g., How do we help students who don’t like reading become interested in reading in a language classroom?)

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • Describe principles involved in teaching language systems and skills;
  • Explain the rationale behind language teaching activities and tasks; and
  • Develop a critical awareness of various language teaching practices and theories proposed in the field of language teaching.

Assessment in this course is a series of activities and tasks related to various aspects of language teaching (sociocultural, cognitive and affective aspects). Those activities could help not only with your future career as a language teacher but also with some presentation skills - transferable to not just teaching but also non-teaching related tasks.

Teaching format

The course is taught through a combination of lectures, group discussions and group presentations in class. In addition to regular participation in all classes, students are required to arrange meetings in small groups with the lecturer for their presentations on topics related to various aspects of language teaching.

Course outcomes

A student who successfully completes this course will have the opportunity to:

  • Acquire knowledge of language teaching and apply it to various language teaching situations;
  • Understand and carry out language teaching and oral presentations in an interesting and effective manner; and 
  • Acquire skills in report writing, critical thinking, academic literacy and oral presentation.

View the course syllabus.

Availability 2019

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Lecturer(s) Associate Professor Tan Bee Tin

Assessment

Coursework only

Points

LANGTCHG 300: 15 points

Prerequisites

LANGTCHG 101 or 202 or 30 points passed at Stage II or above or approval of Academic Head or nominee