LAI 591SEM - Teaching English as a Second Language: Materials and Methods

This course is designed to introduce current principles of English language teaching practice and associated materials to pre-service teachers who want to teach English as a second or foreign language to young adults and adults. I believe that teachers learn best when they are able to experience and reflect upon the pedagogical approaches and underlying principles that they read about. In this course students are first asked to read books and articles which describe current theories and approaches to teaching ESL. The information gathered through readings is then reflectively examined through a variety of contexts, for example: focused classroom observations of adult level ESL classrooms, lesson planning, in class peer micro-teaching, materials evaluation, experiential workshops, class discussions, and guided self-observation of videotaped micro-teaching. Many practical and reflective activities are used in this course with the aim of assisting pre-service teachers in the task of connecting pedagogical theory to actual practice.The following topics will be included in the course content: understanding learners needs, roles of the teacher, overview of past approaches and methods, classroom management and planning, teaching the four main language skills/processes (listening, speaking, reading, writing), integration of skills and content, and vocabulary learning and teaching. This is a required course for all non-certification track master’s students in the TESOL program. It is open to students from other programs on a space available basis.

Credits: 3