ELT Methods and Practices

'ELT Methods and Practices' is a core course in our undergraduate programme and an essential component of the ELT Pre-service Training Programme that our Faculty offers. It is a degree requirement course and therefore compulsory for all students like the course of Applied Linguistics to ELT, which is its prerequisite. It is intended to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to teach English as a ‘foreign’ or additional language.

Objectives

The overall aim of this course is to provide students with a critical awareness of ELT practices and to develop their theoretical and practical knowledge related to the teaching and learning of languages and particularly English as a foreign language. An equally important general aim of the course, which is offered within the framework of the pre-service EFL Teacher Training Programme that our Faculty offers to undergraduate students, is to prepare students as future teachers of English. To this end, the course has the following goals: To provide a basic understanding of recent developments in ELT approaches, methods and techniques and their underlying principles, particularly in view of the position of English today as an international language. To raise awareness of how developments and research in theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, educational linguistics and discourse analysis have informed language teaching/learning approaches, classroom practices, assessment and materials design. To become familiar with critical trends in the mainstream ELT field and begin thinking of alternative ways of teaching languages in a European setting which aspires to promote plurilingual citizenry. To introduce students to ways in which language teaching/learning/assessment approaches and methods can be employed in ELT programmes (i.e., in the classroom, in self-directed learning, in EFL teaching materials). To build an understanding of the perception and production skills that are involved when dealing with oral and written texts so as to realize the implications for the development of these skills in an ELT programme. To become familiar with the underlying principles of techniques for the teaching/testing of the lexicogrammatical elements of language. To show students how to apply these techniques in various teaching/learning situations. To provide opportunities to students for controlled practice teaching. To promote positive and open attitudes to teaching and assessment and to sensitise students to factors affecting the teaching and learning environment.   Objectives of the course By the end of the course the students are expected to demonstrate: An understanding of the principles of lesson planning and an ability to design lesson plans. An understanding of classroom management skills such as giving instructions, grouping students purposefully, monitoring on-going classwork etc. An awareness of the use and purpose of simple resources in teaching (pictures, use of board, OHP, flash cards etc.). An awareness of the nature of perception and production skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing, their similarities/differences and main characteristics) and the basic principles underlying the development of these skills. An understanding of different ways of dealing with elements of language (at the level of lexis, sentence and text) in different teaching situations. An understanding of how to use the mother-tongue effectively in teaching and learning situations and how to develop mediation skills. An awareness of the types and functions of assessment and ability to design language tests appropriate to a particular group of students.

Prerequisites

This a degree requirement course and therefore compulsory for all students, like the course of Applied Linguistics to Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, which is its prerequisite.

Syllabus

The PEAP Programme The New Integrated Foreign Languages Curriculum Dealing with grammar Dealing with vocabulary Dealing with reading skills Dealing with listening skills Dealing with speaking skills Dealing with writing skills