Courses
Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL)
8611. Applied Language Study I: Assessment of English Learners' Language and Literacy Development (3 s.h.)
The purpose of this graduate course is to introduce current and future teachers to the structure of English syntax, morphology, and phonology and to familiarize them with principles of developmental assessment in these areas. The practicum component of the course will give students an opportunity to apply this theoretical knowledge to practice and to conduct hands-on analysis and diagnostic assessment of learner language in phonology, morphology, and syntax.
Each student will be required to work with an individual learner or a group of learners; to tape-record their teaching or tutoring sessions; to assess the learners’ strengths and weaknesses; to analyze their overall linguistic development; and to address the learners’ needs with particular instructional methods, strategies, and targeted exercises. The learners will be either their own students or students in one of the schools or programs associated with the TESOL program. This field experience will allow the students to deepen their understanding of the structure of English, to apply their knowledge of assessment of language development, and to become more effective in teaching English grammar and pronunciation.
8612. Applied Language Study II (3 s.h.)
This course provides students with opportunities to conduct hands-on analysis and diagnostic assessment of learner language in the areas of lexicon, pragmatics, and discourse and helps them develop effective teaching strategies for addressing problems in these areas. Each student will be required to work with an individual ESL learner or a group of learners; to tape-record their tutoring sessions; to assess learners’ strengths and weaknesses; to analyze their linguistic development; and to address learners’ needs with targeted instructional methods, strategies, and exercises. The goals of the course are to deepen students’ understanding of how English works on the level of the lexicon, pragmatics, and discourse and to help them become more effective teachers of vocabulary, conversational strategies, and discourse structures.
8614. Approaches to Teaching English Language Learners (3 s.h.)
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to current research-based methods, techniques, strategies, frameworks, and resources in K-12 education, adult ESL education, and EFL education. The course offers a critical overview of a variety of ESL methods, techniques, and approaches, with the focus on recent developments in content-based, task-based, and critical pedagogies. In this course, particular emphasis is placed on the literacy development of multilingual students. Students are familiarized with the principles of needs analysis, materials selection, and adaptation and are offered multiple opportunities to apply and reflect on particular approaches. Students also explore a variety of ways to use technology for instructional purposes. Course activities include lectures, discussions, small-group activities, and student presentations. Students are encouraged to take a critical stance toward their own approach to teaching and to familiarize themselves with the range of teaching options open to them.
8616. Teaching Second/Foreign Language Skills: Curriculum and Assessment in TESOL (3 s.h.)
This course guides students in understanding and applying principles of curriculum design and assessment. Course readings, assignments, and class discussions constitute guides to thinking about how to best teach English Language Learners in K-12, adult ESL, and EFL settings using a curriculum that has been handed to you (i.e., a mandated curriculum) or how to revise or build on existing curricula in your instructional setting. This course also critically examines curriculum design and assessment with the goal of enriching content-based language learning. We will explore how a linguistic focus can be enhanced within a multiliteracy curriculum, in which reading, writing, listening, and speaking are combined. Particular emphasisis placed on reading and writing instruction and assessment.
8618. Second Language Acquisition (3 s.h.)
This course introduces key concepts in second language acquisition (SLA) and surveys current research that addresses linguistic, neurolinguistic, cognitive, and sociocultural aspects of second language learning and use. Specific areas of SLA that are addressed include research design and methodology in the study of SLA; how age affects SLA and ultimate achievement; interlanguage, L1 transfer, bidirectional transfer, attrition, and multicompetence; interlanguage pragmatics and intercultural communication; and nativist theories, interactionist theories, and cognitive approaches to SLA. Classroom discussions focus on linking SLA theories and empirical research to second language education. Students conduct a research project on an SLA topic of their choice.
8621. Contexts for Teaching and Learning Language (3 s.h.)
This course examines the ways in which context and culture influence language learning and teaching. By focusing on sociocultural, political, and critical ethnographic perspectives, the course emphasizes the interplay between the macro-level analysis of power relations in society and the micro-level examination of classroom interactions. Our discussion centers around language learning/teaching in context, but we will also examine related issues such as racism, discrimination, ideologies, social class, and unequal distribution of resources, since these are factors that language teachers need to grapple with if they hope to be effective in practice. These issues will be related to K-12, college, and immigrant ESL contexts, as well as EFL international contexts. Students collect and analyze a small sample of primary data to examine an aspect of the relationship between context and language teaching/learning.
Updated 12.11.08