Department: Doctor of Education/ Doctor of Philosophy in Education
Module Description: This module involves the study of research into language acquisition and resulting TESOL methodology. Current research into how languages are learnt and the implications for language teaching methodology are examined. It provides students with the opportunity to reflect on and re-assess a wide range of recent and traditional approaches to the teaching of second languages such as audiolingualism, task-based approaches, and Communicative Language Teaching. Students will critically examine such methods from the point of view of recent psycholinguistic and applied linguistic frameworks with specific reference to research into learning different contexts.
Thus the module examines the psychological and psycholinguistic processes underpinning different approaches to second language teaching. In particular, it examines the differences between first and second language acquisition/learning processes and the effects that these differences have had on instructional processes in second language classrooms. The language acquisition/learning process is examined from a range of perspectives: a) the language knowledge learners bring to the acquisition task, b) how learners process spoken and written language input, and c) the kinds of input which help maximise acquisition. The role that Contrastive Analysis has played in learning of phonological skills will also be examined and will allow for the specific problems faced by first language Arabic speakers of English will be highlighted and discussed. Students will be specifically encouraged to reflect upon the ‘Communicative Approach’ and task-based problem-solving approaches in relation to research evidence and different cultural contexts and within their own learning/teaching contexts.
Bicaku, R. Ç. (2011). CLIL and Teacher Training. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 15, pp 3821–3825. Request item
Cohen-Goldberg, A. M. (2012). Phonological competition within the word: evidence from the phoneme similarity effect in spoken production. Journal of Memory and Language, vol. 67, pp 184-198. Request item
Ellis, R. (2006). Researching the effects of form-focused instruction on L2 acquisition. AILA Review, vol. 19, pp 18-41. Request item
Hawkins, R. (2000). Persistent selective fossilisation in second language acquisition and the optimal design of the language faculty. Essex Research Reports in Linguistics, vol. 34. Request item
Major, R. C. & Kim, E. (1999). The similarity differential rate hypothesis. Language Learning, vol. 49, pp 151-183. Request item
Major, R. C. (1999). Chronological and stylistic aspects of second language acquisition of consonant clusters. Language Learning, vol. 49, pp 123-150. Request item
Milton, J. (2009). Measuring second language vocabulary acquisition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle.
Singleton, D. (2006). The critical period hypothesis: some problems. Interlingüistica, vol. 17, pp 48-56. Open access
VanPatten, B. and Cadierno, T. (1993). Input processing and second language acquisition: a role for instruction. The Modern Language Journal, vol. 77, pp 23-27. Request item
Alderson, J.C. (2009). Politics of language education. UK: Multilingual Matters.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edge, J. & Garton, S. (2009). From experience to knowledge in ELT. Oxford: OUP.
McDonough, J. & Shaw, C. (2013). Materials and methods in ELT. 3rd edn. London: Blackwell.
Nikolov, M. (2009). Early learning of modern foreign languages. UK: Multilingual Matters.
Osman, T. (2017). The obstacles against the success of ‘Suggestopedia’ as a method for ELT (English language teaching) in global classrooms. American Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 6(5), pp. 98-105. Request item
Richards, J. C. (1990). The language teaching matrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sampson, G. (2005). The ‘language instinct’ debate. London: Continuum.
Skehan, P. (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford: OUP.
Steinberg, D. D. (2006). An introduction to psycholinguistics. 2nd edn. London: Longman.
Thornbury, S. (1999). How to teach grammar. Harlow: Longman.
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge University Press.
Willis, J. (1996). A framework for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman.
Willis, J. & Willis, D. (1996). Challenge and change in language teaching. Heinemann.
