Department: Master of Education
Module Description: 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 maximize acquisition. This will involve an examination of pedagogic grammatical descriptions, including recent lexical approaches to language acquisition/learning. 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 learners of English to be highlighted and discussed. A range of approaches and methods to language teaching will be critically evaluated in terms of their underlying principles and their efficacy, including ‘the ‘Communicative Approach’ and task-based problem-solving approaches.
