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Teaching Language As Communicative Skills

Key information

  • Module code:

    5SSEL019

  • Level:

    5

  • Semester:

      Spring

  • Credit value:

    15

Module description

In this module, you will develop an understanding of what is involved in acquiring and using language as discourse skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening). By the end of the module, you should have a good understanding of the roles of teachers and learners in the development of these skills areas and you will be able to evaluate and design activities and understand their use within integrated skills lessons. 

Assessment details

Coursework

(1) One 2,500 word report (worth 67% of the final mark)

(2) One group presentation (worth 33% of the final mark)

Educational aims & objectives

The general aims of the course are to:

  • To develop an understanding of what is involved in acquiring and using language as discourse skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening);
  • To develop an understanding of different approaches, techniques and strategies for teaching and learning the language skills in a second or foreign language;
  • To develop basic skills in planning integrated skills lessons and courses;
  • To develop skills in evaluating and designing materials and activities for teaching the language skills;
  • To develop an understanding of the different roles of teachers and learners and how these are reflected in different ways of organising language skills-based lessons;
  • To develop an understanding of techniques to assess learners’ knowledge of the language skills.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

  • Analyse materials for teaching the language skills in terms of underlying approaches and principles;
  • Evaluate materials for teaching the language skills in specific contexts;
  • Select appropriate topics and texts for teaching the language skills;
  • Design activities and tasks to practise the language skills based on an authentic text;
  • Make and justify decisions about roles of teachers and learners and patterns of classroom organisation to use with different language learning activities;
  • Plan a second or foreign language lesson involving the teaching of specific aspects of one or more of the language skills;
  • Plan ways to assess learners’ developing ability to use language skills.

Teaching pattern

The module builds on the insights into second language learning you will have gained through doing the Year One course of that name, and examines issues of methodology, course and materials design, and evaluation and testing, with a particular focus on language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening). By the end of the course, you should have a good understanding of the key methodological issues and concepts in language teaching. You will be able to analyze texts for teaching purposes and evaluate and design teaching activities and lessons.

The main components are:

  • Current approaches and methods in language teaching: communicative, task-based, etc.;
  • Roles of teachers and learners;
  • Materials for language teaching and learning: evaluation, use and design;
  • Identifying and analysing learners’ needs, designing courses and syllabuses, planning lessons;
  • Teaching language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening;
  • Materials: using published materials, exploiting authentic materials, the design and production of language teaching tasks;
  • The classroom as a social context: classroom management, patterns of classroom interaction, roles of teachers and learners, learner autonomy and learner training, using audio-visual aids;
  • Assessing language skills;
  • Lesson planning and classroom management.
Module description disclaimer

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.

Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.