English Language with TESOL BA (Hons) module details

Year one

Block 1: Approaches to Reading and Writing

You will develop your understanding of standard English grammar and sentence construction and knowledge of how terminology can be applied to the description of diverse forms of language and writing techniques. The module will be taught using a variety of literary and non-literary texts and modes such as, for example, poetry, dramatic monologues, myth and fairy tales, political speech, and film. You will put this knowledge into practice in your own writing alongside learning how to organise and reference writing appropriately and accurately for assignments within your discipline/s.  

Assessment: 60% wiki article and learning diary and 40% essay.

 

Block 2: Words in Action

This module is designed to introduce you to key concepts in the study of language and to instruct you how to carry out forms of linguistic analysis. Taught in workshops, the emphasis is therefore very much on putting theory into practice. Starting with the overall system of language, each week you will be introduced to an element of linguistics and taught how to apply appropriate and corresponding analytical skills in practical work and class exercises. The major areas of linguistics which are covered are: phonetics and phonology, morphology, lexicology, phrase structure and generative grammar, and clause analysis. 

Assessment: 40% group presentation, 30% report and 30% report

 

Block 3: Foundations in English Language Teaching for International Learners

You will be introduced to the communicative approach to language classes (Presentation, Practice and Production - PPP - and alternatives to PPP), the factors involving the selection of language for teaching and how to teach vocabulary and grammar. As well as the teaching of receptive skills, productive skills, teaching observation issues and criteria, and the different types of ability: beginner - false beginner- intermediate - advanced and their associated syllabi.

Assessment: 50% lesson plan and 50% report.

 

Block 4: Topics in Linguistics: Theory in Practice

This module develops your knowledge of the history and evolution of linguistics as a discipline, examining a range of critical and theoretical approaches to the study of language. As well as developing your knowledge base, it also increases your skills in linguistic analysis, by introducing you to various methods of examining linguistic texts, and the contexts in which such examination may occur. Typical themes and topics may include the history of linguistics, from classical approaches to examining language to the beginnings of modern linguistics (Saussure, Bloomfield, and Chomsky), cognitive linguistics, approaches to pragmatics and corpus linguistics. 

Assessment: 40% critical review, 20% creation of a wiki page, 20% a blog and 20% group presentation

 

Year two 

Block 1: Structure and Meaning

You will examine linguistic data, primarily from English, but also from other languages, with many opportunities to describe and analyse the differences in the linguistic structures of different languages and dialects, and contextual, social, cultural, and cross-linguistic differences in concepts and meanings communicated through language. You will also be encouraged to collect your own linguistic data for analysis. Through this, you will extend your skills in morphological and syntactic analysis.

Assessment: 40% presentation, 35% three blogs posts and 25% report.

 

Block 2: Research Methods for Linguists

You will be introduced to key principles in conducting an effective research study within the specific context of linguistic study. You will consider such issues as: designing a research project. conducting an effective literature review, quantitative versus qualitative research, corpus linguistics, introspective research, the principles of fieldwork, questionnaire, and survey design, engaging with statistics, the use of mixed and blended methodologies, conducting research in an ethical manner.

Assessment: 40% critical analysis and 60% plan.

 

 

Block 3: Varieties of English Language Teaching for International Learners: An exploration

This module further develops skills and theories acquired in the level four module. It provides you with an extensive exploration of a broad range of ELT methodologies and teaching techniques in addition to the communicative approach. The module will address the efficacy of appropriate application of methodologies and the extent to which application is dependent on relevant contexts and skills being taught. 

Assessment: 60% essay and 40% presentation

Block 4: Pragmatics, Theory and Practice

This module explores the nature of human communication, and the ways in which the meaning communicated by utterances goes beyond the meaning of the words and sentences used. You will examine how hearers understand indirectly communicated meanings (conversational implicatures) and a variety of kinds of non-literal meanings (for example, metaphor, irony, metonymy), and compare how these meanings are conveyed in verbal communication versus in certain kinds of text (for example literary texts).

Assessment: 60% pragmatic analysis and 40% group presentation.

Year three

Block 1: Year-long Dissertation

You will research and write an extended piece of work on a topic in Linguistics.

Assessment: 90% dissertation and 10% poster presentation.

 

Block 2: Language Acquisition and Expression

You will be introduced to different theoretical approaches to first language acquisition (including Chomskyan nativist and more recent Constructivist approaches). You will examine how children acquire the sounds, words, and grammatical structures of their first language as well as considering the psychology of learning to read and dyslexia. You will also consider the nature of bilingual and second language acquisition, and ask: is there a critical period for language acquisition or is it possible to attain native competence in a language later in life?

Assessment: 40% presentation, 35% report and 25% report

 

Block 3: English Language for Specific and Professional Purposes

You will explore in-depth specific and professional specialisms within ELT that map onto the development in diversity of work-based ELT opportunities, both at home and abroad, over the last 10 years. The module also focuses on research-based trends and issues in ELT, which will enhance your choices of further postgraduate study.

Assessment: 50% reflective journal and 50% essay and 25% report.

 

Block 4: Communication, Control and Resistance

You will be introduced to the key concepts of rhetoric and oratory as a discipline and will enable you to both analyse and produce texts which employ language powerfully to persuade your target audience. You will be taking ideas and issues which have endured from Aristotle and the Renaissance to the present and will examine rhetoric in theory and practice; while you will need to acquire a detailed knowledge of rhetorical structures and figures (and the associated technical vocabulary), the main concern of this module is to consider praxis, and the way in which theory is enacted in practice. Building on theories of figures such as Bernays and Cialdini, it will introduce you to a variety of ways of analysing techniques of persuasion, manipulation and perception management, and the methods used to shape opinion.

Assessment: 40% group presentation, 25% analysis, 20% online test and 15% critical review.