Syllabus
Syllabus for the online format of the course in winter term 2020/21
Seminar 1 – Introductory seminar (to teach or not to teach grammar, what is grammar teaching, what grammar teachers do and wtaht they ought to know, grammar in curricular documents, what grammar to teach)Seminar 2 – Acquisition of grammar; textbooks, materials and ICT in grammar teachingSeminar 3 – Essential concepts and theories for grammar teachingSeminar 4 – Techniques for teaching grammarSeminar 5 – Dealing with errors and feedback; designing practice materialsSeminar 6 – Lesson plans in teaching grammarSeminar 7 – Presentation week 1 (3 students presenting lesson plans and materials + feedback)Seminar 8 – Presentation week 2 (3 students presenting lesson plans and materials + feedback)Seminar 9 – Presentation week 3 (3 students presenting lesson plans and materials + feedback)Seminar 10 – Presentation week 4 (3 students presenting lesson plans and materials + feedback)Seminar 11 – Testing and assessing grammarSeminar 12 – Learner language analysis 1 – analysing accuracySeminar 13 – Learner language analysis 2 – research methods and key findings
Annotation
The course aims to introduce the current research-based and practice-approved approaches to the teaching of grammar in ELT on the background of the many turbulent periods it has been through in the past decades. It briefly outlines key points and issues in the history of grammar teaching with the aim to develop the understanding of the status quo. Subsequently, it introduces the key concerns of language teachers as regards grammar teaching and presents up-to-date response to them along with the presentation of key techniques which ought to form the teachers' repertoire. The course advocates principled and informed grammar teaching which sees grammar as a tool in communication and conveying meaning, and the teaching of grammar as a complex decision-making process which ought to form an essential component of any foreign language course. However, it promotes the finding of balance between the teaching of grammar per se and other activities aimed at the development of communication skills.
Each session of the course contains three subparts: the first part introduces relevant theoretical concepts, the second part focuses on the discussion of short texts which the participants are expected to peruse before each session, and the third part is dedicated to active practice of grammar teaching techniques (micro-teaching) and the discussion of the processes involved in the planning and delivering of grammar-based lessons of English as a foreign language.
The course will be delivered in English. The participants will be expected to read a selection of short texts and be prepared to discuss these in class. They will also be asked to participate in short, teaching expositions (micro-teaching) during which they will present a short grammar lesson of a selected feature of English grammar or demonstrate useful techniques.