Foreign Language Teaching: Theory and Practice (560-0-1)
Instructors
Maria Jesus Barros Garcia
847/491-8278
3-117 Crowe
Meeting Info
University Library 3322: Wed 1:00PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
This course is designed for graduate students who will be teaching Spanish or Portuguese as a Second Language at Northwestern University, and undergraduate students who are planning to become Spanish/Portuguese instructors. The course provides an overview on traditional and current foreign language teaching methods and pedagogical trends to approach the language-learning process. The theoretical background will be applied to the development of second language learners' intercultural communicative competence. The course will present students with the components of effective teaching tools, such as lesson planning, student needs analysis, classroom management, materials design and evaluation. In sum, students will acquire the pedagogical tools and metalinguistic awareness that they need to become successful second language instructors.
Registration Requirements
• Advanced level of Spanish/Portuguese, according to ACTFL proficiency guidelines.
• Being a graduate student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
• If undergraduate, having taken SPAN 204 or equivalent.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will:
• Critically reflect on current research in Second Language Acquisition and Applied Linguistics.
• Analyze and compare pedagogical materials for Spanish/Portuguese language learning offered by various methods and approaches in second language teaching.
• Describe key concepts and issues related to the study of Spanish/Portuguese as a second language.
• Develop detailed and logically sequenced lesson plans.
• Choose appropriate materials and design a variety of activities grounded in communicative language teaching methodologies.
• Reflect about themselves as both language learners and teachers.
• Make informed decisions about their own teaching practice.
• Become familiar with useful technology tools for language teaching and learning.
Evaluation Method
• Textbook Review
• Classroom Observation Reports (3)
• Lesson plan
• Teaching demonstration Analysis
Class Materials (Required)
A selection of research articles, book chapters and other materials is available on the course's site on Canvas.
Class Attributes
Attendance at 1st class mandatory
Prerequisites apply, see description