Dr. Johanna Rubba
English Department (Linguistics)
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
Last updated  2/17/99
 
ENGLISH 498: APPROACHES TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE/DIALECT (4 UNITS)
WINTER 1999
 
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* Schedule: TR 9:10-11am Room 22-219 * Instructor: Dr. Johanna Rubba * Office: FOB (Bldg. 47) 35B * Office phone: 756-2184 * Dept. phone: 756-2596 * Office hours: MW 10:10-11am, R 2:10-3 pm, or by appointment * Web page URL: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
The best way to contact me and get aprompt response is through personal visits in office hours or e-mail.
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Course description: 
ENGL 498 is a course in ESL lesson preparation in the traditional skill areas lof istening, speaking, reading, grammar, writing, and vocabulary. An integrated-skills approach (i.e. lessons which focus on one skill, but give opportunities to apply other skills within the lesson) will be emphasized throughout. We will draw on several sources: My expertise and experience as an ESL/EFL teacher; the course readings, and the knowledge and resourcefulness of everyone in the class. The format of the class will be mixed lecture by the instructor, student questions and discussion, and group critique of student lesson plan assignments.
 
Textbooks: 
(1)Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, by Marianne Celce-Murcia (ed.), Second Edition, Heinle & Heinle 1991. Required. (2) --Methodology in TESOL, by M.H. Long & J.C. Richards, Newbury House, 1987. Required. Both are available at El Corral Bookstore.
 
Course requirements/Grading: 
* Attendance is REQUIRED and will be strictly monitored. More than 4 hours of absence (that is, two full class meetings) will harm your final grade. Visit my Attendance Policy webpage for details.

* Reading: Assigned readings (see syllabus below) are required. There will be a quiz covering the material for each skill area when we finish that skill area.

* Class participation will count in your grade. I monitor this subjectively, so make sure you stand out in my mind by the end of the quarter as having spoken up a lot. Questions and discussion as well as active participation in group critiques all boost your participation grade.

* Lesson plans: Each student will prepare one full lesson plan for each skill area, i.e. six lesson plans in all (listening, speaking, reading, grammar, writing, vocabulary). These will be subject to critique by the entire class. I will grade them after the class critique in portfolio form: I will collect portfolios at mid-quarter and on the last day of class. I will inform you at the appropriate time as to which lesson plans are to be included in each portfolio.

* Course topic presentation: Students will work alone or in small groups, researching and presenting teaching approaches & techniques for a particular area of their interest (see the menu of topics below). In the final weeks of the quarter, they will present their results by teaching for one or two hours (that is to say, students will take my place and become the instructor for one or two class hours), instructing all of us about what they have found; they will also display a sample lesson or appropriate equivalent from within that topic.

* Preparing for ENGL 499: Setting up your internship/teaching practicum for Spring 99. Those of you who will be taking ENGL 499 need to make arrangements in advance; we will work on this with Dr. Battenburg (who will be your supervisor for 499) during this quarter.

* Reading quizzes:                  10% =    50 course points
* Class participation:               10% =   20 course points
* Portfolio:                                50% = 100 course points
* Course topic presentation:    30% =   60 course points
Total:                                     100% =  200 course points
 

Visit my GRADING STANDARDS and letter/number equivalencies.

Syllabus
 
Week1 
* Administrative business; * Review of theories/methods; Features of a successful lesson plan
READING ASSIGNMENT: Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (TE) Part I all except Johns; Part V Purgason, Brinton
There will be no lesson plan critiques in Week 1.
 
Weeks 1, 2 & 3 
* Skill area #1: Listening
READING ASSIGNMENT: Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (TE) Part II A; Part IV Peck; Methodology in TESOL (MT) Section Five all.

* Skill area #2: Speaking

READING ASSIGNMENT: Textbook: TE Part II B & Part III Eyring; MT Sec. Six, Bassano & Christison, Scarcella & Sec. Eleven, Hendrickson.
Lesson plan critiques begin.
 
Week 4 
* Skill area #3: Reading
READING ASSIGNMENT: Textbook: TE Part II C, except Lynch & Hudson, & Part III Stern; MT Sec. Seven, Carrel & Eisterhold, Clarke & Silberstein
 
Week 5 
* Skill area #4: Writing

READING ASSIGNMENT: TE Part II D & Part III Snow; MT Sec. Eight all.
 
Week 6 
* Skill area #5: Grammar
READING ASSIGNMENT: TE Part II D Frodesen, Part E Larsen-Freeman; MT Sec. Nine all.
 
Week 7 
* Skill area #6: Vocabulary

READING ASSIGNMENT: TE Part II E Seal; Part V Crandall; MT Sec. Ten all
 
Weeks 8, 9, 10 
Student Course topic presentations.
READING ASSIGNMENT: As given by student presenters.

Course topic presentation topic selection list (Testing and CALL must be covered; the remainder are options; the ordering does not suggest any kind of ranking by importance or favor. Limit two projects per topic).

* ESL/EFL Testing                                                     * Content-based ESL instruction
* CALL (computer-assisted language instruction)         * Bilingual education
* ESL/EFL for children                                      * ESP (English for special purposes; includes Business
* Pronunciation                                                         English,  Technical English, Air Traffic English, etc.)
* College-level ESL (Academic writing)        * Teaching English as a second dialect to American
* English for illiterate ESL learners                     minorities (speakers of rural/working-class English,
* Teaching study skills                                           African-American English (aka Ebonics), Chicano
* Proficiency testing                                                English,   American Indian English, etc.)
* Prop. 227 (the Unz or anti-bilingual-education initiative) and its aftermath; a sample of 'sheltered English' instruction from immersion programs.                 *Needs assessment