MA TEFL Pre-Programme Study Pack
MA TEFL
Pre-Programme
Study Pack
September
2014
Section A: Core units for Term 1
 Language Learning
 Language Teaching
 Structure of English
 Research Methods
Section B: Option choices for Term 2
 Technology in TEFL
 Course Design
 Teaching English to Young Learners
 Vocabulary
 Film Pedagogy
 Issues in Contemporary EFL
Section C: Appendices
Section A: Core units for term 1
Please answer each question in this section.
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We recommend that you should take not less than 3 hours for each task in this section. This
will allow you to read carefully, do some basic research, reflect in some detail, and where
relevant write a considered answer that addresses the points required.
Language Learning
Task 1
The purpose of Task 1 is for you to think deeply about how you have learned a foreign
language and why. This reflects the essential themes of the unit Language Learning. It also
allows us to see the potential strengths and weaknesses of your writing style.
Reflection on your own second language learning
Produce a piece of writing of 800- 1000 words about your own second or foreign language
learning:
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How many languages have you learned or studied? Which? When? Why? How
successful were you?
When you started learning your L2 (your second or foreign language), were you good at
it? Which skills did you need to develop, and how did you develop them?
Over the years you have been learning your L2, have you been well motivated to learn?
Has your motivation changed, and in what ways? What was your attitude towards the
countries where the L2 was the first language?
Do you have any techniques that you like to use to learn your L2 (for example, in
grammar or vocabulary)? What are they? How did you discover them? Can everybody
use them?
How would you describe yourself in the language classroom? Do you like to be directed
by the teacher, or do your direct your own learning? Do you like to be given tasks that
ask you to focus on the structure of language, or do you like talking or free writing? How
do you account for these preferences?
What kinds of language learning activities do you find difficult or threatening? Why?
What have you done to help yourself in these areas?
How easy has it been to do this task and to ‘look inside’ yourself and think about your
own L2 learning?
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Task 2
The purpose of Task 2 is to introduce you to one type of academic text we will be reading on
the course. This is a research survey article – it summarises a wide range of research, rather
than reporting one piece of research by the authors.
Read the article by Ehrman et al 2003 (Appendix 1)
Now write brief answers to the following questions:
1. How difficult was the article for you to understand?
2. What features of the article made it difficult?
3. What can you do to reduce these difficulties and improve the speed of your academic
reading?
4. What techniques could you use to summarise the content of useful articles?
5. How could you find out quickly if an article is worth reading in detail, or just skimming
over?
Reference for Task 2: Ehrman, M., B. Leaven and R. Oxford. 2003. ‘A brief overview of individual differences in second
language learning’. System 31, 313-330.
Note
You should obtain a copy of the text below and read it fully before the course starts. It is an
excellent introduction and is not difficult to read.
Spada, N. and P. Lightbown. 2006. How Languages Are Learned (3rd edition). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Before the course starts, you should also buy a copy of the set text for this unit, which is:
Ellis, R. 2008. Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Language Teaching
Task 1
This first task will encourage you to begin a critical reflection on your experience of teaching
or being taught. If you have no previous experience as a teacher, write about teachers you
had when you were a student.
Reflection on your own second language teaching or experiences of being taught a
second language
Write 800 – 1000 words about your own second or foreign language teaching:
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What experience do you have as a language teacher, or of ‘helping someone’ with their
second language?
How successful have you been as a language teacher? To what do you attribute this
success (or lack of it)?
Think of a language teacher who has taught you successfully. What made him/her a
successful teacher?
What do you think are the other qualities of a successful language teacher? Which do
you feel you have already? Which do you think are trainable? What skills do you feel
you need to develop? How might you develop them?
How difficult do you feel it is to teach in your chosen context? What problems are
there? How might these be overcome?
Are there any particular techniques for teaching language that you feel are particularly
effective for your context? Are there any that you feel are ineffective? Why?
Do you have any opinion as to the ‘best’ way to teach? For example, do you feel that
students in your context best learn a language through using it, or do they prefer to
learn a language by repetition/memorization or explanation?
How easy has it been to do this task and reflect and analyse with critical distance your
own experience of L2 teaching?
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Task 2
This task allows you to show your insights into lesson planning and the different elements that
combine to make a lesson a success or failure. You do not need any previous experience as
a teacher to do this task. Look at the timings, activity types, patterns of interaction, and
rationales and see if you can find things that could be changed to improve the basic plan of
the lesson.
This is a plan for an observed lesson that was not successful. The students commented that it
was boring and that they didn’t learn anything.
1 Account for the failure of the lesson and the students’ comments.
2 Suggest at least 5 possible changes to elements of the lesson plan that could remedy the
various problems and result in a more successful lesson that would benefit the learners.
Lesson Plan
1 WARMER AND FIRST PHASE
Aims
1 Speaking practice
2 Vocabulary
Time
10.00 –
10.20
10.20 –
10.30
10.30
Stages and Procedures
Hangman – I put up blanks to
represent the letters from a word the
students must guess by shouting out
letters of the alphabet. Words for
them to guess: ACCOMODATION /
TERRACED HOUSE/BUNGALOW
In pairs students interview each other
about their houses, the rooms in
them, their favourite furniture and the
people who live at home.
I take feedback and see who has the
biggest/smallest house.
Interaction
Pairs, whole
group and
individuals
Pairs then
feedback to
group
Group feedback
Rationale
This will warm them up, introduce
the theme of the lesson and be fun.
Students get additional speaking
practice and the chance to
personalize the topic by speaking
about themselves. They have a
chance to learn about their
partners, too, so it is motivating.
Listening skills.
2 MAIN PHASE
Anticipated errors: None, maybe check articles and prepositions.
Time
Stages and Procedures
Interaction
Rationale
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10.30 –
10.45
10.45 –
11.00
11.00 –
11.15
11.15 –
11.20
Students label a picture of a house
with vocabulary of furniture and
rooms, then check their answers
together.
Students listen to a recording about
how houses have changed as a
result of technology in the last 50
years. They make a note of new
vocabulary and useful expressions.
Using the information and the new
vocabulary, they write about how
houses could change in the next 50
years.
Individual then
pairs
Individual
Pairs
Develops important vocabulary.
Exam skills and training.
Vocabulary development.
Writing skills practice.
Explain homework: They draw a
picture of their house and describe it
in detail so a visitor will know where
know where everything is.
Note
You should obtain a copy of the text below and read it fully before the course starts. It is an
excellent introduction and is not difficult to read.
Harmer, J. 2007. The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th Edition with DVD.). Harlow:
Longman.
Or, if you are already familiar with the content of Harmer, read this book;
Carter, R. and D, Nunan. 2001 The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other
languages Cambridge; Cambridge University Press
Before the course starts, you should also buy a copy of the set text for this unit, which is:
Richards, J., & Renandya, W. A. 2002. Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of
Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Structure of English
Task 1
The focus of this task is on learners’ problems with English that all EFL teachers have to
anticipate and deal with. The focus here is on your appreciation of the learning points of
English as a Foreign Language and what students may find challenging about learning
English.
Language analysis
1. List three problems students at intermediate level can have with reported speech in
English.
2. In what ways do modal verbs differ from ‘normal’ main verbs?
3. What are the main problems learners experience with the phoneme, schwa?
Error Awareness
Identify the mistakes in these sentences. Explain why they are wrong and suggest reasons
why the students might have made these mistakes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I am agree with you about this.
I normally go with my friends to the cinema.
Is not old, my father.
Sorry, I can’t to go today.
I like very much this kinds of film.
I’m interesting in listen music.
You live now in city centre, no?
£150 are a lot of money for a hotel. Let’s find one more cheap.
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Task 2
This task tests your awareness of what students may find difficult in English.
Look at the list of four options in each category and decide which example is the odd-one-out.
Provide an explanation of why in the box on the right.
Grammar area
Nouns
Explanation
 Luggage
 Information
 Detail
 Money
Passives
 The shop was always closed.
 He was arrested last night.
 She is known to agree.
 It’s read by millions.
Tenses
 The train leaves at 6.
 I’m seeing him tomorrow.
 I’m going to do it later.
 I’ll probably be there.
Phonology
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Record
Absent
Despair
Protest
Idioms
 On a sticky wicket
 Go up in smoke
 Out of the blue
 A wild goose chase
Word order
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Asleep
Alive
Sleeping
Awake
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Note
You should obtain a copy of the text below and read it fully before the course starts. It is an
excellent introduction and is not difficult to read.
Fromkin, V. Rodman, R and N. Hyams 2010 Introduction to Language Wadsworth; Boston
(8th Edition is much cheaper second hand than the 9th International student editions are
available).
Before the course starts, you should also buy a copy of the set text for this unit, which is:
Gramlay, S. and K.-M. Patzold. 2004. A Survey of Modern English (2nd ed). London:
Routledge.
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Research Methods
Task 1
The aim of this task is to give you an overview of the research process and help you identify
the key issues involved in the research process by looking at a research paper.
Read the article “The attitudes of bilingual children to their languages” by Oliver and Purdie in
Appendix 2 and answer the questions below (you may also wish to refer to the pre-course
reading, Biggam 2008, to help you):
1.
2.
What is the topic of the paper and where can you find it?
Does it involve a problem, question, or hypothesis that sets the agenda? Where
can you find this in the paper?
3. Does it point precisely to what needs to be explored or discovered?
4. How is the literature review organised? Does it hang together to show how the
ideas and findings have developed or is it merely a list of books and articles?
5. What is the purpose of the literature review?
6. Outside the literature review, where do the authors mention the theoretical issues
discussed and why?
7. Is the methodology clear enough for you to carry out the same study yourself?
8. Do the authors claim more than they should in the findings?
9. Have they provided enough evidence to make a convincing case?
10. Are results or findings clearly and accurately written, easy to read, grasp and
understand?
11. Findings don’t speak for themselves – they need to be analysed. Have the authors
explained what their findings mean and their importance, in relation to theory and
practice?
Reference:
Oliver, R. and Purdie, N. (1998). The attitudes of bilingual children to their languages. Journal of Multilingual and
Multicultural Development, 19 (3): 199-211.
Task 2
This task encourages you to reflect on your reading and understanding of the text. This is an
important skill that will help you interpret and evaluate the research papers you read as part of
the programme.
a. What did you find most interesting in the paper? Why?
b. Do you agree or disagree with anything? (this could be results, methodology, discussion,
topic, etc.)
c. What did you find most useful and why?
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Note
You should obtain a copy of the text below and read it fully before the course starts. It is an
excellent introduction and is not difficult to read.
Biggam, J. (2008). Succeeding with your Master’s dissertation: A Step-by-step
Handbook. Maidenhead, UK: Open UniversityPress.
Before the course starts, you should also buy a copy of the set text for this unit, which is:
Dornyei, Z. 2007. Research Methods In Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
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Section B: Option choices for term 2
The tasks in this section provide you with an opportunity to reflect on broader aspects of EFL.
They will also, we hope, help give you a more informed idea of the sort of things you can
study as part of the different options, and thus help you make your decisions about which
options to take in term 2.
We recommend that you should spend at least 90 minutes on each task. Where writing is
required, an answer of 400 – 500 words will probably be sufficient.
Option 1: Technology in TEFL
This task is designed to help you think about some issues related to this unit, and to reinforce
the habit of critical thinking.
Task
Read the book review by Milton (2001) in Appendix 3. The author, rather than thoroughly
reviewing the book, comments on the medium (the Internet) used for teaching English with
technology.
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Are his comments fair or biased?
What is the author's approach/perspective?
Do you agree with the points the author is making?
Are the points made by the author supported by evidence?
Is the evidence anecdotal or is the evidence the result of scientific study/research?
Does the writer make unsupported generalisations?
How would you characterise the writer's tone? How does it affect your response to the
text?
Does the writer's language, tone, or choice of examples reveal any biases? If so, do the
writer's biases reduce his or her credibility?
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Option 2: Course Design
You have designed a 20-hour course for a group of professional business people and the
sponsor has accepted the design and costing of the course. However, when the group arrive,
they tell you informally that they want an English programme with a focus on fun and
entertainment, not business.
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How do you react to the students, while remaining close to the spirit and content of the
original course?
What do you tell the sponsor?
How do you evaluate the students’ progress in a fair manner?
How can you use materials such as newspapers to help them develop their English
while having fun?
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Option 3: Teaching English to Young Learners
Please look at the following pictures1. Think of three different ways in which you can use
them to teach young learners (age 5-15). In particular, focus on the following aspects:
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1
Will you use all of the pictures? Which one(s) will you use or not use? Why?
How are you going to use them? Will you use them as a part of the session or the
whole session. Why?
Think critically; are they suitable for teaching young learners? Why? Are there any
problems that you anticipate?
The pictures are from: Wright, A. 1995. Storytelling with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Option 4: Vocabulary
A student complains to you that they are spending too much time learning vocabulary in
English, but they never get the chance to recycle it. Suggest three things you could say to
reassure the student, and three activities the teachers could use to ensure an appropriate
focus on vocabulary in all classes.
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Option 5: Film Pedagogy
Think of an English language film you know well. Explain how you could use parts or the
whole film to teach aspects of the following to a group of lower intermediate students:
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Grammar
Phonology
Register
Lexis
Culture
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Option 6: Issues in Contemporary EFL
What reasons could there be for deciding NOT to teach the British English model of English to
a group of teenage students on an intensive language course?
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