Spanish 477
Instructor: Rob A. Martinsen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Spanish Pedagogy
Office: 3143 JFSB Office Hours: Mon. 12:15 – 1:15, Wed. 2:00-3:00, Thurs. 12:15-1:15, also by appointment
Office Phone: 801-422-8466 E-mail: rob.martinsen@byu.edu
Course description
This course will allow students to develop skill and knowledge in teaching foreign or
second languages. Course activities will focus on practical skills and foster students’
continual long term development as a teacher.
Required Text
Brandl, K. (2008). Communicative Language Teaching in Action: Putting
Principles to Work. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Other readings will be posted on the class wiki under readings.
Course Management
This course will be managed through a wiki which can be accessed through the
following link, byuspan477.wikispaces.com All course related documents will be
located there.
Grading
Your final course grade will be based on the following breakdown of activities:
Attendance and participation
Reading Responses
Microteach (5)
Class Visits
Practicum (2)
Assessment Creation
Textbook Evaluation
Final Paper
Self-Assessment
5%
5%
25%
10%
10%
10%
10%
20%
5%
100%
Each of these components is explained as follows:
Attendance and participation:
Inasmuch as this course is based largely on class discussions of assigned readings,
attendance is mandatory. I appreciate your informing me if you know in advance that
you will be missing class so that makeup arrangements can be made. This includes
posting your microteaches and other materials to the class wiki and completing the
course evaluation.
Reading Responses:
Please follow the reading schedule as outlined above. Read the assignment, then write
a brief response of ½ to 1 page. Print the response and bring it with you to class or
email it to me well ahead of class. The purpose of the reflection is two-fold, it provides
me with some evidence that you read the assignment and you can refer to it to
enhance our discussion. Content could include the following:
-An opinion or insight regarding concepts in the reading that are familiar and known to
you, or that you have identified with in your own language learning experience.
-A comment on what you have found in the reading that is new and interesting to you,
or something that could be incorporated into your own teaching.
-A question based on the readings, something, that you disagree with, or that you
would like to discuss as a group.
Microteaches
Students will present 5 mini lessons of 5 minutes each (vocab, grammar, reading,
culture). Descriptions, examples, and a rubric for each mini lesson can be found below
under “more details-mini lessons”. Part of this assignment is for you to post your draft
on the wiki and comment on 3 other students’ drafts. See wiki for more information.
Class visits
Each student will visit 2 different sessions of beginning level classes of any language
taught at BYU and fill out an observation/evaluation form for each class visited. The
first page is to be filled out during the class as you check off activities etc. The second
page consists of overall impressions etc. Forms are found on the class wiki.
Practicum
Ask a teacher from Spanish 101-206 to let you teach a 10 minute portion of their class
on two different days. You may teach vocab, grammar, culture, or whatever the teacher
would like you to do. You will then complete a written reflection.
Textbook evaluation
Students will receive a beginning textbook (on loan) and will fill out an evaluation form
after reviewing it. See details.
Assessment Creation
Based on given material, students will design a sample assessment of no less than 12
items or the equivalent.
Final Paper – Teaching Topic of your choice
This is your chance to become an expert on a topic that is especially interesting to you.
You should have at least three sources.You should do the equivalent of two hundred
pages of reading. This can be in the form of books found in the HBLL or research
articles from peer-reviewed journals. Then you will write a 5 page report summarizing
your findings, comparing and contrasting the information and critiquing the information
you found.
Self-Assessment of Teaching Skills
In this assignment students will try to assess their strengths and weaknesses as a
teacher. This will take the form of a 2.5 page essay which will describe an analysis of
what you do well as a teacher and what you do less well based on insights you’ve
gained throughout the course of the term. You will also outline three or four specific
things you can do to help yourself improve.
Span 477 -- Calendar
Date
Topic
Assignments
Intro Span 477, syllabus, observations
6/20
Theories of language acquisition
Reflective language teaching
6/22
Principle of CLT and Task-Based Instruction
Principle of CLT and Task-Based Instruction cont.
6/24
Teacher Dispositions
Short-term and Daily Lesson Planning
6/27
Language use in the classroom
-Ch. 2 Reflective language teaching (wiki)
Principles of CLT vii-14
Principles of CLT 14-38
-(article on wiki)
Principles of CLT 39-74
-(article on wiki)
Technology and language teaching
6/29
(No reading)
– Presentation Software y más
Introducing Vocab.
7/1
Principles of CLT ch. 3 all
Introducing Vocab. cont.
Microteaches – Vocab.
7/6
Principles of CLT ch. 4 105-115
Grammar and Lang. Learning
Grammar and Lang. Learning cont.
7/8
Feedback and Error Correction
Principles of CLT ch. 4 115-end
Principles of CLT ch. 5 143-end
Turn in 1st report on class visit
Microteaches – Grammar
7/13
Principles of CLT ch. 6 177-190
Instructional Sequencing and Task Design
Instructional Sequencing and Task Design cont.
7/15
Principles of CLT ch. 6 190-end
Principles of CLT ch. 7 223-233
Developing Listening Skills
Developing Listening Skills cont.
7/18
Developing Oral Skills
Principles of CLT ch. 7 234-end
Principles of CLT ch. 8 277-291
Turn in 2nd report on class visit
Microteach – Listening Skills
7/20
Principles of CLT ch. 8 292-end
Developing Oral Skills cont.
Span 477 – Calendar cont.
Microteach -- Oral Skills
7/22
-(article on wiki)
Developing Reading Skills
Developing Reading Skills cont.
7/27
Microteach – Reading Skills
Principles of CLT ch. 9 all
Turn in report on Practicums
Assessment and Language Learning
7/29
Principles of CLT ch. 10 368-387
Assessment and Language Learning
Culture Teaching
8/1
Culture Teaching Cont.
Writing
Microteaches – Culture
-(article on wiki)
-(article on wiki)
Turn in Assessment Creation
Independent study day – read article and comment on
wiki
-(article on wiki)
8/3
8/5
Presentations - Textbook Evaluation
8/8
Fiesta
8/11
Principles of CLT ch. 387-end
-(article on wiki)
Turn in Self-Assessment
Turn in Final Paper by noon