National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Course: ELT Methods and Practices

Department of English Language and Literature Spring 2023

ELT METHODS AND PRACTICES

COURSE SYLLABUS

COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Kia Karavas Bessie Mitsikopoulou Nicos Sifakis
Associate Professor Professor Professor
ekarava@enl.uoa.gr mbessie@enl.uoa.gr sifakisn@enl.uoa.gr

E-class of the course: (ENL100)

Password: METHODS2023

COURSE DESCRIPTION
ELT Methods and Practices is a core course in our undergraduate programme and a core course
of the Pedagogic and Teaching Competence Programme (PPDE). It is a degree requirement
course and therefore compulsory for all students of the Faculty. This course is intended to
provide students with the knowledge, awareness and skills that will enable them to teach English
as a foreign language (EFL). It reviews techniques and practices used in ELT (English Language
Teaching) for the development of skills and learners’ grammatical and lexical competence. The
course offers future EFL teachers theoretically-based and practical ideas for the teaching of
languages and specifically for the teaching of English as an additional language in Greece.
Students are requested to evaluate materials and teaching techniques and prepare their
own activities which can be used in English lessons.

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The course syllabus is covered through lectures, talks and practical activities. Course evaluation
includes participation in an online training programme, class and homework assignments,
participation in the class forum, in addition to the final exam. Students are also encouraged to
do reading and practical work on their own that will prepare them for classroom teaching.
Course documentation, useful course materials and resources can be found in the e-class of
the course.

COURSE AIM
The overall aim of this course is to provide students with theoretical and practical
knowledge regarding the current methods and techniques of teaching English as a foreign
language, and to prepare them for a career in foreign language education.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the course students are expected to be able to:

 discuss recent developments in ELT approaches, methods and techniques and their
underlying principles, particularly in view of the position of English today as the
language of international communication;
 illustrate how research in the various fields connected with language study and
analysis have informed language teaching approaches, classroom practices,
assessment and materials design;
 demonstrate a familiarity with critical trends in the mainstream ELT field, so they
can begin thinking of alternative ways of teaching languages in a European setting
which aspires to promote plurilingual citizenry;
 demonstrate a familiarity with English language curricula and syllabi used in Greek
primary and secondary education;
 develop insights about how different methods of language teaching, learning and
testing can form the basis of ELT programmes –different for young children from
those used with teenagers or adults;
 develop an understanding of the nature of perception and production skills
(listening, reading, speaking, writing) and mediation, with reference to
similarities/differences and main characteristics of each skill and the basic
principles underlying the development of these skills;
 identify the underlying principles of techniques for the teaching of the grammar
and vocabulary of a language;
 apply current teaching techniques in various contexts and teaching situations;
 develop an understanding of classroom management skills such as giving
instructions, grouping students purposefully, monitoring on-going class work, etc.;
 demonstrate an awareness of the use and purpose of simple resources and
authentic materials as well as ICT;
 demonstrate an understanding of different ways of dealing with elements of
language (at the level of lexis, sentence and text) in different teaching situations.

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COURSE OUTLINE

Week Content Readings

Week 1 Introduction to the course Dendrinos 2020
1/3 & 3/3 Exploring teaching I: Contexts of teaching and (pp. 29-62) & Chapter 3
teachers (pp. 89-104)

Week 2 Exploring teaching II: Learners and materials Dendrinos 2020

8/3 & 10/3 Chapter 11 (pp. 261-
ENRICH Assignment starts 284)
Week 3 Developing receptive skills I: Reading Hedge 2004
15/3 & 17/3 (Chapter 6 )

Week 4 Developing receptive skills II: Listening Hedge 2004

22/3 & 24/3 (Chapter 7)
Week 5 Class observation task
29/3 & 31/3
Week 6 Developing productive skills I: Speaking Hedge 2004
5/4 & 7/4 (Chapter 8)

EASTER BREAK (10/4-23/4)

Week 7 Developing productive skills II: Writing Hedge 2004

26/4 & 28/4 Video observation (Chapter 9)
Week 8 Class observation task
3/5 & 5/5
WEEK 9 Developing linguistic competence I: Grammar Harmer 2007
10/5 & 12/5 (Chapter 13)
Week 10 Developing linguistic competence II: Vocabulary Harmer 2007
17/5 & 19/5 Video observation (Chapter 14)
Deadline for ENRICH Assignment
Week 11 Assessing comprehension
24/5 & 26/5
Week 12 Assessing language production
31/5 & 2/6
Week 13 Course review. Final exam preparation
7/6 & 9/6

COURSE READINGS
 Dendrinos, B. (2019). The Politics of Foreign Language Policies, Teaching and Testing.
Athens: Pedio Publications. [Course Textbook – Evdoxos Code: 86197232]
 Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4thed). London: Pearson
Longman.
 Hedge, T. (2004). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford: OUP.
 A selection of articles and other materials to found in the e-class of the course.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT

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Students are assessed on the basis of a final written exam (70 points) and the completion of a
written assignment which is based on the ENRICH CPD online course (30 points):
a. Final Written Exam 70 points
b. The ENRICH Assignment 30 points
Total final mark 100 points
Students are also given the opportunity for extra credits:
 10 pts by completing the in-class quizzes at the end of each session.

PLEASE NOTE:
 Students should score at least 45 points (out of 70) in the final exam in order for
the other 30 credit points from the ENRICH assignment and any extra credit points
to be added to the final mark.

THE FINAL EXAM (70 points)

It is a two-hour exam which is designed to assess students’ understanding of central issues
and concepts related to the teaching and learning of foreign languages, English in particular.
The exam questions require students to use a variety of reasoning processes, to think
critically, and to apply purposefully the knowledge and experiences they have developed in
this course.
To prepare for the final exam, students should read all the required and suggested reading
material to understand the discussed issues, the provided data and the given examples. They
should read as much material as possible once carefully and try to relate it to the knowledge
they have developed from their readings and from their previous knowledge/experiences. They
should not attempt to memorise what they read but to understand the issues and their practical
implications.

Exam format
The exam is divided in two parts. Part I contains two (2) questions/items that ask students to
briefly discuss an issue. Part II contains two to three (2-3) questions/items that ask students
to exemplify, evaluate and/or analyse something. The maximum number of points a student
can gain through the exam is 70 points. Students are strongly advised to try and answer all
the exam questions.

Part 1 (30 points)

Part 1 consists of two items. Each item is assessed on a scale of 0-15 points and demands
that students use the knowledge and critical awareness they have developed regarding the
principles underlying particular techniques and approaches used in the foreign language
classroom. In assessing responses, instructors will be evaluating students’ overall
understanding of the course content.

Part 2 (40 points)

Part 2 consists of two or three items. These exam items (each assessed on a scale of 20-0 or
15-0 points) are designed to measure students’ ability to analyse and evaluate the principles
underlying various classroom activities and procedures, and/or to design tasks that
appropriately exploit the materials that will be given to students and their ability to provide
a rationale for their choice of tasks.
THE ENRICH ASSIGNMENT (30 points)

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In the ELT Methods course you can access the ENRICH Project’s online Continuous
Professional Development (CPD) Course modules. The ENRICH Project’s CPD Course aims at
developing student teachers’ competences which are crucial for responding to and building
upon the diversity found in today’s multilingual classrooms across Europe. The Course’s
mission is to empower English language teachers to integrate the current role of English as a
Lingua Franca (ELF) in multilingual classrooms following the principles of the innovative “ELF-
awareness” framework. The Course was the main product of the Erasmus-funded ENRICH
Project. The online CPD consists of a series of sections or modules, each with a different
focus but with the shared objective to prompt reflective teaching and integrate well-known
instructional approaches, such as CLIL and Task-Based teaching.
Each module incorporates the following information:
 a brief description of the module;
 a video-lecture that can be viewed either inside the module page or on YouTube;
 supplementary materials that can be downloaded—e.g., the PowerPoint slides used
in the video lecture, the transcript of the video lecture and any further information
referred to in the video or in the activities;
 a pdf file with the activities of each module.

The ENRICH Assignment within ELT Methods

For the ENRICH Assignment (30 points) in ELT Methods, you are required to do the
following:
 Access the ENRICH CPD homepage, here: http://enrichproject.eu/the-cpd-course
 Study the following sections of the ENRICH CPD and submit the activities that are
mentioned below (for more information on submitting the activities, see below):
o 2. Teaching English (direct link: http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/163-2-
teaching-english)
 You are not required to submit any activities for this section, simply
watch the video lecture.
o 2.1. ELF-aware teaching (direct link: http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/164-2-
1-elf-aware-teaching)
 Submit Activities 1, 2, and 3.
o 2.2. The content of ELF-aware teaching (direct link:
http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/165-2-2-the-content-of-elf-aware-teaching)
 Submit Activity 2.
o 2.2.1. Language skills: oracy and literacy (direct link:
http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/166-2-2-1-language-skills)
 Submit Activities 1, 2.1, and 2.2.
o 2.3.1. Employing TBLT (direct link: http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/169-2-3-
1-employing-tblt)
 Submit Activities 1, 2, 3.1, and 3.2.
o 2.3.2. Employing CLIL (direct link: http://enrichproject.eu/lessons/170-2-3-2-
employing-clil)
 Submit Activities 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Evaluation
The grades for each of the ENRICH CPD modules are distributed as follows:

Module Points
2. Teaching English -
2.1. ELF-aware teaching 10

5
 2.2. The content of ELF-aware teaching 3
2.2.1. Language skills: oracy and literacy 5
2.3.1. Employing TBLT 6
2.3.2. Employing CLIL 6
Total: 30

 IMPORTANT: Please upload your responses to ALL of the above activities in ONE SINGLE
file on the Assignments section of the e-class by 19th May 2022.

Note
For further information on different aspects of the ENRICH project, including the CPD
sections as well as the various activities it incorporates, please feel free to:

 access the ENRICH Project’s homepage, here: http://enrichproject.eu;

 download and consult the very useful ENRICH Project’s Handbook, on the following
link: http://enrichproject.eu/handbook.