Trinity College Dublin - English Language Teaching
Qualification Type : Postgraduate Diploma/Masters
Qualification Letters : PgDip/MSc.
Attendance Options : 1 Year Full-Time OR 2 Years Part-Time
Course Overview/Contact:
The course is aimed at both experienced and non-experienced teachers of English as a foreign or second language. The programme gives practising teachers the opportunity to explore current issues in ELT, and to deepen their understanding of the theoretical and practical concerns that underlie their teaching. For non-experienced teachers, there is a “Practices in TESOL” strand, which involves taking the electives English Language Teaching Practice 1 and 2. These electives offer structured and supervised classroom teaching, which exceed the current requirements of international professional TESOL certifications like CELTA.
The programme benefits in particular from CLCS’s involvement in the development and implementation of two Council of Europe tools that are important in the current debate about language learning, teaching and assessment world-wide: the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the European Language Portfolio. Students take six modules and undertake a research project leading to a 15,000 word dissertation. Four core modules are mandatory and two are elective options. Core modules include:
- Describing English Grammar
- Language Testing
- Pedagogical Grammar of English
- Second Language Curriculum Planning and Implementation
The elective modules for experienced teachers include:
- History and Globalisation of English
- Corpus Linguistics
- Technology, Language, and Communication
- Language Variation and Change
- Linguistic Pragmatics
- Bilingualism and the Maintenance of Irish
- Second Language Teaching
- Multilingualism
The elective modules in the “Practices in TESOL” strand for non-experienced teachers include:
- English Language Teaching Practice 1
- English Language Teaching Practice 2
Course Options:
1 Year Full Time/2 Years Part Time
Course Url
http://www.tcd.ie/slscs/postgraduate/taught-courses/english-language-teaching/
Course Coordinator
Dr Gessica De Angelis
Telephone Number
+353-1-896 1106
Course Email
Next Intake
September 2017
Closing Date
31st March 2017
Programme Content:
What does the programme look like?
You take four obligatory ‘core’ modules:
- Second Language Curriculum Planning and Implementation
- Describing English Grammar
- Language Testing
- Pedagogical Grammar of English
...and choose two from among the following menu of elective modules:
- English Language Teaching Practice 1
- English Language Teaching Practice 2 (pre-requisite of IELTS 7.5+interview)
- Technology, Language, and Communication
- Language Variation and Change
- Corpus Linguistics
- History and Globalisation of English
- Linguistic Pragmatics
- Multilingualism
The modules are taught in Michaelmas and Hilary terms, and students prepare and write a 15,000-word dissertation in Trinity term and the long vacation (April-August).
What will I learn?
On successful completion of the course, graduates should be able to:
- engage in the description and analysis of the English language
- analyse aspects of English in relation to other languages
- debate central concepts in the applied linguistics of English language teaching
- discuss more advanced topics in the study of the English language and demonstrate the application of this knowledge to the solution of linguistic problems
- integrate theory and practice in the teaching of English such as English language teaching and learning, language policy, language and technology, and the globalisation of English
- undertake research relevant to the applied linguistics of English language teaching, having due regard to the ethical, empirical, and theoretical aspects of this research
- communicate the results of their research on topics in the linguistics of English language teaching through written papers, oral presentations, and other means where appropriate
Entry Requirements:
Applicants should have a good honours degree (at least an upper second or equivalent; GPA of at least 3.2). Preference is given to applicants with relevant teaching experience. However, applicants without English language teaching experience will be encouraged to take the English Language Teaching Practice elective modules. Students whose first language is not English are encouraged to attend an eight or four-week pre-sessional Summer programme to prepare them for postgraduate study in Ireland. (Details provided here). All applicants are expected to show proficiency in at least one language other than their first language.
