Course Topics
Core course topics include: - second language acquisition theories and implications for instructed contexts - language teachers‘ communicative competences: providing age-appropriate exposure, feedback, scaffolding classroom interaction, initiating and sustaining learner motivation - language teaching methods and strategies for promoting student participation in diverse classrooms - managing classroom discourse to encourage collaborative language development - approaches to scaffolding English language development across different proficiency levels - selecting, evaluating, adapting, creating, and deploying appropriate activities, tasks and lesson materials for language development in a range of instructed contexts - multimodality in instructed language development: scaffolding teacher and learner creativity to promote inclusive language development and learner autonomy - adopting principled, fair and context-sensitive assessment modalities to sustain student motivation and learning outcomes - principled adoption of digital tools and online resources for language development - the reflective practitioner - continuing professional development: strategies, activities, resources, maintaining well-being

Teaching format
Interactive lectures; individual and collaborative tasks to be completed during lectures with peer and lecturer input/feedback.

Educational objectives
This course aims to develop participants’ knowledge and practical skills for teaching English at secondary school level. It focuses on teaching approaches, curriculum planning, lesson design, assessment strategies, and the selection and use of teaching materials. Full details will be provided by the lecturer during the course. Participants will be encouraged to work toward the following learning outcomes: - develop and foster critical reflective practices - promote inclusive language practices - improve their abilities to analyse, select, adapt, and supplement English language learning resources - improve their abilities to evaluate advantages and disadvantages of various pedagogical proposals and practices, and to make informed choices - cultivate a deeper awareness of the role of teacher self-evaluation - adopt a self-critical perspective with a view to continuous development of their knowledge and competences

Assessment
Continuous assessment: - Actively engaging and collaborating during lectures - critically reflecting on and evaluating instructed language development approaches, activities, tasks, materials/resources, and personal communicative competences in the light of specific secondary education contexts Summative assessment: - Short written assessment: open-ended questions - Oral assessment: a) discussion of course participant‘s communicative competences and their relevance as regards scaffolding students‘ language development in specific secondary education contexts b) critical reflection on course participant’s professional and sustainable development pathways/strategies post-course

Evaluation criteria
Assessment Criteria: - Actively participating throughout the course - Benefiting from peer and lecturer input and feedback - Expanding one’s communicative and pedagogical awareness and competences so as to initiate and sustain student motivation, and so as to boost students‘ language development in specific secondary education contexts - Appropriately selecting, evaluating, adapting, and creating materials, activities, and tasks for a range of learner characteristics in specific secondary education contexts - Critically reflecting on one’s communicative and pedagogical awareness and competences - Demonstrating an awareness of specific continuing professional development strategies and resources Assessment Weighting: Continuous assessment: 50% Summative Assessment: - Short written assessment – open-ended questions: 25% - Oral assessment: 25%

Required readings

Course readings (selected extracts from the following texts will be made available to course participants):

Bigelow, M., & Ennser-Kananen, J. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge Handbook of Educational Linguistics (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315797748

Bland, J. (2023). Compelling Stories for English Language Learners: Creativity, Interculturality and Critical Literacy. Bloomsbury. 

Diamantopoulou, S., & Ørevik, S. (2022). Multimodality in English Language Learning. (First edition.). Routledge.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003155300

Gao, X., & SpringerLink. (2020). Second Handbook of English Language Teaching (Xuesong. Gao, Ed.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0

Harmer, J. (2015). The Practice of English Language Teaching (5th ed.). Pearson Longman.

Irsara, M., Gobbett Bamber, V., & Caprara, B. (2025). Global citizenship education and English learning through picturebooks in multilingual settings. In S. Bratož & M. Irsara (Eds.), Diversity in action: Training teachers through multilingual and multicultural experiences (pp. 59-80). Koper: University of Primorska Press. ISBN 978-961-293-523-8 (PDF), ISBN 978-961-293-524-5 (HTML)

Reckermann, J., Siepmann, P., Matz, F., & SpringerLink. (2024). Oracy in English Language Education Insights from Practice-Oriented Research (Julia. Reckermann, Philipp. Siepmann, & Frauke. Matz, Eds.; 1st ed. 2024.). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59321-5

Scrivener, J. (2014). Learning

teaching: The essential guide to English language teaching (3rd ed.). Macmillan Education.

Ur, P. (2024). A Course in English Language Teaching (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi-org.libproxy.unibz.it/10.1017/9781009417594

Ur, P., & Thornbury, S. (Eds.). (2024). 100 great activities¿: the best of the Cambridge handbooks for language teachers (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press.

https://doi-org.libproxy.unibz.it/10.1017/9781009348751

Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (2004). Psychology for language teachers a social constructivist approach (8. print.). Cambridge University Press.

Supplementary readings

Additional readings and materials will be provided during the course.

Further information
The course lecturer will provide additional assistance to any course participants who require it through Teams at all times.