The Learning Center of Tuscany

[ TEFL international TESOL certificate]

Already a seasoned teacher? Our TESOL Diploma Course prepares experienced teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to advance their careers beyond classroom teaching. While certificate level training shows the trainee 'how' to do things, the Diploma will demand explorations of 'why'. The TEFL International TESOL Diploma course has all the ingredients of other in-service courses and input from international experts in the field, who keep abreast of changes in the industry.

In each component area the participant must show significant understanding of the current state of knowledge in that area in the form of two academically formatted 8-15 pp papers. The research for this can be completed largely through the web, however supplemental texts will need to be purchased by each student. A sample list is included with each area below.

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Entry Profile. Successful candidates will have:

• An undergraduate degree or equivalent

• A recognized international; TESOL certificate – 120 hours of tuition onsite, plus 6-8 hours of observed teaching practice.

Exit profile. Each candidate will complete papers in the following component areas:

Language Acquisition

• an 8-15pp paper showing current understanding of language acquisition, including discussion of Chomsky and Pinker

• a report on a classroom-based research project looking at some aspect of Languge Acquisition

Language Phonology, Morphology & Syntax

• an 8-15pp paper showing a broad understanding of these three part of language research

• an in-depth look at one feature of language from the above

Methodology

• an 8-15 pp paper covering the development of method over the last 30 years and the current state of things.

• a report on a classroom-based research project on some aspect of teaching approach or technique

The candidate must demonstrate understanding of how to conduct proper classroom-based research as outlined in Donald Freeman’s Doing Teacher Research, Heinle & Heinle/Newbury House.

Component Assessment Criteria

Language Acquisition

This component will be aimed at exploring how people acquire their first and other languages. It will include readings in first language acquisition in psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology, and studies in second language acquisition. As well, each student will define a classroom based research project to test ideas from the readings. The final project for this component will show an understanding of:

• The difference between language learning and acquisition
  Current theories of language acquisition

• Proper conduct of a classroom-based research project

Sample Readings:

• Learning New Languages, Scovel (Heinle & Heinle)

• The Language Instinct, Pinker (Harper Perennial)

• Working With Teaching Methods, Stevicks (Heinle & Heinle)

• Language Two, Dulay/Krashen/Burt (OUP)

• How Languages Are Learned, Patsy M. Lightblown & Nina Spada, OUP

Language – Morphology, Phonology and Syntax

A closer look at language from the aspect of morphology, phonology and syntax. The main point will be to explore the study of language, and then choose one feature to explore in depth. By the completion of this project the student will demonstrate:

• Understanding of the current research in language

• Knowledge of major areas of linguistic study

• Explication of a specific feature of language 

Sample Readings:

• The Grammar Book, Celcia-Murcia/Larsen-Freeman (Heinle & Heinle)

• Words and Rules, Pinker (Harper Perennial)

• Sound Foundations, Underhill (Macmillan)

• About Language, Thornbury (CUP)

• Discover English, Bolitho/Tomlinson (Macmillan)

• Principles and Practices in Applied Linguistic, (ed) Cook/Seidlhofer (OUP)

• Corpus, Concordance, Collocation, (ed) Sinclair/Carter (OUP)
  & The Atoms of Language, Mark Baker

References:

• COBUILD Grammar, (ed) Sinclair (Collins Cobuild)

• Practical English Usage, Swan (OUP)

• A Grammar of Speech, (ed) Brazil/Sinclair (OUP)

• An Introduction to Syntactic Theory, University of Pennsylvania
   

Techniques, Approaches and Methodologies

A look at teaching behaviors from techniques to approaches and methodologies. This component starts with the teaching techniques modeled and practiced in the TESOL Certificate input and teaching practice, and goes on to explore teaching approaches and methods that underlie what experienced teachers do in the classroom. This includes looking at the principles and beliefs that each individual has about teaching that determines and limits our choices. As Donald Freeman puts it, “Good teachers know what to do.” Thus this component looks at “why” teachers make the choices they do, and “what” alternatives might be available to them. By the completion of the project the student will demonstrate an understanding of:

• Major developments in language teaching methods and approaches since WWII

• Critical ingredients of context, comprehensible input, naturalness, monitor effect and affective factors

• Why good teachers do what they do – principles and beliefs

• The role of “error” and inter-language in language learning

• Classroom study of teaching-learning behaviors

• Critical reflection on individual teaching experience

Sample Readings:

• Working With Teaching Methods, Stevicks (Heinle & Heinle)

• The Lexical Approach, Lewis (LTP)

• Implementing the Lexical Approach, (ed) Lewis/Hill (LTP)

• The Natural Approach, Krashen (Prentice hall)

• Learning Teaching, Scrivener (Macmillan)

• The Practice of English Language Teaching, Harmer (Addison-Wesley Pub Co)

• Challenge and Change in Language Teaching, (ed) Willis/Willis (Mcmillan)

• Teacher, Ashton-Warner (Simon & Schuster)

• Teaching By Principles, H. Douglas Brow, Longman’s

• The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire (Continuum)

• Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms, Richards (CUP)

• Doing Teacher Research, Freeman (Heinle & Heinle)