Course Syllabus and Assessment
The main course content is delivered and assessed through five units. The work for Units 1, 2, 3 and 5 is marked by your internal course tutors and moderated or sampled and checked by a member of the Trinity moderators panel at the end of every course. The moderator externally assesses the work for Unit 4. The units are:
Unit 1 : Teaching Skills
This unit covers methodology, teaching skills, teaching practice and related portfolio, guided observation and related journal, coursebook and materials evaluation, methods of assessment and testing in the classroom. This unit is considerably larger than other units as it involves the assessment of skills, knowledge and understanding developed in all areas, but demonstrated in an integrated fashion as appropriate to a dynamic learning environment.
Number of approximate guided learning hours: 75 to 80 hours
Assessed through:
- Tutors’ evaluation of six hours of teaching with real learners.
- A journal including trainees’ own lesson plans, with self- and tutor-evaluation.
- A journal covering trainees’ reflective comments following observation of four hours of ESOL teaching by experienced teachers.
Unit 2: Language Awareness Including Grammar & Phonology:
This unit covers trainees’ theoretical knowledge of linguistic form (phonological, lexical and syntactic), function and meaning in standard English and how to teach these to learners.
Number of approximate guided learning hours: 20 hours
Assessed through:
- A test or practical project.
- Ongoing use of spoken and written English.
Unit 3: Learner Profile
This unit covers one-to-one teaching methodology, needs analysis, linguistic analysis, lesson planning and syllabus design. It brings together, in the form of a practical assignment, all items studied in Units 1 and 2.
Number of approximate guided learning hours: 18 hours
Assessed through:
- The preparation of a simple linguistic profile and needs analysis, including some basic phonemic transcription, of a single learner.
- The planning of, and reflection on, a one-to-one lesson.
- The preparation of recommendations for the learner’s future language development.
Unit 4: The Materials Assignment
This unit covers the production, adaptation, use and evaluation of simple classroom teaching materials and tasks. The materials adapted/devised by trainees are used in teaching practice lessons. The assignment is externally assessed by a Trinity moderator
Number of approximate guided learning hours: 8 hours
Assessed through:
- Written rationale for the development of one piece of teaching material.
- Interview with a Trinity moderator to discuss the above and the ways in which materials development is beneficial to the development of teaching skills.
Unit 5: Unknown Language
This unit covers teaching methodologies and activities appropriate for beginner learners of a language, through little or no use of their first language (L1). It also introduces lesson planning and contrastive analysis.
Number of approximate guided learning hours: 10 hours
Assessed through:
- A journal covering trainees’ reflective comments on four hours’ tuition in an unknown language from the point of view of the beginner, including an analysis of the key aspects of methods and classroom management that affect the learner positively and negatively.
Quick summary on how you will be assessed?
Assessment is ongoing. Fifty per cent of the marks are awarded for classroom performance i.e. Teaching Practice. You deliver, and are assessed on, six hours of lessons at two different levels.
The balance of marks is divided primarily between four pieces of work:
- The Learner Profile (a report on teaching 1-1 to a particular learner)
- The Unknown-Language Journal (a log of your experience in undergoing tuition in a language totally new to you)
- The Language Awareness Test
- The Materials Assignment (a discussion of materials you have made and used in class)
The latter is the subject of an interview with the Trinity moderator at the end of the course. Grading of passes is undertaken by us.
