BA Hons Education & TESOL

The overall purpose of this class is to develop student’s understanding of educational thought and language. Because this class is not organised around a given profession (e.g. teaching in schools) the discussion of education will be quite general and applies to any educational context, from parenting, to school, to college, to lifelong learning and informal education. ‘Education and Learning’ addresses questions that are at the heart of understanding what education is and what learning is. That these terms denote different things is an important starting point.

This module introduces students to the fundamentals of language learning. Students will develop a basic understanding of current views on how languages are learned. Drawing on their own experience as language learner/users, this module will examine key theories and concepts in second language acquisition.

This module explores the use of digital technologies for language teaching and learning. The aim is to give students an overview of the tools and activities used in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Students will also develop the practical experience of using digital technology, learn to design and evaluate digital materials for the language classroom, and create the digital environment for language learning. The module considers ways to develop students’ 21st Century skills both as language user/learners and as language teachers.

This module allows students to spend 70 hours working with children and young people in a setting of the student’s choice.  Lectures and tutorials support students to develop the skills required to participate fully in the organisation with which they choose to work and allow students to explore issues that impact on the lives of children and young people.

The purpose of Culture, Society, Formation is to introduce students to a sample of foundational texts which have informed and transformed our understanding of culture and society and to consider the impact that these understandings have had and continue to have on education. Through a critical reading of excerpts from such historical and contemporary texts as The Prince, The Communist Manifesto, and Gender Trouble, the module will take what is foundational in cultural and sociological writing and explore it in the context of educational conditions.

This module will equip students with the required knowledge of understanding the process of reading, writing, listening and speaking in a second/foreign language, especially in academic settings. The aim is to give students increased confidence in communicating in English. Students will extend their vocabulary, improve their pronunciation and grammatical accuracy, and develop their communicative competence.

The purpose of this module is twofold. First, it aims to offer an overview of key considerations (e.g. literacy, multilingualism, new technologies) in the development of educational activities for adult learners through a series of pre-placement seminars. Second, the students will have the opportunity to apply the new knowledge and skills learned during a one-week placement with an organisation that works with adult learners.

This class will explore how children and childhood have been imagined and constructed in a range of historical and contemporary contexts. Drawing on representations of children we aim to support you in developing an understanding of children and childhood as part of a set of social and cultural relations. With a focus on environments other than formal education, the module will seek to open for discussion the nature of childhood according to themes such as politics, history, play, work, the global and queerness.

This module introduces students to the pedagogical processes in language teaching. The topics include traditional and contemporary language teaching methods (audiolingual, communicative language teaching, task-based language learning, etc.). We will also discuss practical issues such as lesson planning, material evaluation and design, needs analysis and profiling, and classroom management. In this module, students will gain some first-hand experience of English language teaching in practice through micro-teaching.

The community placement supports students in developing their skills in working with adults and children who are learning English as an additional language in Scotland. Students will consider barriers to learning, their own professional values, and social structures and systems to help them to participate in making a difference for the people with whom they are working. They will also be required to teach young people in their own language eg. Arabic. This will help them to consider effective methods of teaching to support language acquisition.

This team-taught module will introduce students to the theory and practice of educational research. This includes lectures on the principles of research design and seminars in which students will collaborate in small group projects, familiarising themselves with qualitative and quantitative methods and their uses for interdisciplinary education studies research. The module will be assessed through a short essay and a research proposal, in preparation for dissertation planning.

This module aims to provide students with an introduction to ways in which the English language can be described and analysed in order to help learners to develop their knowledge about language. The module deepens students’ understanding of core features of the English language and prepares them to apply their knowledge about language systems (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and discourse) in teaching practice.

Education is not uncontested. Its place within society and the fact that nearly all have experience of education and related institutions means that a plethora of ideas and ideologies of education abound. This module discusses some of the ways in which educational moments are constructed through politics, society, culture and religion. It encourages students to delve deeply into the various forms theories and ideologies take: their formation and maintenance; and then deconstructs these. It locates education as a societal right rather than a personal endeavour so that internationally, nationally and locally agreed and contested matters take centre stage.

This module offers a critical examination of a range of contemporary issues in language education. Students will learn about key pedagogical issues and debates from the latest language education research. The aim is to challenge students’ existing beliefs and values in more specialised and advanced areas. Topics to be covered include individual learner differences from a sociocultural perspective, learner identity, language teaching methodologies in the changing local and global contexts, bilingualism and multilingualism, immersion and translanguaging.

This module provides an introduction to research skills, research design and research methods in TESOL. It familiarises students with the research process in language education, focusing on developing students’ knowledge, skills and understanding before carrying out a small-scale research project in language education.

Educational Representations in Film and Literature provides students with opportunities to reflect on educational questions through popular literary and visual media. The opportunity to interpret and reflect upon education in the context of popular culture allows students to examine theories in practice, albeit fictional contexts of practice. As well as the representations of education, the literature regularly embodies the pedagogical intentions of the author, intentions which will be explored in the module. These and other considerations form the structure and content of this module.

The Dissertation in Education is designed to further your development of a questioning, self-evaluative and reflective approach in a major in-depth piece of work demanding independent, self-motivated study and the sustained application of professional research and enquiry skills. The widest possible range of topics, types of project, modes of enquiry and of research techniques is encouraged. What projects have in common is the individual student’s ownership and control of the project and the expectation of high quality work.

Students will undertake a placement in a secondary school working with children learning English as a foreign language. This module will focus on professional identity, teacher agency and will give students the opportunity to reflect on the translation and transformation of their learning as they return to teach in their home country.