Teaching of Listening & Speaking in L2 Contexts

This seminar will be taught online in fall semester 2021. It will introduce students to the teaching of speaking and listening in second and foreign language contexts. Topics to be covered include factors that influence L2 listening, target language interaction, accuracy and fluency in speaking, pronunciation, pragmatics, and helping learners overcome their anxiety about speaking and listening in their second or foreign language(s). Assessment issues will also be addressed near the end of the course.

These are the main course goals:

1. Students will be familiar with the main theories related to listening and speaking in L2 contexts (e.g., communicative competence, language proficiency, interactionist view of second language acquisition, sociocultural theory, etc.).

2. Students will be confident with their understanding and use of key concepts and the jargon used to discuss teaching of and research on L2 speaking and listening.

3. Students will develop a repertoire of skills and a range of activities for teaching L2 listening and speaking for their target audience (age of learners, proficiency levels, target language, etc.).

4. Students will understand the key role of L2 pronunciation in developing learners’ communicative competence.

5. Students will understand the role of pragmatic competence in L2 oral/aural interaction.

6. Students will understand key principles of effective language assessment.

7. Students will be familiar with a range of assessment procedures for evaluating their learners’ L2 speaking and listening.

8. Students will develop their oral presentation skills and confidence for sharing ideas/activities for teaching listening and speaking in L2 contexts and for leading professional development sessions for other teachers.

9. Students will develop a substantial project on some aspect of teaching L2 listening and/or speaking.

This is a variable unit seminar. That is, it may be taken for either two or three units, depending on the individual student’s needs and/or course load. All students will attend the synchronous sessions and complete the required asynchronous activities, but the students taking the course for three units will do an additional assignment (to be negotiated with the instructor).