Aims and Fit of Module

The main aims of the module are: 

•	To examine applied phonetics and intonation, as well as provide practical training in the teaching of speaking skills, with a focus on pronunciation problems of Chinese learners of English. 

•	To develop students' understanding of the theoretical bases for the teaching of pronunciation, listening and speaking skills in the EFL classroom through the investigation and analysis of spoken discourse and the processes of learning and teaching oral skills.

•	To explore key issues in the teaching of pronunciation, listening and speaking skills, including the kinds of problems encountered by L2 learners and the types of skills and strategies involved in listening and speaking. 

•	To acquaint students with factors involved in L1 and L2 listening, involving key concepts such as top-down and bottom-up processes, and in particular focusing on listening micro-skills. 

•	To critically examine current approaches to teaching listening and speaking skills, and introduce some recent developments in syllabus and materials design.

Learning outcomes

Upon the completion of the module, students should be able to:

A.	identify & analyse the particular pronunciation problems of Chinese learners of English

B.	apply the Discourse Intonation system for describing speaker choices of intonation 

C.	evaluate a range of approaches and methods for teaching pronunciation

D.	demonstrate understanding of key concepts relating to spoken language, spoken discourse and discourse processing

E.	analyse samples of spoken interaction using the concepts and analytical approaches to which they have been introduced

F.	reflect critically on current approaches to teaching foreign language listening and speaking skills

G.	understand new trends in the teaching of EFL listening and speaking skills and the reasoning behind them

H.	adapt existing listening and speaking skills teaching materials in line with their own findings from spoken discourse analysis.

Method of teaching and learning

The teaching sessions will consist of a mix of lecture, seminar discussion, small-group work analytical tasks and practical workshop activities. Participants will be expected to do preparatory reading for every session and to answer a set of pre-questions designed to stimulate discussion during the session. A series of unassessed coursework tasks will be set throughout the module, to ensure that participants are able to apply the knowledge they gain during the taught sessions to pedagogically-related tasks such as materials evaluation and selecting appropriate texts for developing listening skills.