Group Dynamics and Motivation in the Language Classroom
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| ENGL4073 | English | 4 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- ENGL4073
- School
- English
- Level
- 4
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
This module offers an introduction to the main psychological factors and processes that determine the way students learn foreign languages within an institutional (classroom) context. The focus will be on two key issues that have a considerable practical significance: (a) language learning motivation and (b) the internal dynamics of the learner group that can either enhance or hinder the individual members' learning achievement. Key topics to be discussed will include the components of L2 motivation; strategies to increase student motivation; structural and developmental characteristics of the 'good' learner group; group building techniques; effective leadership roles; cooperative language learning.
Target Students
Only available to on-site postgraduate students in the School of English.
Classes
- One 2-hour seminar each week for 11 weeks
Assessment
- 100% Report: A project report of 3,000 words
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the broader psychological context of instructed second language acquisition and an awareness of the causes of a number of phenomena inherent in the language classroom.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding of
- the interrelationship between psychological processes and language acquisition within a classroom context.
Intellectual skills demonstrating
- the ability to identify and analyse significant language classroom events/experiences by applying a scholarly framework.
- the ability to devise, research and communicate an analysis of an individual topic within the field.
Professional skills demonstrating
- the ability to articulate a knowledge of psychological concepts relating to the acquisition of English in institutional contexts.
- the ability to carry out individual, data-based research and process the data by applying individual analyses and interpretations within a systematic scholarly framework
Transferable skills demonstrating
- the ability to work independently and with some degree of originality.
- the ability to make judgements according to the available empirical evidence.