Aims:
• familiarize the students with key concepts and different approaches in language teaching;
• give profound knowledge in practical teaching methods and techniques employed worldwide;
• provide knowledge in teaching methodologies for learners of various age-groups;
• build the basis for further teacher development.

Learning outcomes:
On successful completion of this course of study students should be able to:

• describe, analyze and compare key concepts and different approaches in language teaching;
• display knowledge of government educational standards in foreign language teaching;
• identify and discuss the current problems in language education;
• develop course curricula and lesson plans;
• efficiently employ a variety of teaching methods and techniques, including computer and IT based methods;
• analyse learner feedback and respond with efficient measures.

CONTENT

Foreign language teacher: knowledge and skills. Professional skills of a foreign language teacher. Continuing development of knowledge and skills of language teachers.

Learning foreign languages as part of general education system. Cognitive, personal, inter-personal development of learners.

Learning foreign languages and ross-cultural education. Linguistic and cultural connections. Learning second and third foreign languages. Multilingualism. Polycultual education.

Practical aspects of teaching second foreign language. Common problems. Linguistic interference. Required level of knowledge and skills in a second foreign language.

Lesson planning for second foreign language learners. Lesson planning for different age groups and education levels.

Means of assessment in foreign language learning. Types, functions and specifications of assessment. Problems in assessment of communicative skills. Corrective, preventive, stimulating, diagnostic, progressive, self-evaluating functions of language assessment. Individual and total, oral and written, one-language and two-language forms of control.

Standard government examinations. Internal and external forms of assessing the quality of language teaching and learning. Standard government examination for secondary school leavers and higher secondary school graduates. Standardized tests with multiple tasks. Language knowledge and skills that are tested at the examination. Scoring. Points evaluation system.

European and world standards of language proficiency. Language testing conducted by European centres of learning: Goethe Institut, Cambridge examinations, Pearson testing, International Centre for French Studies. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Background and introduction into practice. Reference levels. Characteristics and goals.