Academic Year/course:
2021/22
26569 - English in Infant Education III
Syllabus Information
Academic Year:
2021/22
Subject:
26569 - English in Infant Education III
Faculty / School:
107 - Facultad de Educación
202 - Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación
301 - Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas
Degree:
301 - Degree in Nursery School Education
302 - Degree in Nursery School Education
303 - Degree in Nursery School Education
ECTS:
6.0
Year:
4
Semester:
First semester
Subject Type:
Optional
Module:
---
1.1. Aims of the course
The principal aim of this module is for the students to improve their knowledge of English grammar and their communicative competence in the language, as well as their language learning strategies. The students’ reading and writing skills are expected to expand from B2 to B2+ or C1 level, with special emphasis on the development of academic culture, while their oral skills will be aimed at consolidating B2. In addition, and in line with English in infant education I and English in infant education II, this module will also cover a range of professional aspects relevant to the pre-service training of future nursery EFL teachers, more specifically in connection with bilingual programmes.
1.2. Context and importance of this course in the degree
A good command of English, both in a practical sense and from a metalinguistic perspective, is paramount for any university graduate, particularly for one specialising in nursery education in a bilingual context. This module will provide students with the necessary tools to analyse texts written in English that will help them:
(i) to reflect on and better understand a range of cultural and professional issues,
(ii) to express themselves accurately about them and
(iii) to use their metalinguistic awareness as the basis for their future teaching activity and their lifelong learning
1.3. Recommendations to take this course
Class attendance and active participation in the activities proposed is strongly recommended. The expected minimum language competence in students is B2 (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFRL). It is also highly advisable for the students to use the available resources, missing no opportunities to practise their English both in academic settings and in their leisure time. It is important to note that having passed English in infant education I and English in infant education II (both compulsory) is usually an asset to easily achieve the threshold level required in this module.
2.1. Competences
On passing the module, students will be more competent to…
Understand some aspects of language development in early childhood and deal efficiently with teaching-learning situations in multicultural and multilingual environments.
Foster a first encounter with a foreign language in a nursery school context.
Acquire and maintain skills and habits for autonomous and cooperative learning (taking on different roles), as well as for selecting the most suitable resources and strategies.
Speak and write in English using various registers, especially academic style, in order to write appropriate texts and avoid plagiarism.
Demonstrate their knowledge of and familiarity with literature (especially, children's literature), folklore and the use of rhymes and songs to promote aural, musical-vocal and rhythmic education.
Use the ICTs and other resources to communicate, learn and share knowledge, developing their critical thought.
2.2. Learning goals
1: Global and detailed understanding of various text genres written in English, distinguishing degrees of formality and inferring the writer’s purpose or intention.
2: Production of well-structured texts of an adequate length and register, written in accurate, coherent English, within a variety of contexts.
3: Fluent presentation of topics related to culture or education, using appropriate terminology, pronunciation and intonation at a B2 level of communicative correctness and efficiency.
4: Understanding of essential ideas and many details of spoken discourse, and ability to hold a conversation in English on all the course topics.
5: Appropriate understanding and application of a wide range of metalinguistic concepts that will enable them to teach English in the future.
2.3. Importance of learning goals
Bilingual education starts in nursery schools, with teachers who are highly proficient in a foreign language, which they use to communicate with their pupils as well as with their colleagues. For most pre-service student teachers, this module constitutes a key point of reference for the linguistic objectives they are expected to attain, thereby offering them the main tools available to succeed. Another asset for the students is the acquisition of academic culture and skills.
3. Assessment (1st and 2nd call)
3.1. Assessment tasks (description of tasks, marking system and assessment criteria)
Assessment type A comprises:
1. Continuous assessment activities:
Tests, projects or presentations carried out during the term on:
a) Reading comprehension
b) Listening comprehension
c) Use of English
d) Writing
e) Speaking
2. Final written exam, which consists of:
a) Reading comprehension
b) Listening comprehension
c) Use of English
d) Writing
3. Final oral exam (interview)
The lecturers in charge of the module will determine the format and the schedule for the final oral interviews, depending on the specific circumstances of each faculty. Each lecturer will make this information available on Moodle as soon as possible.
Assessment type B: Global assessment
1. Final written exam, with the same sections as in assessment type A (2.).
2. Final oral exam (interview): Each lecturer will inform about the format and schedule in due course through the usual means (Moodle).
Weighting of the various parts
Assessment type A
1. Continuous assessment activities 40%
a) Reading comprehension 10%
b) Listening comprehension 10%
c) Use of English 5%
d) Writing 10%
e) Speaking 5%
2. Final written exam 40%
a) Reading comprehension 10%
b) Listening comprehension 10%
c) Use of English 10%
d) Writing 10%
3. Final oral exam (interview) 20%
Assessment type B
1. Final written exam 80%
a) Reading comprehension 20%
b) Listening comprehension) 20%
c) Use of English 20%
d) Writing 20%
2. Final oral exam (interview) 20%
Assessment criteria for each task
All activities and tests will be assessed according to the following aspects:
a) Reading comprehension: grasping the main ideas and finding specific information in a text; understanding academic and professional terminology; using contextual clues to deduce the meanings of unfamiliar vocabulary or expressions; critical capability to analyse a text so as to make a value judgment.
b) Listening comprehension: understanding of global ideas and details of recorded texts; ability to draw correct inferences about a speaker’s attitude.
c) Proficiency in English and metalinguistic competence / awareness: understanding the basic concepts of English grammar; demonstrating knowledge of the relationship between these concepts and their associated communicative functions.
d) Writing: message relevance and connection of students' ideas with the topic proposed; organization, clarity and coherence; grammatical, lexical and spelling accuracy; style and register adequacy.
e) Oral production and interaction: fluency and phonetic accuracy; lexical, grammatical and pragmatic appropriacy; clarity in conveying a message through adequate communicative strategies (without resorting to the student’s mother tongue).
All the assessment activities will be similar to those carried out in class during the term, notwithstanding the exceptions determined by each faculty lecturer, who will set the grading criteria to follow for each of the exam papers. The relevant information will be conveyed to the students through the usual means at the beginning of the term.
Grading criteria and requirements for passing
Students must achieve at least 60% of the total mark to pass this module. They must also attain at least 60% in each of the five parts (a-d, plus the interview). Failure to meet any of these requirements means that students have not passed the module.
If at least 60% has been achieved in the first sitting for any of the five parts (a-d or interview), the 'pass' marks will be kept for the June resit. Students can resit only the failed parts or can do all of them again in the second sitting, if they so wish (check each faculty's website). This resit examination, consisting of the same parts and weightings, will be organized and assessed in the same way as the first sitting. In the event that a student has achieved 60% of the total final mark for the module but has failed one or more of the five parts in the first sitting, the final grade that will feature in the official degree transcript will be: 4.5 (fail).
The final mark of assessment type A students, with the weightings indicated above, will include all the continuous assessment activities and the final exam if in both types of activities they have obtained at least 60%. For example, should a student fail one continuous assessment parts with a result of 40% but pass the same part in the final exam with 75%, the final mark in that part will be 75%. Conversely, if the result of an assessment activity is, for instance, 70% and in the final exam is 50%, the final mark will be 50%, that is to say fail in that part.
It must be noted that, notwithstanding the assessment criteria outlined above, failure to comply or conform with the topics or tasks pertaining to each skill may result in a mark of 0 (fail) for that part in particular. Students are advised to consult the official Assessment Regulations for the University of Zaragoza.
Global exam and second sitting
The global assessment activities coincide exactly with those used with assessment B students and have the same weightings. They consist of:
1. Final written exam 80% (official date set by each faculty for the first sitting in February):
a) Reading comprehension 20%
b) Listening comprehension 20%
c) Use of English 20%
d) Writing 20%
2. Final oral exam (interview) 20% (date and schedule set by each lecturer):
The assessment criteria coincide exacly with those of the first sitting. Students who resit a part they have passed in the first sitting but obtain a lower grade will be awarded the first (higher) grade obtained in that part.
Fifth and sixth sittings
Should the student have to take an extraordinary (fifth or sixth) sitting, the global assessment activities, the weightings and the requirements for passing will coincide with those of the ordinary sittings (February or June). Exams will be assessed by a board of examiners.
4. Methodology, learning tasks, syllabus and resources
4.1. Methodological overview
The teaching and learning process in this module rests on the principles and tenets of the communicative approach, particularly on its major contribution to the development of students' global communicative competence and its many facets: discursive, grammatical, pragmatic, strategic and intercultural. This focus on communication necessarily goes hand in hand with activities promoting the students' active participation.
4.2. Learning tasks
Students will be helped to attain the expected learning outcomes through:
1: Activities promoting the identification of and reflection on the meanings and communicative purposes associated with formal aspects.
2: Extensive and intensive out-of-class reading (longer and shorter texts: novels, short stories, newspaper articles, etc.).
3: Listening comprehension of videos and CD tracks, with activities fostering students' grammatical and pragmatic analysis of the passage(s) under study.
4: Speaking practice aimed at improving students' oral production, fluency and phonetic accuracy (e.g. debates, role plays, etc).
5: Research (internet or library-based) on the cultural aspects covered in class.
6: Writing practice (compositions) and students' self-correction of their mistakes.
7: Internet-based activities fostering autonomous learning.
4.3. Syllabus
The learning activities planned may draw on aspects from any of the following content areas, all of which are clearly of interest to the future specialist teacher in bilingual education:
1. Languages: learning strategies, bilingualism and bilingual education.
2. Using English: academic settings vs. the language of children literature, games and folklore.
3. Childhood: personality and upbringing, education and the community.
4. English-speaking countries: society and culture, preschool education around the world.
4.4. Course planning and calendar
The calendar of activities and tests (test dates, submission deadlines, etc.) will be announced on the ADD (Anillo Digital Docente), on Moodle or through any other means chosen by the lecturer, such as the class notice board or a handout given at the beginning of the module. The dates of the final exams will be published on the website of each of the faculties offering the degree.