Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Prerequisite: Must be a graduate student
Note: For permission contact gradhisp@iu.edu.

This course provides a foundation in theory and techniques for teaching university-level additional languages (L2s) in a classroom setting, utilizing the principles of communicative language teaching with particular attention to task-supported language teaching. Students will critically review pedagogically relevant research on instructed second language acquisition and learn how to implement current findings into effective task-supported teaching practices.  The course is guided by three organizing questions: 

1. How do adult students learn an L2 in a classroom setting?
2. What factors contribute to/complicate learning in this context?
3. How can we as instructors utilize this information to maximize opportunities for L2 learning within our current and future classrooms?

Throughout the semester, students will write, edit, design, and practice task-based lessons, develop a statement of personal teaching philosophy, complete classroom observations, analyze and improve teaching materials and contribute to open-access educational resources­, including the TBLT Task Bank and OASIS, participate in collaborative task edits via a critical language awareness/pedagogy lens, and reflect via an online teaching journal. The skills gained in this course are useful for current and future instructed L2 contexts as well as in online teaching portfolios and job application dossiers.

HISP-S 517     #5992     11:10A-12:25P       TR      BH 315     Prof. Laura Gurzynski-Weiss