Materials and Course Design

Summative Assessment

The assessment consists of a
portfolio of work, of up to 6,000 words maximum (excluding
appendices), related to the design of a specific English language
course.

 Portfolio contents:

The portfolio is in three parts.

Part 1 – Designing a course (approx. 4000 words)

In this part of the portfolio you
are asked to design a 20 hour language course for a specific group of
learners.

If you are working with or have
access to a group of students, use them as the basis for the situation and
needs analysis below and then design a hypothetical, ideal course for them. If
you do not have access to a group of students, you can either base the work on
a class in which you have been a learner, or on an imaginary class, or on a
scenario provided by the module tutor.  Please contact the module leader
in the last case.

Part 1 should include the following:

Situation analysis, needs analysis and details of the
learners

Give details of the context, the
students on the course and their needs. Say how you would collect or have
collected information on the students on the course. Say what needs analysis or
diagnostic testing you have done / would do and say why. Make reference
to reading on needs analysis and diagnostic testing. Include copies of
any needs analysis or diagnostic testing tools in appendices that you
have/would use.

Goals and objectives for your course

Say what overall goals and
objectives you have set for the course. Say why you have chosen them and how
they relate to the learners and the context. Provide an explanation of how you
arrived at the initial goals and objectives. This should be related both to the
situation analysis, to your background reading on the topic,
and to your wider knowledge and beliefs about language, language acquisition
and teaching.

A course design with explanation for about twenty hours
of teaching

Create a course plan for around 20
hours. Put the course plan in an appendix. In the main text give details of the
approach to syllabus organisation chosen and why you chose this; how you
selected the content; how the content relates to the course objectives and the
context; how you decided on the sequencing of the content; and how the course
incorporates a sense of cohesion and progression. Make reference
reading on syllabus design as well as to your knowledge and beliefs
about language, language acquisition and teaching.

The exact number of hours covered
should be chosen as appropriate for your situation, but should be around 20
hours.

Discussion of how you will implement the course

Describe your approach to teaching
and choice and use of materials. Describe ways in which the course might be
adapted as it progresses. Make reference reading on syllabus
design as well as to your knowledge and beliefs about language, language
acquisition and teaching.

Assessment of progress and course evaluation

Say how you would assess the
learners’ progress during and at the end of the course, as well as how you
would evaluate the course as a whole. Say what methods and instruments you
would use. Make reference to your knowledge about testing and
assessment, as well as reading on the topic. Include examples
of tests or other assessment methods in the appendices.

Part 2 – An evaluation of
language teaching materials (approx.
1000 words)

Provide an analysis and evaluation
of a language course book. It should be in the form of a detailed critical
review of one particular course book of teaching materials. Adopt a systematic
approach and make reference to reading on materials selection and
evaluation.

The material should relate to your
particular context and learners. If you have based your course for part 1 on a
particular course book, you can use the same course book for this section, but
you do not have to.

Part 3 – Materials for three
contrasting lessons or activities (approx.
1000 words excluding the materials)

Provide three pieces of material for
the course you have designed in part 1. Each one should be for approximately 30
minutes of teaching. At least one of the activities should use materials you
have created yourself, and the others should have evidence of adaptation from
existing ELT material. Put the materials in an appendix, along with the
originals of the adapted material. Make clear which materials you have created
yourself. Acknowledge the source of any material that you did not write
yourself.

Provide details of how and why you
have adapted and created the materials for your students and include a brief
rationale for their design, making reference to reading on materials
design. You should say why they are suitable for the group of students and
the course.

Include a word count for each part
and the total.

An example of a previous portfolio can be found

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