The main aim of this module is to develop participants' understanding of the theoretical bases for the teaching of listening and speaking skills in the EFL classroom through the investigation and analysis of spoken discourse and the processes whereby spoken discourse is produced and comprehended. The course begins by raising key issues in the teaching of listening and speaking skills, including the kinds of problems encountered by L2 learners and the types of skills and strategies involved in listening and speaking. The course then focuses on factors involved in L1 and L2 listening, involving key concepts such as top-down and bottom-up processes, and in particular focusing on listening micro-skills. The module next critically examines current approaches to teaching listening skills, and introduces some recent developments in syllabus and materials design. We then consider what is involved in L1 and L2 speaking in terms of knowledge, skills and processes, and in particular focus on pragmalinguistic features such as politeness and conversational management. The module moves on to consider the implications of these factors for the development of L2 speaking skills, and investigates recent methodological approaches.

(LO1) Students will demonstrate understanding of key concepts relating to spoken language, spoken discourse and discourse processing.

(LO2) Students will be able to analyse samples of spoken interaction using the concepts and analytical approaches to which they have been introduced.

(LO3) Students will be able be able to reflect critically on current approaches to teaching foreign language listening and speaking skills.

(LO4) Student will better understand new trends in the teaching of EFL listening and speaking skills and to the reasoning behind them.

(LO5) Students will be able to adapt existing listening and speaking skills teaching materials in line with their own findings from spoken discourse analysis.

(S1) Teamwork on in class projects and exercises.

(S2) Digital literacy and fluency.

(S3) Critical analysis and evaluation.

Topics covered typically include:
What is involved in L1 listening skills,
What is involved in L2 listening skills,
Developing L2 listening skills in the classroom,
What is involved in L1 speaking skills,
What is involved in L2 speaking skills, and
Developing L2 speaking skills in the classroom.

This module will be delivered by weekly 1-hour whole-cohort workshops and weekly 1-hour seminars of no more than 25 students. The majority of teaching will be delivered face to face on campus. Online delivery will be used to complement the on-campus delivery and where technology affords a better learning experience.