Postgraduate Module Descriptor


EMLM008: Primary Modern Foreign Languages Specialism

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Module Aims

The module will focus on extending the breadth and depth of your understanding of primary education in several directions, in order that you can develop children’s   learning in a number of ways. These include:

  • gaining a deeper understanding of approaches to  language learning  in order to understand its place in the curriculum and ways in which it can relate to other subjects;
  • focusing on leadership in modern languages to enable you to evaluate and select materials, organise the subject within a school, and support your colleagues’  languages teaching;
  • being able to handle intercultural issues with knowledge, tact and confidence;  
  • being able to teach  languages creatively;
  •  understanding the contexts and strategies of languages learning and be able to incorporate this knowledge into your practice as a teacher;
  • nurturing your development as a reflective and autonomous professional practitioner who is able to identify strengths and areas for development in your subject knowledge and pedagogy, through evaluating current professional practice in relationship to developments in research and curriculum theory;

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. identify and evaluate educational concepts and issues related to the teaching of languages and engage in critical debate about current educational issues in the teaching of languages drawing on evidence from theory, research and practice;
2. recognise pupils’ learning needs in languages and interpret these learning needs in order to plan, teach, assess and evaluate lessons and schemes of work;
3. demonstrate confident academic and pedagogic subject knowledge to teach languages in Key Stage 2;
4. demonstrate secure understanding of the statutory requirements and/or non-statutory guidance for languages;
Discipline-Specific Skills5. critically evaluate the relevance of educational theory to practice;
6. synthesise relevant educational literature in support of an argument;
7. use appropriate technologies for data handling and writing in education;
8. present data and findings in a form appropriate in educational studies;
9. use research data in support of an argument in education;
Personal and Key Skills10. manage your own learning development;
11. learn effectively and be aware of your own learning strategies;
12. express ideas and opinions, with confidence and clarity, to a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes;
13. think creatively about the main features of a given problem and develop strategies for its resolution.