College of Social Sciences and International Studies

Bilingual and Multilingual Perspectives on Language Learning and Teaching
Module EFPM292 for 2019/0

Postgraduate Module Descriptor

EFPM292: Bilingual and Multilingual Perspectives on Language Learning and Teaching

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

This module aims to enable you to

Critically explore and evaluate politics of language in a specific educational setting and its relevance to bi-/multilingualism in education.
Reflect on personal and societal bi-/multilingualism in a specific educational setting and its relevance to language education.
Explore and develop a critical understanding of the scope of bi-/multilingual approaches to language learning and teaching, and the relevant emergent theoretical framework.
Develop awareness and understanding of possible bi-/multilingual educational approaches and methods, and evaluate their feasibility in a specific educational setting.
Critically evaluate and design practical ways of applying multilingual approaches in a classroom.
Explore an issue emerging from experience or a context you are familiar with, working collaboratively, examine and present a critical review of this through the lens of bi-/multilingual perspectives.

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 Skills	1. demonstrate a critical understanding of key ideas relating to politics of language, specifically language acquisition planning and how this relates to bi-/multilingualism in education; 2. demonstrate awareness of different approaches to learning and teaching that and evaluate one or more in relation to a specific context; 3. design a brief classroom activity that draws on/uses language repertoires of learners in a specific context;
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. demonstrate a critical understanding of personal and societal multilingualism and its role in language education; 5. demonstrate a critical understanding of the benefits and challenges regarding bi-/multilingual approaches to learning; 6. critically evaluate theories related to bi/multilingual learning and identify gaps in research more generally, and identify research needs in a specific context;
Personal and Key Skills	7. engage in independent study and group/pair work and presentations; 8. locate and review relevant academic literature; 9. demonstrate the ability to critically reflect on personal knowledge experience and/or knowledge of a specific educational setting in the view of relevant literature in both independent and collaborative work; and 10. translate educational theories into classroom activities relevant to a specific context.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

An introduction to politics of language, with a focus on language acquisition planning
An introduction to personal and societal multilingualism and its implications for education
An introduction to bilingual methods of teaching and learning
An introduction to multilingual methods of teaching and learning
An introduction to bi-/multilingual approaches curricula, materials and activities
Designing a classroom activity, based on bi-/multilingual approaches

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
16	134

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Activities	16	8 x 2 hour seminars and tutorials
Guided independent study	24	Directed reading: seminar preparation/review
Guided independent study	40	Directed reading: further exploration of chosen topics
Guided independent study	10	Formative assignment preparation
Guided independent study	60	Summative assignment preparation

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Journals

Int. Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (LIBRARY DOES NOT SUBSCRIBE TO THIS)

Language Education

Modern Language Journal

TESOL quarterly

Multilingual