TESOL (TE)

Examines the theory and practice of multilingual multicultural education, from a sociopolitical perspective. Emphasizes understanding acculturation and academic achievement of, and programmatic alternatives and pedagogy for English Language Learners (ELLs) in a pluralistic society. Explores the impact of the cultural backgrounds on language minority children and their families, and their adjustment to a new society, on school achievement and language acquisition. Unscheduled. (DICO)

Participants learn the foundations of communicative language teaching to non-native speakers in multicultural and homogenous classrooms. Topics include content-based instruction, teaching of the 4 skills, curriculum development, materials adaptation, lesson planning and execution, assessment. The course also includes an examination of, and experiential practice with, current theories and practice of second language literacy development. Students gain both a theoretical grounding and hands-on experience with scaffolding content for language learners, and with developing learner strategies. Participants acquire and practice the skills needed to teach English to students of all ages and abilities. Includes a 30-hour supervised field experience.

Explores different approaches for creating, scoring, and evaluating both formal and informal standards-based language assessment measures for students of different ages and ability levels. Topics include authentic communicative assessment measures, portfolio assessment, and standardized testing for placement, to inform instruction, and measure achievement; test biases; testing different skills; and knowledge of state and federally mandated assessment measures and their implications for English language learners. Foregrounds authentic and useful classroom language assessment measures. Unscheduled.

Prerequisite(s): TE 4100 or permission of instructor.