AJU5205 Language Awareness

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Simona Kalová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Christopher Adam Rance, M.A. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Simona Kalová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The main aim of the course is to raise students´ language awareness related to teaching English as a foreign language and highlight the relevant differences between the English language and students´ native languages. Students will explore various aspects of language awareness, e.g. levels of formality, text analysis, and questions of selecting suitable language models in teaching. The content will be presented by adopting a large variety of appropriate teaching methods and techniques. Within the course, students will also design teaching activities and devise materials increasing language awareness for classroom use.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:
1 Distinguish between different models and norms applicable in teaching English as a foreign language and choose a model appropriate in the given context based on the needs analysis.
2 Critically evaluate various levels of language forms and their appropriateness in a given communication situation. 3 Analyse samples of spoken language at various levels of formality.
4 Analyse samples of written language at various levels of formality.
5 Adapt texts for various teaching purposes.
6 Identify areas in which English and students´ native language differ and address these effectively in teaching.
7 Find and adapt texts suitable for raising secondary school English learners´ language awareness.
8 Create teaching materials raising learners´ language awareness adopting language corpora, dictionaries and other (online) resources.
Syllabus
  • 1 Introduction to language awareness and terminology.
  • 2 Presenting models and norms in English language teaching and their specifics for teaching English as a foreign language.
  • 3 Raising lexical language awareness; distinguishing between various levels of formality of lexical units – neutral, euphemisms and dysphemisms.
  • 4 Specifics of English lexis – collocations, connotations, idiomatic language and fixed expressions.
  • 5 Raising grammatical language awareness.
  • 6 Text analysis: levels of formality, style, purpose and genre. Adapting authentic texts for language teaching.
  • 7 Raising language awareness in listening comprehension.
  • 8 Specifics of English pronunciation, word and sentence stress.
  • 9 Presenting online tools and software suitable for the adaption and design of English language teaching materials: native and learner language corpora, dictionaries and lexical learning platforms (e.g. SKELL, Sketch Engine, Google Ngram Viewer, MENTI, etc.).
Literature
    required literature
  • Routledge handbook of language awareness. Edited by Peter Garrett - Josep M. Cots. First published. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018, xviii, 535. ISBN 9781138937048. info
  • LAZAR, Gillian. Meanings and metaphors : activities to practise figurative language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, ix, 132. ISBN 0521774365. info
    recommended literature
  • RINVOLUCRI, Mario and Paul DAVIS. More grammar games : cognitive, affective and movement activities for EFL students. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, xvi, 176 s. ISBN 0-521-46630-X. info
  • THORNBURY, Scott. About language : tasks for teachers of English. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016, xxiii, 353. ISBN 9781107667198. info
  • Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning. Edited by Eli Hinkel. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005, xxii, 1144. ISBN 0805841814. info
  • CRYSTAL, David. English as a global language. 2nd ed., 7th pr. Cambridge: University Press, 2007, xv, 212. ISBN 9780521823470. info
Teaching methods
weekly face-to-face sessions
e-learning support
group discussion
short individually presented classroom activities
reading of selected sources
self-study
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
Teacher's information
Students will be assessed on their work throughout the term, namely:

- their active participation on the course

- based on individual presentations of activities suitable for secondary school teaching, applying knowledge and skills gained on the course - contributing to the shared forum
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/AJU5205