The Structure of English for Language Teaching 
                                                            Ling 330 – 3 credits 
                                                                   Semester 
                                                              Location; Timings 
                                                                         
             Instructor:              TBD                               Email:                   TBD                                
             Course Website:          TBD                               Office Hours:            TBD 
              
             Course Description  
             This course presents an overview of the linguistic structure of English for the purposes of teaching 
             English as an additional language (EAL). Participants will learn the basic elements that every language 
             teacher should know about English grammar and pronunciation. The emphasis throughout the course 
             will be on implications and techniques for teaching English grammar to EAL learners. 
              
             Topics Covered 
                 •    How (and why) should we teach grammar? 
                 •    Grammar, social context and pragmatics 
                 •    Question formation 
                 •    Imperatives 
                 •    Articles 
                 •    Modal verbs 
                 •    Tense and aspect 
                 •    How (and why) should we teach pronunciation? 
                 •    Spelling, pronunciation and the IPA 
                 •    Phonetic descriptions of consonant and vowels 
                 •    Contextual variation in pronunciation 
                 •    Syllable structure 
                 •    Word stress and vowel reduction 
                 •    Rhythm, sentence stress and intonation 
                 •    Modification of sounds in connected speech   
             Textbooks 
             Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich. 1992. Teaching American English Pronunciation. Oxford Handbooks 
             for Language Teachers. 
             Cowan, Ron. 2008. The Teacher's Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference Guide. 
             Cambridge University Press. 
             In addition to the required textbooks for this course, other required readings will be posted in the course 
             management system. 
                                                
           Course Learning Outcomes & Performance Indicators 
           After completing this course, the student will be able to… 
                      –  Integrate the teaching of grammar and pronunciation into a communicative or task-based 
                          curriculum 
                      –  Describe the grammar of selected aspects of English that are generally difficult for 
                          learners 
                      –  Construct communicative and task-based exercises on these grammatical points  
                      –  Describe the sounds of English in terms of how they are articulated 
                      –  Describe English syllable structure, and its differences from other languages 
                      –  Describe the accent, rhythm and intonation of connected speech 
                      –  Construct exercises targeting the perception and production of difficult sound contrasts, 
                          difficult syllable structures, and difficult aspects of connected speech given a student’s 
                          particular language background 
           Grading Policy 
           Grade Weighting (abbreviations in parentheses are used in Course Schedule below): 
                          Teaching exercises (TE)                                   24% 
                          Peer review of exercises (PR)                             12% 
                          Reading comprehension quizzes (RC)                        32% 
                          In-class work                                             32% 
            
           Assessments* 
           Teaching exercises and peer review (36%): Throughout the semester, participants will create exercises 
           for second language learners, which they will share with their classmates. Each student will produce 6 
           such exercises (6 × 4% = 24%), and for each one, will write comments on two of their classmates’ 
           exercises  (6 × 2% = 12%) 
            
           Reading comprehension quizzes: Each reading assignment will have a multiple-choice quiz to test 
           understanding (16 × 2% = 32%) 
            
           In-class work (32%): Students will participate in in-class activities. 20 of them will be graded, and the 
           top 16 of them will make up this portion of the grade (16 × 2% = 32%) 
            
           *Specific guidelines and rubrics will be given to the students regarding each of these assessments.  
           Number grades will be translated to the final letter grades using the scale shown below: 
           A 93-100% 
           A- 90-92% 
           B+ 87-89% 
     B 83-86% 
     B-80-82% 
     C+ 77-79% 
     C 73-76% 
     C-70-72% 
     D 60-69% 
     F 59% and below 
     Course policy (For examples: late assignment, make-up exams, attendance, classroom conducts, 
     technological devices used during classes, etc.)  
     TBD by instructor and added to this syllabus.  
     Academic Honesty Policy Statement  
     Since the integrity of the academic enterprise of any institution of higher education requires honesty in 
     scholarship and research, academic honesty is required of all students at the University of Massachusetts 
     Amherst.  
     Academic dishonesty is prohibited in all programs of the University. Academic dishonesty includes but 
     is not limited to: cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and facilitating dishonesty. Appropriate sanctions 
     may be imposed on any student who has committed an act of academic dishonesty. Instructors should 
     take reasonable steps to address academic misconduct. Any person who has reason to believe that a 
     student has committed academic dishonesty should bring such information to the attention of the 
     appropriate course instructor as soon as possible. Instances of academic dishonesty not related to a 
     specific course should be brought to the attention of the appropriate department Head or Chair. The 
     procedures outlined below are intended to provide an efficient and orderly process by which action may 
     be taken if it appears that academic dishonesty has occurred and by which students may appeal such 
     actions.  
     Since students are expected to be familiar with this policy and the commonly accepted standards of 
     academic integrity, ignorance of such standards is not normally sufficient evidence of lack of intent. For 
     more information about what constitutes academic dishonesty, please see the Dean of Students’ website 
     (p. 9-10): http://umass.edu/dean_students/codeofconduct/acadhonesty/  
     Disability Statement  
     The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to making reasonable, effective and appropriate 
     accommodations to meet the needs of students with disabilities and help create a barrier-free campus. If 
     you are in need of accommodation for a documented disability, register with Disability Services to have 
             an accommodation letter sent to your faculty. It is your responsibility to initiate these services and to 
             communicate with faculty ahead of time to manage accommodations in a timely manner. For more 
             information, consult the Disability Services website at http://www.umass.edu/disability/. 
                                                               Course Schedule 
                                                  Each week is divided into two “lessons”.  
             This schedule is subject to change; any modifications will be updated on the course management system. 
             Lesson               Topics                   Required Resources/Readings          Pre-     Post-        Other 
                                                                                                work     work     Assignments 
                       Course Overview                 A&E Introduction,                                          
             L1        Why do language teachers        Cowan Introduction                       RC	1	      	
                       need to know about grammar 
                       and pronunciation? 
                                                       Cowan Ch. 3                                                
             L2        Teaching Grammar                                                         RC	2	      	
                                                       A&E “Rhythm, sentence stress, and                          
             L3        Intonation and question         intonation”, Ch. 6 pp. 73-81             RC	3	    TE	1	
                       formation                        
                                                       Cowan Ch. 4 60-70 
             L4        Question formation continued    Cowan Ch. 4 70-85                        RC	4	      	      
             L5        Imperatives                     Cowan Ch. 6                              RC	5	    PR	1	    
                       Declaratives, imperatives,      Hasselgård et al. ch.14                             	      
             L6        interrogatives and                                                       RC	6	
                       communicative function 
             L7        Articles                        Cowan Ch. 10                             RC	7	    TE	2	    
             L8                                                                                   	        	      
             L9        Modal verbs                     Cowan Ch. 14                             RC	8	    PR	2		   
             L10                                                                                  	        	      
             L11       Tense and aspect                Cowan Ch. 16                             RC	9	    TE	3	    
             L12                                                                                  	        	      
             L13       Spelling and pronunciation      A&E Ch. 1                               RC	10	    PR	3	    
             L14       Phonetic alphabet                                                          	        	      
             L15       Speech sounds: consonants        A&E Ch. 2 11-27                        RC	11	    TE	4	    
             L16       Speech sounds: vowels           A&E Ch. 2 28-37                            	        	      
             L17       English sounds in context       A&E Ch. 3                               RC	12		   PR	4	    
             L18       Intro to Praat