English I

Code:

MEIEFA021

Acronym:

I_I

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Foreign Languages

Instance: 2024/2025 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Teaching English and Foreign Languages in the 3rd cycle of Basic Education and in Secondary Education, with specialties in Spanish or French or German

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MEIEFA	17	MEIEFA - Study Plan	2	-	3	21,5	81
MEPIEFA	15	MEPIEFA - Study Plan	2	-	3	21,5	81

Teaching language

English

Objectives

The main aims are:

1) to develop students' awareness of pedagogic grammar and an understanding of how to apply this knowledge in the classroom;

2) to anticipate and discuss learner difficulties in the areas specified in the programme below, and consider appropriate strategies for dealing with these problem areas;

3) to analyse national documents for the teaching of English in relation to the content areas of this course;

4) to encourage students to reflect on their teaching contexts and relate theory to practice.

Learning outcomes and competences

By the end of this course unit, students will:

1) have developed their knowledge and understanding of the English language (grammar and phonology) in theory, and an ability to apply this knowledge in practice and when reflecting on their teaching contexts;

2) have improved their awareness of the contents of the Portuguese national programmes for English ;

3) have developed their ability to identify and diagnose the cause of learner difficulties with the English language (in the areas specified in the syllabus below) and developed strategies to overcome these difficulties;

4) have developed their ability to conduct small-scale classroom investigation into overcoming a language difficulty of a learner in their teaching contexts.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Students may only do this subject if they are in the second year of the master's degree and are doing the practicum.

Program

This is the first in a two-part systemic analysis of the English language (see English II).  The focus is on the theory and implications for practice in school contexts of the following areas of the English language:

1) Phonology: individual sounds, sounds in combination; word stress; sentence stress; shifting stress; rhythm; intonation; connected speech;

2) Orthography: punctuation, spelling;

3) Words and word classes:  nouns, adjectives, adverbs, articles, determiners, quantifiers, comparatives and superlatives, prepositions;

4) Analysis of the contents of Portuguese national programmes for English;

5) Errors in English  language learning (significance, causes, categories);

6) Small-scale action research into learner errors and possible solutions to overcome them.

Mandatory literature

Parrott M.; Grammar for English Language Teachers, Cambridge University Press, 2000. ISBN: 0-521-77972

Complementary Bibliography

Marianne Celce-Murcia; Teaching pronunciation. ISBN: 0-521-40694-3

Teaching methods and learning activities

The course syllabus mixes theoretical input from the teacher (and students) with practical group work, micro-teaching, individual research and private study. Active participation is encouraged.   Assessment is continual with no final exam.  Students are assigned an area of the syllabus to research. They present the underlying theory and conduct peer micro-teaching of this given area. They also conduct small-scale classroom research in their teaching contexts. This involves identifying and categorizing the language problems of a student in one of their practicum classes over a series of lessons and developing strategies for overcoming one of these problems. Students also do a written test related to the content of the course syllabus. The medium of instruction of the course and assessment procedures are in English.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	50,00
Trabalho de campo	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	30,00
Frequência das aulas	26,00
Trabalho de campo	25,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

All students are required to attend 75% of classes, with exceptions according to FLUP regulations. Official worker students are not required to attend lessons but must take all components of continual evaluation on the dates specified in the course timetable.

Calculation formula of final grade

Written test: 50%
Coursework assignments: 50%



NOTE: Absence from any element of evaluation without written justification from official sources (medical or otherwise) will lead to a mark of 0 (zero) being attributed to that element.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Fieldwork in practicum school.

Internship work/project

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Students with special status, namely those covered by the status of Association Manager, Student Athlete, Student Firefighter, Military Student, National Team Athlete, Top-level Sportsperson or Student Worker, will not be obliged to attend classes, but must complete all the continuous assessment components on the set dates. In the event that a student needs to be absent on a set date, an alternative date will be arranged.

Classification improvement

Students who wish to improve their final mark may only repeat ONE written element. Students must inform their teacher in writing (via email) which element they wish to repeat. Students must also be properly enrolled for ‘melhoria’ with the ‘Serviços Académicos’ so that their names are included in the marks list on Sigarra.

Observations

Worker students should stay in touch with the teacher and their colleagues so as to keep up to date with progress and dates for evaluation etc.

All work submitted for formal assessment must be original and result from the student’s own individual, independent, scholarly effort. In all cases, material and/or ideas from other sources (in articles, essays, dissertations, books and on the internet) must be explicitly acknowledged. Quotations and paraphrases must be clearly referenced in the main body of the text and the primary sources listed in the bibliography, using the stipulated referencing system. No additional non-authored material other than that itemised in the bibliography may be incorporated in the submission, this includes text generated by artificial intelligence or translation software or otherwise machine enhanced.