Applied Language Teaching
1. Aims & Objectives
• Practical, applied and relevant to student’s area of study and future professional development.
• Level of proficiency in the target language designed to enhance language learning experience as well as communicative skills in the target language
• Even at ab initio level, the objective should always be to enable and enhance student’s confidence and proficiency in the new language
2. Approach/methodology
• Development of independent language learners
• Teaching through the target language, where and whenever possible, even at ab initio level
• Sourcing of authentic materials; edited and adapted to suit all levels of competency
• Focus on language structure. Integrated and focused - in context – lexis, phonology – consolidation by means of online (self-correcting) language learning resources.–
• Tandem learning – Designed to consolidate links, enhance communicative confidence and competence in the target language
• Vocabulary (re)development – targeted and subject specific
• Development of cultural awareness of the country where the target language is spoken - by exposure to contemporary cultural topics and current socio-political & historico-cultural events sourced across all new media formats – on-line periodicals and newspapers , YouTube, digital radio and TV programming, podcasts
3. Targetted Subject Areas/ Languages for special purposes
• Languages on Business courses – Marketing, Management, Advertising – Language for the workplace – business plans, CVs, letter writing
• Languages & Tourism/Hospitality Management/Culinary Arts – Task-based cultural projects, information retrieval, language for the tourism and hospitality industry
• Languages for Science & Engineering
The link below is about an article discussing the language skills in Ireland; it also provides many useful links for the promotion of languages.
