Theories of Learning and Current ELT Practices with Secondary School Learners

This module focuses on foreign language learning and teaching within the context of secondary school education. The module consists of two parts: The first one will discuss theories of learning and the age factor. We will discuss the relation of those theories to methods of teaching and we will focus on the most recent developments in teaching methodology. The first part of the module will also discuss differences between younger and older students in relation to their cognitive and language development. Relevant linguistic and cognitive theories will be discussed, especially with respect to ‘the younger, the better’ debate. The second part of the module will focus on the implications of these differences for language acquisition within the instructed language context (e.g., selection of materials, design and implementation of classroom techniques, classroom practicalities, etc.). Overall, the module will present the insights that the linguistic research has provided on instructed language learning in secondary education and will discuss the significance of those findings for the field of language teaching.