Focus on Language: the four systems

Learning language from language: integrating the teaching of pronunciation and vocabulary and grammar and functional language

This one-week course focusses on the so-called Four Systems, i.e. Vocabulary, Grammar, Functional Language and Pronunciation. Because this is the core of all language teaching, the course is intended for English language teachers:

• in secondary schools
• in universities
• in independent language schools
• for private teachers.

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It may also be of interest to people who,

• write material for teaching and testing
• teach examination courses such as IELTS and TOEFL
• train university teachers in EMI courses
• work on CELTA and DELTA courses.

The starting point of this course is learning language from language. We have learnt a great deal about vocabulary, grammar, functional language and pronunciation this century and especially about how they relate to each other. We derive the vocabulary from the texts we choose to teach an aspect of a topic, and we study the grammar of that vocabulary which is the core of sentence grammar. We see that a lot of functional language is separate from the syntax of the main clauses and that they more strongly represent registers and genres than vocabulary and grammar. And we know that pronunciation can be taught using cognitive approaches, not just through imitation, thus we derive a list of teachable features.

This course proceeds through examining the language in texts chosen for teaching, and creating resources for teaching aspects of language, many of which have not yet made it into standard teaching material. 

By the end of the course, participants should have assembled a portfolio of resources to try out on their students. Note also that this course includes language development suited to the participants.

Because of the innovative and adaptable content, Focusing on Language should be of interest to people at all stages of their language teaching careers from pre-service teachers to more experienced teachers and trainers. And it should also be of interest to native, non-native teachers and all those fall somewhere along that continuum.

General introductory information is on the Teacher Training Course page in this website and full details about enrolment and practical matters  can be found on the CA Institute page.