ELT529 BRAIN-BASED LEARN.AND LANGUAGE TEACHING
| Course Code: | 8200529 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): | 3 (3.00 - 0.00) |
| ECTS Credit: | 8.0 |
| Department: | English Language Teaching |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Study: | Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: | Assist.Prof.Dr MÜGE GÜNDÜZ |
| Offered Semester: | Fall and Spring Semesters. |
Course Objectives
The aim of this course is to explore the language areas in the brain, the neurological basis of our ability to learn languages, the linguistic information in the brains of people and the properties of its underlying network in order to understand the mechanisms and functions of learning. Brain-based learning is a comprehensive approach to instruction using current research from neuroscience. Brain-based education emphasizes how the brain learns naturally and is based on what we currently know about the actual structure and function of the human brain at varying developmental stages. Using the latest neural research, educational techniques that are brain friendly provide a biologically driven framework for creating effective instruction. The course will also include current knowledge about the acquisition and representation of two or more than two languages in the brain. Attention will be devoted to researches and their evidences from linguistics, neurology, aphasiology, and cognitive neuroscience. Methods of research will be introduced. At the end of the course students are expected to present a research review of a particular area of brain-based language learning/teaching.
Course Content
Introducing a new paradigm, known as brain-compatible or brain-based learning, providing language teachers with research from the discipline of neuroscience, biology and psychology to design brain-compatible materials and brain-based curriculum that encompass the role of emotions, patterns, meaningfulness, enriched environments, body rhythms, attention span of the brain and rest, attitudes, stress and relaxation, learner states, trauma, multiple ways of brain-compatible assessment, music, movement, memory, retrieval of information, perception, meaning construction, cognition, nonconscious learning, motivation, creativity, nutrition and brain-gym in the language classroom.
Course Learning Outcomes
After completion of the course, students should be able to be aware of the brain areas and functions related to learning. Furthermore it is expected that they could find out interactive teaching elements that emerge from the core principals of brain compatible learning. They also should be able to understand the rationale underlying recent studies in terms of their methodological and theoretical/modelling aspects.
Program Outcomes Matrix
| Level of Contribution | |||||
| # | Program Outcomes | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | demonstrate awareness of theoretical and applied knowledge about contemporary approaches, methods and techniques and use this awareness effectively in practice for various educational settings. | ✔ | |||
| 2 | synthesize, critically assess, and improve theoretical and practical findings on contemporary research. | ✔ | |||
| 3 | evaluate the existing instructional procedures, methods and techniques and make suggestions to improve new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 4 | carry out studies with a scientific point of view in order to meet the educational needs in national and international contexts with the aim of making contributions to the field. | ✔ | |||
| 5 | demonstrate the necessary skills to conduct independent research with scientific research methods and share research findings at academic meetings or other settings both orally and in written form. | ✔ | |||
| 6 | evaluate national and international instructional materials, exams and programs and design new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 7 | analyze innovative theories, applications and tools, and conduct research to suggest new ones. | ✔ | |||
| 8 | investigate the cultural differences and similarities that can be found in countries where English is spoken as native, second and foreign language, and use this knowledge to improve national English learning and teaching practices. | ✔ | |||
| 9 | analyze the theories and applications about the acquisition of English language as a second and foreign language and applied linguistics, and use this knowledge in relation to English language teaching and learning. | ✔ | |||
0: No Contribution 1: Little Contribution 2: Partial Contribution 3: Full Contribution