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TEFL

The TEFL section of the English department deals with a variety of issues concerning the teaching and learning of English in educational contexts ranging from primary to secondary school and adult education. Our research and our teacher education courses focus on ways of teaching English both as a global and a foreign language with respect to its literatures and cultures. Among our special research interests are the teaching of language and culture through literary texts, the teaching of English to young learners and the use of digital media in the English language classroom.
 

TEFL research and undergraduate courses study the different roles of teachers and learners in the English language classroom and the effect these roles have on the learning process. Our courses do not only provide future teachers with relevant theoretical concepts and methodological approaches for teaching foreign languages, literatures and cultures, but also encourage them to become reflective practitioners. Therefore, students in our seminars also critically analyse teaching materials and media (e.g. pictures, fictional and non-fictional texts, films, internet, CD-ROMS etc.).They get the chance to select or design suitable teaching materials themselves, develop teaching proposals and micro-teaching units. Furthermore, the courses provide future teachers with a variety of strategies and practices for evaluating and assessing a learner’s foreign language competencies. A key element of our teacher education courses is the practicum, in which students experience the classroom in the role of the teacher and reflect on their own performance, choice of materials and methodological approaches on the basis of research literature.