Course Outline
EDU745 Teaching Junior Secondary Languages
Course Coordinator:Peter Grainger (pgrainge@usc.edu.au) School:School of Education and Tertiary Access
2026Trimester 1
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
This course builds capacity to design and discern effective pedagogy within Languages for Years 7 -10. You organise and plan lessons using the Australian Curriculum for Languages, apply your knowledge, understanding and skills to interpret, evaluate and adapt learning, in order to engage Junior Secondary students.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – This is a blended Learning course and you are required to engage with Canvas materials and complete related activities. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 9 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – You are required to participate weekly in a tutorial/workshop that builds on the learning materials | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
Course Topics
- Australian Curriculum Languages
- Principles of constructive alignment
- Knowledge of how students learn (memory, spacing, retrieval, cognitive overload)
- Strategies for establishing challenging and achievable learning goals with students
- Teaching strategies that support acquisition of new knowledge (explicit teaching, scaffolding, modelling, worked examples)
- Teaching strategies that support application and utilisation of knowledge (rich investigative tasks, inquiry learning, independent problem solving)
- Assessing learning in Languages: formative (to determine prior knowledge/ misconceptions, evaluate progress and inform pedagogical planning) and summative assessment strategies, including moderation and reporting
- Embedding literacy, numeracy and ICT learning (including safe and ethical use of ICT) in Languages
- Research and theories of Languages education (Communicative Language Teaching Methods and Intercultural Language Teaching (ICLT))
- Inclusion of diverse learners
- Knowledge and use of appropriate teaching strategies that adapt as a students' familiarity with the subject
- knowledge increases and why they are important. Knowledge and use of teaching strategies that establish prior learning and support students to retrieve past learning and consolidate it in long-term memory
What level is this course?
700 Level (Specialised)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
| 1 | Research the benefits of learning Languages to promote the Languages Learning Area to key stakeholders in Junior Secondary School settings |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 |
| 2 | Research and critically analyse the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach and the Intercutural Language teaching focus, applying this knowledge to a specific additional language in the Junior Secondary years |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 |
| 3 | Critically analyse and interpret key components of The Australian Curriculum | Languages | Knowledgeable |
2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 |
* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership | |
| 2 | PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE: Know the content and how to teach it |
| 2.1 | Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area |
| 2.2 | Content selection and organisation: Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence. |
| 2.3 | Curriculum, assessment and reporting: Use curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans. |
| 2.4 | Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: Demonstrate broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. |
| 2.5 | Literacy and numeracy strategies: Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas. |
| 2.6 | Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students. |
| 3 | PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning |
| 3.1 | Establish challenging learning goals: Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics. |
| 3.2 | Plan, structure and sequence learning programs: Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies. |
| 3.3 | Use teaching strategies: Include a range of teaching strategies. |
| 3.4 | Select and use resources: Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning. |
| 3.5 | Use effective classroom communication: Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement |
| 4 | PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments |
| 4.1 | Support student participation: Identify strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities. |
| 4.2 | Manage classroom activities: Demonstrate the capacity to organise classroom activities and provide clear directions |
| 4.5 | Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically: Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching. |
| 5 | PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning |
| 5.1 | Assess student learning: Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning. |
| 5.2 | Provide feedback to students on their learning: Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning |
| 5.3 | Make consistent and comparable judgements: Demonstrate understanding of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning. |
| 5.4 | Interpret student data: Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice. |
| 5.5 | Report on student achievement: Demonstrate understanding of a range of strategies for reporting to students and parents/ carers and the purpose of keeping accurate and reliable records of student achievement |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
Enrolled in Program ED706 and a Languages Teaching area or ED508 or ED705
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
It is expected that you will draw upon knowledge of a language to complete this course that you have studied prior to entry into this program.
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
Task 1 is completed at the end of week 3, prior to census and will be scored by a computer immediately upon completion, hence providing early feedback to students about their progress.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Quiz/zes | Individual | 10% | 10 questions, 1000 words |
Week 3 | Online Test (Quiz) |
| All | 2 | Written Piece | Individual | 50% | 2500 words excluding Reference List |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Creative Performance | Individual | 40% | 30 minute micro teaching segment and one two page lesson plan, |
Week 10 | In Class |
| All - Assessment Task 1:On line quiz | |||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is for you to become familiar with the Australian Curriculum: Languages syllabus by answering a series of on line questions related to the key syllabus focuses |
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| Product: | Quiz/zes | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | On line task |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Pedagogical Approaches | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is to design a sequence of Language lessons for Year 9-10 students that showcases your personal philosophy for teaching your specific language. |
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| Product: | Written Piece | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | This task involves planning an engaging sequence of consecutive 70-minute lessons for a Year 9/10 class, including a rationale for the approach you have taken, the content you have chosen, formative assessment strategies and resources needed to implement the lesson plans. You will be provided with a lesson plan template. The lessons should: - meet the needs of a diverse range of learners and provide opportunities for all students to succeed; - include meaningful links to literacy and numeracy within the lesson plans; - include a range of evidence-based formative assessment practices to evaluate student learning, adjust instruction, provide targeted feedback and support learning; - incorporate effective and safe use of ICT relevant to the learning activities you have devised. - include content and tasks that become increasingly challenging and are based on the students’ familiarity with the content; - include a diagnostic assessment activity to identify student learning so the introductory lesson can be pitched to the appropriate level before continuing the lesson sequence; These lesson plans are to be consecutive and should include activities aligned with curriculum learning objectives, with content, activities and tasks becoming increasingly challenging throughout the sequence, and incorporating explicit teaching, spacing and retrieval practice, modelling/worked examples and scaffolding, allowing ample opportunities to practise recall and retention. Ensure that independent problem-solving activities are presented only once the students approach proficiency through opportunities to practise progressively challenging tasks. You will also provide a rationale justifying your choices of pedagogy, curriculum content, assessment and resources, and should include references to the course readings and the appropriate curriculum documents.The teaching strategies utilised in your learning and assessment lesson sequence must include explicit teaching, scaffolding, modelling and worked examples, and should be selected based on the students’ familiarity with the content. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Micro teaching | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The goal of this task is for you to engage in micro teaching to your peers in a Language of your choice evidencing understanding of pedagogical approaches to teaching Languages. |
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| Product: | Creative Performance | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Teach your Language to your peers for 30 minutes, using relevant pedagogical approaches . Submit a lesson plan prior to the teaching episode. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Schedule
| Period and Topic | Activities |
Module 1 |
Introduction to Languages Learning Area: Historical context-Policy Benefits of Learning Languages |
Module 2 |
Historical Overview of grammar translation; audio lingual; communicative language teaching approaches |
Module 3 |
Australian Curriculum: Languages-structures, requirements, strands |
Module 4 |
Teaching and assessing Speaking Teaching and assessing Listening Teaching and assessing Reading Teaching and assessing Writing Teaching and assessing other key aspects: (e.g. reflecting, ) |
Module 5 |
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages |
Module 6 |
Issues in Languages teaching and learning |
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Specific requirements
Not applicable
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: