Syllabus Template

Course name: Language Essentials for Teachers (3 credit hours)
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COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to teach preprofessional and practicing teachers and therapists the fundamental principles and concepts of the structure of the English language. Participants will be able to explain the speech-to-print correspondence system, the aspects of language represented by print, and the ways that meanings are conveyed by words and sentences. Students will learn the speech sounds of English and how the spelling system works. Further, they will understand morphology (the meaningful parts of words), sentence structure (syntax), and ways that word relationships contribute to text cohesion. The application of language concepts to explicit instruction will be described and modeled throughout the course. Students are expected to complete many short exercises in the textbook and workbook as they master this content.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the language processing requirements of word reading and fluent passage reading with comprehension.
2. Identify the subsystems of language and their interrelationships.
3. Summarize the findings of major scientific consensus reports on the phases of learning to read and write and the nature of skilled reading.
4. Using student work samples, interpret differences between good and poor readers in language use and language proficiency, both oral and written.
5. Understand, produce, and memorize the vowel and consonant speech sounds of English, for the purpose of recognizing phonological confusions, selecting examples during instruction, and designing activities for student learning.
6. Learn the most common vowel and consonant graphemes that represent English phonemes, and the position constraints or patterns that govern their use in orthography.
7. Distinguish syllables from morphemes in speech and print, decompose morphologically complex words into their structural elements, and become familiar with a general progression for morphological awareness instruction.
8. Understand the relationship between sentence meaning and sentence structure, and review ways to explicitly teach how sentences work.
9. Understand the concept of deep lexical quality in word learning, and the many ways that word relationships can be emphasized in vocabulary instruction.
10. Identify the linguistic devices that connect phrases and clauses within sentences and between sentences, and how they can be taught to support comprehension.

    Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers, Third Edition by Louisa Cook Moats. Copyright © 2020 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

REQUIRED TEXTS

1. Textbook (STP)
   Moats, L. C. (2020). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers (3rd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

2. Workbook
   Moats, L. C., & Rosow, B. L. (2020). Speech to print: Language exercises for teachers (3rd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Read the text before a class on that topic. Read any other assigned articles posted on the course website.
2. Complete the assigned in-text exercises.
3. Complete the assigned workbook exercises.
4. Complete any additional practice exercises or case studies assigned from the online supplementary materials.
5. Complete an in-person check on phoneme production and phoneme awareness.
6. Complete the chapter quizzes and final exam.

ATTENDANCE EXPECTATIONS

Attendance is taken during the first 10 minutes of class. If you miss __ classes, failure of the course is automatic.

GRADING [EXAMPLE]

Chapter 2, Phonetics, Session 1: The Elusive Phoneme

Reading: STP Chapter 1
Workbook: Exercises 1–4

Chapter 2, Phonetics, Session 2: English Consonants

Reading: STP Chapter 2
Workbook: Exercises 5–10

Chapter 2, Phonetics, Session 3: Vowel Phonemes in English

Reading: STP Chapter 2
Workbook: Exercises 11–20

Chapter 3, Phonology, Session 1: How Sounds Are Combined to Form Words and Syllables

Reading: STP Chapter 3
Workbook: Exercises 2–26

Chapter 3, Phonology, Session 2: Aspects of Phonological Processing

Reading: STP Chapter 3
Workbook: Exercise 27

Chapter 3, Phonology, Session 3: Phonological and Phoneme Awareness

Reading: STP Chapter 3
Workbook: Exercises 28–30

Chapter 3, Phonology, Session 4: Allophonic Variation in Speech Sound Production

Reading: STP Chapter 3
Workbook: Exercises 31–37

Chapter 3, Phonology, Session 5: Teaching Phonological Skills

General principles of instruction by level of development of phoneme awareness. Role play, video, and case studies.

Chapter 4, Orthography, Session 1: The Nature of the English Writing System

Reading: STP Chapter 4
Workbook: Exercises 38–40

Chapter 4, Orthography, Session 2: Phoneme-Grapheme Correspondences in English

Reading: STP Chapter 4
Workbook: Exercises 41–46

Chapter 4, Orthography, Session 3: Syllable Types, Big Words, and Ending Rules

Reading: STP Chapter 4
Workbook: Exercises 47–52

Chapter 5, Morphology, Session 1: Role of Morphology in Learning to Read and Write

Reading: STP Chapter 5
Workbook: Self-assessment, Exercise 53–61

Chapter 5, Morphology, Session 2: Derivational Complexity

Reading: STP Chapter 5
Workbook: Exercises 62–66

Chapter 5, Morphology, Session 3: Instruction and Assessment

Reading: STP Chapter 5
Workbook: Exercises 67–68 Final chapter quiz

Chapter 6, Syntax, Session 1: Introduction to the Study of Syntax

Reading: STP Chapter 6
Workbook: Pretest, Exercises 70–74

Chapter 6, Syntax, Session 2: Phrase and Argument Structure

Reading: STP Chapter 6
Workbook: Exercises 75–81

Chapter 6, Syntax, Session 3: How Sentences Hang Together

Reading: STP Chapter 6
Workbook: Exercises 82–87; chapter quiz

Chapter 7, Semantics, Session 1: Word Meanings (Lexical Semantics)

Reading: STP Chapter 7
Workbook: Exercises 88–99

Chapter 7, Semantics, Session 2: Vocabulary Instruction

Reading: STP Chapter 7
Workbook: Exercises 100–103

Chapter 7, Semantics, Session 3: Phrase and Sentence Meaning (Sentential Semantics); Teaching How Text Hangs Together

Reading: STP Chapter 7
Workbook: Exercises 104–109; chapter quiz

Chapter 8, Summary Review and Wrap-Up

Reading: STP Chapter 8
Final exam

Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers, Third Edition by Louisa Cook Moats. Copyright © 2020 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.