Genre and Modules
The Certificates in Spoken and Written English, which form the basis for the national AMEP curriculum, are divided into compulsory and elective Modules. These modules are split into Learning Objectives which relate language functions to a specific context or situation in the 'real world'. As students work their way through the CSWE pathway from level to level, they work in increasingly specialized contexts, from a general learning context at beginner and post-beginner level to more specialized contexts related to employment, further study or community access at the intermediate or advanced level.
The framework of modules is written along genre-based language teaching and learning principles, where students check their progress against general descriptions of English text or discourse patterns. The discourse oriented learning outcomes are written in terms of general genre categories, specific uses of language, e.g. Talking on a telephone, filling in a form, describing, story/recount, instructions, or information texts. These categories are then linked to a language macroskill- reading, writing, listening, speaking, in order to describe what a learner should be able to do English at the end of the course e.g;
- Can write a description - writing
- Can read written instructions - reading
- Can tell a recount/story - speaking
- Can understand a spoken information text - listening
Each skill is written in terms of a generalised text type or genre and further broken down to key language features and elements which students must demonstrate their competence of, based on certain performance criteria.
When the learner can successfully perform the language function in test conditions they are considered to be competent in that genre and the Learning Objective is achieved. In CSWE Ill students must complete two compulsory modules and three elective modules to achieve their qualification.
The genre/competence approach is practical and very flexible, allowing students to concentrate their language learning on areas of weakness and to carry out intensive work on particular modules. Needs analysis, student feedback and input are important in the AMEP and learners can customise their language learning to meet the demands of their immediate situations.
Last updated 1 October, 2009