Good evening, everyone, and thanks very much
for tuning into this webinar on applied linguistics
and TESOL at Macquarie University. TESOL,
as most of you probably know, stands for Teaching
English to Speakers of Other Languages, and
it's part of the broad area that we call applied
linguistics. I think this is a really fascinating
area for anyone who's got a passion for language.
Often I talk to people who have long been
passionate about language in one way or another.
Maybe they've studied languages at school,
or maybe they've grown up speaking two or
more languages and have been curious about
the experiences they've been through and the
experience that others have with language.
Whatever your interest in language, applied
linguistics and TESOL can offer a pathway
into a variety of exciting careers. So what
I'll do tonight is just explain briefly the
programmes that we have in this area and talk
about some of the careers that people get
into from these programmes.
Many people ask me what applied linguistics
is. It's not something that people study at
school. It's not something that is often well
understood by people. Basically, applied linguistics
is the application of language studies or
language study to understand and offer solutions
to real-life problems. So it's basically applying
a study of language, an understanding of language,
to solve problems in the real world. Now,
you might wonder what these pictures are on
this particular slide. You'll see, at the
bottom of one of the pictures it says, "Life
for a linguist." And the person on the slide
in the left is actually doctor Heather Jackson,
who is a linguist. But she's here working
with a major infrastructure project in New
South Wales which involved the building of
very long tunnels under the northwestern suburbs
in Sydney. And Heather's an applied linguist,
but she works half time at Macquarie University
as an academic, teaching in applied linguistics,
and the other half of the time she works in
industry as a communications consultant. So
she's applying her linguistics knowledge in
a very, very practical way, in facilitating
communication between the various parties
that are involved in these major infrastructure
projects, most notably the residents who are
affected by construction happening near their
homes. So this is just one example of an innovative
way in which people use knowledge in applied
linguistics and expertise in applied linguistics
to create their own kinds of career paths.
And often, when we think about what you can
do with applied linguistics, it's a good idea
to think back to what other skills or interests
people have. Because often people have had
another career beforehand, they may have studied
another degree beforehand, and they may be
interested in combining an interest in language,
an expertise in language studies, with something
that they've done before.
So our programmes in applied linguistics and
TESOL are postgraduate programmes. And this
means that anyone basically with a completed
bachelor's degree and an interest in language
and its use in human interactions can apply
for one of these degree programmes. It doesn't
matter if your bachelor's degree is closely
related to linguistics or language study,
or whether it's in a completely different
area. You're still eligible to apply for these
programmes. And I'll say a little bit more
about that in a moment. So just to give you
an overview, we have programmes to suit professionals
in fields where in-depth understanding of
language and communication is important. So
people who are already established in a particular
profession - perhaps they are HR consultants,
human resources consultants, or perhaps they
are accountants, or perhaps they work for
a hospital in various areas - they can all
benefit from a study of applied linguistics
in helping them to understand how communication
happens in their particular disciplines. We
also have programmes for students who are
interested in pursuing further doctoral studies
in the future. We have programmes for people
who are interested in being language teachers
and interested in getting into the profession
of English language teaching. And we also
have programmes to suit experienced language
teachers who are seeking to enhance their
qualifications and take their careers to the
next level.
So I'll now talk a little bit about the specific
degree programmes that we have, and you'll
be able to see, I think, how these match up
with some of the areas that I've just outlined.
One of our programmes is the Graduate Certificate
of TESOL. Now, as its name implies, it's a
graduate certificate, so it's open to people
who have completed bachelor's degree studies.
Again, as I mentioned, in any particular field.
The convener of that programme is my colleague
Dr. Philip Chappell, and his email address
is up there on the slide, at the moment. And
I'll just tell you a little bit about how
this programme works. The Graduate Certificate
in TESOL is an entry level qualification into
the field of teaching English to speakers
of other languages. On its own, it won't qualify
people to teach in the public school system
in New South Wales or in other states in Australia.
But we do have many people who are already
teaching in primary and high schools in Australia
doing the Graduate Certificate in TESOL. Because
what it does give them, is it gives them what's
called an ESL specialisation, a specialisation
in teaching English as a second language.
So if people are already qualified to teaching
that system, then this can be an added qualification
which gives them the specialisation in English
as a second language. People who are with
this particular qualification sometimes teach
on migrant English programmes for people newly
arrived in Australia, refugee English programmes,
and the big area that they teach is in international
students programmes which are offered around
Australia, but in universities and private
colleges. So most universities in Australia
have an English language centre associated
with them, and these English language centres
all employ a number of TESOL teachers.
Overseas, some people use the Graduate Certificate
in TESOL as a way of traveling the world,
because in many parts of the world there's
a demand for English language teachers, and
in the past it was often possible to get a
job teaching English without any particular
qualifications in English language teaching.
That's probably still possible in some parts
of the world, but in many parts of the world
employers are looking for some qualification
in English language teaching. And certainly,
a university level Graduate Certificate in
TESOL, such as the one that Macquarie offers,
is a really good choice. So people overseas
do teach at schools and universities, private
colleges, English language colleges, English
conversation schools, and also, sometimes,
companies employ English language teachers
overseas to offer in-house English language
training for their employees.
The Graduate Certificate of TESOL basically
consists of four courses. We call these courses
units, at Macquarie, and it can be done in
six months full-time, just one semester, or
it can be spread over a longer duration, part-time.
People who complete the Graduate Certificate
of TESOL do courses in language teaching methodologies,
planning and programming in TESOL, and linguistics
and language teaching. So three coursework
units and one practicum unit. So four units
altogether. The practicum basically involves
placement in a language school or language
centre and doing demonstration language teaching
lessons, receiving feedback from experts as
part of completing that programme. And this
is important, because employers, when they're
seeking to employ language teachers, are often
concerned about whether the programme that
they've completed has contained a practicum
unit. So has their teaching actually been
observed? Have they actually been in a real
classroom and done some teaching?
As I mentioned, this graduate certificate
can be completed in one semester full-time,
or two or three semesters part-time, if you
prefer. And one of the big advantages is that
you can study the whole programme face-to-face
on campus, or you can study the whole programme
online. If you have work commitments that
prevent you from getting into lectures, or
you live away from Macquarie University and
wouldn't be able to get to the campus, you
can complete the whole programme online. It's
designed to be done that way. And you can
also mix the two modes if you like. So some
people study some parts of the programme face-to-face,
and other parts online. To get into the Graduate
Certificate in TESOL, you need to have a completed
bachelor's degree. It can be in any field.
We recognise that people come into language
teaching and applied linguistics sometimes
from very different areas. And that's all
right. And in fact it enriches the discipline
considerably, having people with different
backgrounds coming into it. So the fact that
some applied linguists began life as accountants,
or medical doctors, or lawyers, or engineers,
is a great asset to the field of applied linguistics,
and allows them to understand in unique ways
how language and communication is used in
those particular fields.
English language proficiency is important
for people who are coming from outside, who've
completed their studies in a language other
than English, their bachelor's degree. There
is an IELTS requirement which is 6.5, a score
of 6.5 overall. And the Graduate Certificate
in TESOL articulates into our master's programme,
which I'll say a little bit more about in
a moment.
Our master's degrees in applied linguistics,
we have two of them. One is called the Master
of Applied Linguistic and TESOL, and the other
is simply called the Master of Applied-- and
I'll explain how these work. People can come
into the Master of Applied Linguistics and
TESOL similar to the way that they come into
the Graduate Certificate of TESOL. They can
have a bachelor's degree in a closely related
area, or in any area of study. If people are
coming into the Master of Applied Linguistics
and TESOL with no relevant language teaching
or language-related experience, and a degree
in a different area, the Master of Applied
Linguistics and TESOL degree would take two
years full-time to complete. And this is because
it includes, as a baseline, the units that
are part of the Graduate Certificate in TESOL.
So the units that I've just described to you
are part of the Master of Applied Linguistics
and TESOL, and they would usually be completed
near the beginning. And there will be a two-year
total time frame.
For people who come in with what we call a
cognate bachelor's degree - this is a bachelor's
degree in a closely related area - or people
who already have language teaching experience,
they would be able to do the programme in
one-and-a-half years full-time. It can be
done part-time, of course, but this is a full-time
equivalent length. So for people who come
in with no previous experience in the field
and a bachelor's degree in another field,
it takes four semesters, or two years full-time
equivalent to do the course. For those who
come in with a cognate bachelor's degree,
a relevant bachelor's degree or a language
teaching experience, it would take them three
semesters full-time equivalent to complete
this degree.
Now, sometimes we have people who complete
the Graduate Certificate in TESOL, they go
out and get some experience, and they decide
that they'd like to take their professional
qualifications to the next level. And what
they're able to do is to articulate into the
Master of Applied Linguistics programme, because
in this case they already have the language-teaching
qualification, the Graduate Certificate of
TESOL, and so what they're doing is adding
the master's degree, the Master of Applied
Linguistics. And in doing the Master of Applied
Linguistics programme, they wouldn't be redoing
the courses that they've already done as part
of the Graduate Certificate in TESOL.
There are also a couple of other pathways
that may be of interest to some of you. One
is taking a research route. So some of our
students who complete the coursework master's
degree, either the Master of Applied Linguistics
or the Master of Applied Linguistics and TESOL,
decide that they'd like to pursue a research
pathway, they'd like to go on and do a PhD
usually. And so the coursework master's enables
them to go into the second year of the Master
of Research programme, the MRES programme
at Macquarie, which is the year in which they
write a small research thesis in preparation
for getting into a PhD programme. So that's
one possibility that some candidates follow.
Another possibility is to pursue a double
degree with translation and interpreting studies.
So some of our students in the Master of Applied
Linguistics and TESOL programme are studying
that degree and the Master of Translation
and Interpreting Studies at the same time.
And by doing it as a double degree, they save
a little bit of time on doing the two degrees
separately.
Finally, I should say there are people who
are interested in applied linguistics, but
not particularly looking at English language
teaching. And for those people, the Master
of Applied Linguistics is also a good option.
It doesn't include the TESOL component, although
some of the units that people do as part of
the Master of Applied Linguistics will certainly
be relevant to language teaching. But this
is a good option for people who are interested
in applying linguistics in different fields
other than language teaching.
By now, you might be curious about the kinds
of actual courses or units that you would
study as part of a master's degree. I've listed
some of them on this slide. There's a course
in research methods in language study. This
is important not only for people who want
to do research in applied linguistics, but
also for anyone who's in the field, because
it's important to be able to read the research
that's being done in the field and to make
sense of that and think about how it relates
to your own practice. Some people are interested
in actually going on and doing research themselves,
which is great, but that's not always the
case. But in any case, research methods is
useful.
Other units that are part of the degree include
Languages and Cultures in Context-- sorry,
Languages and Cultures in Contact, I should
say. Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication,
Classroom Curriculum and Context, Language
Learning and Community, Genre of Discourse
and Multimodality, which sounds complicated
but is really fascinating when you get into
it, Literacies, Second Language Acquisition
- how people learn second and foreign languages,
whatever they are, how this can be looked
up from a variety of different perspectives
- Exploring Discourse in Context and Action,
so this is looking at language as it's used
in a variety of contexts - spoken language,
written language - and learning the tools
to analyse that in preparation, often for
doing something quite practical, making recommendations
about how things could be done differently,
for instance. Language Learning Beyond the
Classroom, where we talk about the language-learning
activities that go on outside formal classroom
settings. And then finally, Language Testing
and Evaluation - ways in which language is
tested, and assessed, and evaluated, either
as part of formal language programmes or in
the wider world.
Many universities in Australia, and indeed
in many parts of the world, offer degrees
in applied linguistics and TESOL. You may
be wondering why Macquarie would be a good
choice. One of the attractions, I think, of
our master's degrees and our Graduate Certificate
of TESOL, is that it's designed very flexibly.
So people can complete the entire qualification
part-time or full-time. They can do it on
campus, they can do it online, or a combination
of both. And indeed, we have people doing
these master's degrees, and we've had them
doing them for the last 15 years or more,
from Japan, Korea, China, just to name a few
places, Indonesia, many parts of Asia. But
also we've had a few people completing them
from the United States, from Canada, doing
the whole degree without setting foot in Australia,
let alone setting foot on the campus at Macquarie.
I know from talking to those people over the
years that they find it a very rewarding experience,
doing the degree. Even if they're doing it
online, they would be engaging through the
online learning platforms with their colleagues,
those on campus, and other colleagues online
around the world, sharing ideas.
It's an internationally relevant qualification.
So our qualifications are relevant around
the world. We know this because our graduates
are employed in many, many different countries
around the world. And so it's a degree that's
truly got some international currency, if
you like. Our staff, people who teach on these
programmes, have often taught themselves in
different parts of the world, or have worked
in various kinds of employment context in
other countries in the world. So we not only
talk about what goes on in language classrooms
in Australia, what goes on in institutions
in Australia, but we try to take a very global
outlook on the issues that come up. It's also
the case that Macquarie University, and specifically
the linguistics department, is highly regarded
around the world. In the QS university rankings,
which some of you may be familiar with, in
2014 Macquarie was ranked as one of the top
50 universities internationally for linguistics.
Applied linguistics is part of a very broad
and diverse linguistics department at Macquarie
that has clinical programmes, such as audiology
and speech pathology, as well as programmes
in undergraduate linguistics, translation
and interpreting, editing and publishing,
and applied linguistics and TESOL. So it's
a very big and diverse department, and a great
place to work as well. And we also are involved
in a lot of research which helps to contribute
to informing our discipline, so that the staff
who are teaching the units are active researchers
as well.
So I hope this has given you a little bit
of an idea about some of the programmes we
have in applied linguistics at Macquarie.
And if you have a passion for language, as
I have, I've found that this is the perfect
way to channel it. Often, people are very
creative in the kinds of careers that they
carve out for themselves in either English
language teaching, language teaching more
broadly, or in applying linguistics in a variety
of settings. So I hope that has given you
a little bit of an idea how our programmes
could contribute to this. And I'll be very
happy to answer your questions.
First question I have here comes from Rickon,
and says, "If I take a double degree in Master
of Translation and Interpreting Studies with
a Master of Applied Linguistics and TESOL,
could I continue into a PhD?" Yeah, very good
question. If you complete a double degree--
any coursework degree, but including the double
degree between Translation and Interpreting
Studies and Applied Linguistics and TESOL,
this double degree allows you to apply for
entry into the second year of the Master of
Research programme. So the first year of the
Master of Research programme is a coursework
master's programme, but the second year is
where people actually do some research and
write it up as a thesis in preparation for
applying to a PhD. So it doesn't get you directly
into the PhD, but it allows you to apply for
a place in the Master of Research programme
in the second year. So skipping the first
year. It's not a guaranteed entry, because
accepting people into a Master of Research
programme depends on there being an available
supervisor for something that that person
would like to do research in. But it certainly
is a pathway that people use into that degree.
A question from [Sachiko?]. It says, "Is it
possible to be an auditor of the class that
I'm interested in first?" Certainly when people
are actually enrolled at Macquarie, they often
ask us, "Can I audit or sit in on a class
without enrolling?" And we generally find
that there's space in the classroom. We're
very happy for people to do that. For someone
who's not actually enrolled in the programme
at all, I think the best thing to do would
be to talk to me as the programme director,
or to talk to the convener of the particular
course that you want to sit in on, and I'm
sure we can arrange for you to do that. So
basically yes. If that's something you'd like
to do, please send me an email and we can
arrange it. It's just important that we know
exactly who's in the classroom, and whether
they're a student of Macquarie or they're
an external visitor. So it's good to arrange
it individually, but certainly that's something
we could arrange.
Question from Harvey is next. It says, "I'm
already a teacher. Can I get credit towards
a grads certificate in TESOL?" That's a very
good question. Basically, with the graduate
certificate, because it's basically a short
qualification as it is - it just contains
the four units, the three coursework units
and the practicum unit - we don't tend to
give credit for any parts of that graduate
certificate. Basically, there's no provision
for taking out one unit and giving advanced
standing for it. We do get a lot of teachers
who come in and do that programme, and if
they're qualified to teach, say in a public
school, in a primary school, or a secondary
school in a state in Australia, this will
give them their ESL specialisation in New
South Wales. And so, we do get people there,
but we don't give credit for previous studies
towards that particular degree, the graduate
certificate.
While we're just waiting for the next question,
I can just expand a little bit on that last
point for anyone who's listening. In the classroom
we have people who are basically completely
new to teaching, as well as people who are
very experienced teachers, but are new to
language teaching. And you might think that
would be a kind of an odd combination, but
strangely it works really well. Both groups
seem to enjoy what they can learn from each
other. But everyone is learning something
because the Graduate Certificate in TESOL
is designed to be a sort of up-to-the-minute
qualification in English language teaching.
So whatever one's background, it uniquely
equips you for teaching in the 21st-century
language classroom and being up with the latest
methodologies.
Another question I have here from Julie. And
she says, "I've just finished my BA with a
linguistics major. Don't know if I could cope
with studying for a master's degree, but I'm
considering a grads cert in TESOL. There doesn't
seem to be anything in between, such as a
diploma. Any reason for this?" We did use
to have a diploma level qualification. We
found that it was-- I guess, not terribly
many people took it up. Some people did, but
for better or worse we streamlined it so that
we've got the graduate certificate and the
master's degree. I think a good way forward
would be to start off with the Graduate Certificate
in TESOL, and then that gives you a qualification
to get started with. And then if you think,
"Yeah, I really like this area, I'd like to
pursue things further," then you can continue
on with the Master of Applied Linguistics.
And since you've got a BA with a linguistics
major, and you'd have a Graduate Certificate
in TESOL, you would be able to complete the
master's degree in one-year full-time equivalent,
because you'd get credit for the cognate or
related bachelor's degree and the Graduate
Certificate in TESOL. So I think that would
be one possible way of going there.
Nicole's asked a question here. She says,
"I'm a primary teacher. Will I get credit
if I study a Master of Applied Linguistics
and TESOL?" If you've been a language teacher,
you would get credit. If you have been teaching
other subjects, subjects other than language,
then you wouldn't get specific credit for
that. However, you would get credit for your
education qualification, so it would end up
being the same thing. The same amount of credit,
I should say. So if you've got a bachelor's
degree in education or - some people even
have a master's degree in education - but
if you have an education degree, then you're
able to complete the Master of Applied Linguistics
and TESOL in one and a half years. So you
would get basically six months of advanced
standing for that related bachelor's degree.
We call it RPL or recognition of prior learning.
So if you hear the term RPL, it basically
means that the prior learning is being recognised,
and the degree is being shortened as a result.
Got a question here from Lee, who says, "I'm
planning to undertake your department's grad
cert in editing next year. I'm wondering if
it can, at all, be credited towards the Master's
of Applied Linguistics." I'm thinking that--
I would say yes. If your first degree was
in an area that's closely related to applied
linguistics, then you would get credit anyway.
You'd get the-- you'd be able to do the course
in one-and-a-half-years full-time equivalent.
But if your degree was in a different area
and you came in with a graduate certificate
in editing and publishing as an add-on there,
I think this would be kind of a judgement
call. But I think the judgement that we would
make in that case is that that's a very relevant
qualification. So we would take that together
with your bachelor's degree as previous studies
in a related area, and give you advanced standing
or credit for that previous study, yes.
Got a question now from Kate, who says, "I'm
considering the research pathway, but don't
currently have experience in that field. Is
there a strong research community in applied
linguistics at Macquarie?" Certainly there's
a very strong research community in applied
linguistics here at Macquarie, and this is
something I guess Macquarie University generally
is pushing very hard. But I think Macquarie
University has tended in the-- I guess the
history of applied linguistics in the department
which goes back to about 1987, there's always
been a very strong research culture, so certainly
it's very likely to be researchers in the
area that you're interested in. If you would
like to send me an email with your specific
areas of interest, I can put you in touch
with the right people, depending on what particular
area of research you're interested in pursuing.
Just expanding for a minute on the research
areas. A number of the staff members of Macquarie
in applied linguistics are interested in researching
language teaching and learning. And some are
interested in say language classrooms, doing
research that's classroom based, others are
interested in research that's on language
learning outside the classroom. And in my
case, I find-- one of the areas that I'm really
interested in is language learning motivation.
So what motivates language learners? What
demotivates them? And there's a lot of research
that's been done in that area, and I have
a number of PhD students who are working and
have worked in that particular area. Other
people are interested in looking at applied
linguistics outside the realm of language
teaching. So they'll be interested in language
in the workplace, language in a variety of
professional contexts. So another area that
I'm interested in. I came from a medical background
originally into linguistics. So one of my
research areas is medical communication or
health-care communication. And so we have
students who are nurses and other health professionals
who are interested in communication in their
profession. Which is a really, really big
area in the popular media, as well as in the
research literature. And this is an area where
applied linguistics really has something to
contribute. And people coming with previous
backgrounds in another field are uniquely
placed to bring those two fields together.
I've just got another question here from Lee,
saying, "Do you have many students juggling
work and study?" I would say yes. It's interesting,
the majority of our online students would
be juggling work and study. Many of them probably
have full-time jobs. I shouldn't say probably.
I know many of them do have full-time jobs,
but I would say probably the majority of the
online students have full-time jobs. So it's
possible to simply study just one-course unit
per semester if they wish, or two units per
semester, or to change from one semester to
another, depending on how their work commitments
go. We also have a number of international
students, and international students who study
on campus, they have to study full-time because
of visa requirements, but they are allowed
to work a certain number of hours per week.
And many of them do work, so they are also
juggling study and work commitments. And it
is a juggle, of course, but we have a lot
of people doing that. And if you're a domestic
student and you have the luxury of being able
to study part-time, then that's a good option.
Another question from Lee. Another Lee. It
says, "My Internet access on the train home
has been a little intermittent. Will the slides
and video from the webinar be available later
online?" And I see that Steph has answered
that question for me. So yes, I think that's
the plan, and if you-- yes, you can. If everyone
can see that question and see-- if everyone
can see the answer, then you know what to
do. If not, you can drop me an email and I'll
pass it on to Steph, who's organising the
session, Steph and Theresa, and they'll be
able to provide you the details.
Another question I have here from Julie, says,
"I was advised that as I haven't had any teaching
experience, if I took the grad cert TESOL
I should do it over two semesters rather than
one. However, I worked in the medical field
for decades and I'm used to dealing with people.
I think I'm empathetic and understanding.
Do you think I would cope in the course full-time?"
I think yes. We sometimes tell people that
if they're not in any particular hurry to
complete the grad cert, it's often a good
idea to do it over two semesters. Partly because
this allows them to do the practicum after
they've done some or all of the coursework
units. However, we've designed it to be done
in six months, in one semester. So if people
say, "I want to get it done in six months,"
and you've got the time to do it, then I would
strongly encourage you, "Yes, go for it."
I think that that would be fine. If you find
that it's-- if you started off and you found
in the first couple of weeks, you say, "Oh
dear, this is going to be too much. I'd like
to drop a unit and pick it up next semester
instead," that's still possible. There's a
certain cut-off date which we call the census
date. And before that date, if you withdraw
from a unit, then it disappears completely
from your record. You're not required to pay
for it, and you can pick it up at another
time. But it's really important if you want
to do that to make sure you withdraw from
the unit before this census date. But certainly,
if you're thinking of doing it full-time and
you've got the time to do that and that's
what you'd like to do, I'd certainly say go
ahead.
Got another question here from Joylene. Similar
to a previous question. "I've completed the
Master of Arts TESOL at a different university,
and I've been working as an ESL teacher at
a primary school for several years. Unfortunately,
the New South Wales department of education
doesn't recognise my master's, hence why I'm
interested in your grad cert TESOL programme.
So to clarify, could at least one unit be
considered for RPL? Or is that unlikely as
it is only a grad certificate and quite a
short course? I'm hoping to get my linguistics
unit from my master's degree recognised."
That's a really good question, Joylene. We
don't have many people with TESOL master's
degrees coming into our programme, but I think
in-- so that's really quite a special case.
What I would say is if you put in an application
and send me an email at the same time just
letting me know, reminding me of your situation,
I can discuss that with Phil Chappell, who's
the convener of the programme, and see if
there's any scope for giving you credit there.
One issue, we don't normally do it because
it is a very short programme, and I'm not
sure whether the university actually would
allow us to do it, just because there are
certain rules about what percentage of the
degree or qualification must be studied at
Macquarie. But certainly we could investigate
it for you and see if that might be possible.
So do get in touch with us about that and
we'll investigate it, because this is quite
a special situation, I think.
Question now from Sam Hun. And Sam Hun says,
"I have several books that I used in BA for
English education. They're teaching about
principles and how languages are learned,
and so on. These are the titles of the books.
They are related to language learning. Are
they useful for classes?" Certainly. They
would be useful. I know How Languages are
Learned, and I think that's a really, really
good book. It's related particularly to the
course that I teach, which is Second Language
Acquisition. It's not the set textbook that
we use for the Second Language Acquisition
course, but I find if people have read that
book - it's a very readable book - if they've
read it before or they read it while they're
doing the course, I think it would really
help them. So certainly How Languages are
Learned is a very useful book. It's not our
set textbook, but it's a really useful one
to have. Teaching by Principles, I'm not sure whether
any of our units taught by other people might
use that one, but certainly I think it's good
grounding. And I'm not familiar with that
particular book, so I can't really comment
on that one. But How Languages are Learned
certainly would be a useful one.
Joylene asks some, "Could the practicum be
completed at my current workplace?" Often,
yes. What this depends on is the presence
of someone at the workplace or someone who's
available and has the qualifications to be
a supervising teacher. So it depends on the
individual workplaces where people are. But
in some cases, in many cases, we arrange placements for
students in the practicum at language centres,
language schools, where there is a supervising
teacher who's able to help them through the
practicum. We have a practicum coordinator
here at Macquarie, who's Janice Ford, and
so she gives input as well. But because people
are doing practicums at multiple locations,
they need someone there as well. So it just
depends on whether we can find someone who's
got the appropriate qualifications and is
willing to take on that role. But very often
the practicum can be done at a workplace where
someone is already based or already has some
connection.
I think that wraps up the questions that we
have for tonight, so I'd really like to thank
you all for tuning in. And if you don't mind
taking a few minutes just to complete the
survey that you'll see popping up on your
screen now, that would be really useful for
us in knowing how to do these things in the
future, and perhaps how we can improve and
what sort of information people need, and
what sort of format is most useful for them.
But I hope that any of you who are passionate
about language in whatever way, if you're
looking for a way of engaging that passion
and channelling it somewhere, do consider
our programmes here at Macquarie. And please
drop me an email if you've got any further
questions. Thanks very much.
