A course in theory of English: Blending L2 content knowledge with implications for teaching methodology

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17721/2663-0303.2025.2.03

Keywords:

theoretical course of English, pre-service teachers, self-reported perceptions of course effectiveness

Abstract

The article addresses the issue of equipping pre-service teachers majoring in Ukrainian and foreign languages and literature, with English as a minor, with 'knowledge about language' through a course in Theory of English. In Ukrainian higher education, such courses integrate foundational theory in the history of the language, phonetics and phonology, lexicology, theoretical grammar, and stylistics, although the content and organization may vary across universities. At the same time, little is known about students' perceptions of the usefulness and applicability of the course in their actual classroom. To bridge this gap, the current research poses two research questions: 1. How meaningful is a theoretical course of English for prospective teachers? 2. What is the perceived impact of studying the theory of English on teaching? The participants in the study were 17 bachelor's-level students, all native speakers of Ukrainian, who completed a questionnaire comprising eight selected items and two open-ended questions. Responses to Questions 1-8 indicated that pre-service teachers held a generally positive perception of the course, specifying the usefulness of the aspects within each theme for effective language teaching. Extended personal responses to Questions 9-10 provided selfreported data about the impact of the course on their development as linguists, teachers, and personalities. These questions confirmed the high evaluation of the course and its impact on students' profiles and prospects of professional activities. The article concludes with implications for course designers and instructors.

Author Biography

Olga Kvasova, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

PhD in Education, Associate Professor. Department for Teaching Methodology of Ukrainian and Foreign Languages and Literatures

References

Andrews, S. J. (2001). The language awareness of the L2 teacher: Its impact upon pedagogical practice. Language Awareness, 10(2), 75-90. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/42083

Andrews, S., & McNeill, A. (2005). Knowledge about language and the 'Good language teacher'. In N. Bartels (Ed.), Applied linguistics and language teacher education. Springer Science + Business Media. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2954-3_10

Borg, S. (2006). The distinctive characteristics of foreign language teachers. Language Teaching Research 10(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1191/1362168806lr182oa

Council of Europe. (2020). Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR): Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume. Council of Europe. www.coe.int/lang-cefr.

Denham, K., & Lobeck, A. (Eds). (2010). Linguistics at school: Language awareness in primary and secondary education. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770791

Haukås, Å. (2015). Teachers' beliefs about multilingualism and a multilingual pedagogical approach. International Journal of Multilingualism, 13(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2015.1041960

Kmit, O. (2016). Teoretychnyi kurs suchasnoi angliyskoi movy: Konspekt lektsiy dlia studentiv spetsialnostei Doshkilna osvita, Pochatkova osvita, spetsializatsii Inozemna mova (angliyska). [A Theoretical course of modern English: Notes of lectures for students majoring in Pre-school education, Primary education, specialisation 'A foreign language (English)']. CNPU. (In Ukrainian)

Otwinowska, A. (2017). English teachers' language awareness: Away with the monolingual bias? Language Awareness, 26(4), 304-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2017.1409752

Prosiannikova, Y. (2018). Teoretychnyi kurs angliyskoi movy iak druhoi inozemnoi: Navchalnometodychnyi posibnyk. [A theoretical course of English as a second foreign language: A manual]. Ailant. (In Ukrainian)

Schvarcz, B.R. (2017). Language awareness and EFL teachers' professional identity. In P. Petrar & A. Precup (Eds.), Constructions of identity VIII. Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă.

Shulman, L. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22.

Thornbury, S. (1997). About language. Cambridge University Press.

Soloviova, L.F. & Snikhovska, I.E. (2015). Teoretychnyi kurs angliyskoi movy iak druhoi inozemnoi: Navchalno-metodychnyi posibnyk. [A theoretical course of English as a second foreign language: A manual]. Ruta. (In Ukrainian)

Downloads

Published

2025-12-29

How to Cite

Kvasova, O. (2025). A course in theory of English: Blending L2 content knowledge with implications for teaching methodology. Ars Linguodidacticae, (16(2), 48–56. https://doi.org/10.17721/2663-0303.2025.2.03

Issue

No. 16(2) (2025)

Section

METHODOLOGY OF TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN SECONDARY SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Ольга Квасова

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Copyright policy according to the terms of the license: Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial" 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Authors who publish their articles in "Ars Linguodidacticae" (Open Access Journal) retain the following rights:

  1. The authors retain the copyright of their article and grant the Ars Linguodidacticae journal the right to first publish the manuscript of their article under the Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 4.0) Attribution License, which allows others to freely distribute the published work with mandatory reference to the author of the original work and first original publication in the Ars Linguodidacticae journal. An indication of the retention of the copyright of the work is provided on the title page of the article.
  2. The authors reserve the right to enter into separate contracts for the non-exclusive distribution of their article as published in Ars Linguodidacticae (e.g., placing the article in electronic libraries, archives and catalogs or publishing it as part of institute collections and monographs), provided that a full reference to the first original publication in Ars Linguodidacticae is given.
  3. The policy of the "Ars Linguodidacticae" journal allows and encourages authors to post a manuscript both before and during editorial processing, as this promotes productive scientific discussion and has a positive effect on the speed and dynamics of citing the article.

The editorial board reserves publishing rights to:

- the collated original articles and to the entire issue of the journal.

-  the design of the journal and original illustrative and supplementary materials.

- the reprint reprints of the Journal in printed and electronic form.

The copyright policy is carried out according to the terms of the license: Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial" 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

For more information, please read the full text of the CC BY-NC 4.0 Public License.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.