The mission of the Language Arts Department is to:

• design and implement courses and programmes that satisfy certification requirements of the J.B.T.E.;
• engage students in developing knowledge and understanding of the local language situation as a means of guiding their approach to teaching;
• engage students in discovering and using methodology and content appropriate to teaching language and literature at the secondary level;
• utilize various methodologies to effect positive change, where necessary, in students’ perspectives on the teaching – learning process;
• reward students for outstanding academic achievement as a means of inspiring excellence in performance;
• assist students in the development of appropriate social and moral values, and of an awareness of the need to transmit these to others;
• disseminate knowledge about language and literature through teaching as well as writing for publication and presenting papers at professional conferences;
• assist students to develop competence in their use of English.

Preparing professionals adept at communicating in Standard English and imparting to students love for language and literature.

This course is designed for all student teachers pursuing Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary programmes. It seeks to involve student teachers in collaborating with their peers, examining theories and practices of literacy acquisition and development within specific contexts. Competencies include comprehension, word recognition, word meaning, reading and writing fluency. Additionally the student teacher is exposed to a range of current approaches to literacy instruction as well as methods of integrating assessment and instruction.

To successfully complete this course, the student teacher is required to satisfy coursework components of 50% and examination components of 50%.

Prerequisite for this course is college matriculation.

This course focuses on the diverse literacy problems that exist among primary and secondary school students and to sensitize teachers to, and engage them in the application of diagnostic tools, methods, instructional approaches and strategies in addressing these difficulties. While this course is informed by theories and practice, the teacher’s competencies in observing, diagnosing, analyzing, interpreting, evaluating, planning, implementing intervention and reporting are critical. Successful completion of this course requires that the student teacher meets coursework requirements of 60% and the examination components of 40%. The prerequisite for this course is Foundations of Literacy Development.

Content Area Literacy LR 211 SE 3 credits
Semester 1 - 45 hours

The major goal of this course is to teach secondary/high school students the attitudes, skills and strategies that will enable them to become independent, successful learners in the content classrooms and beyond. Therefore, this course seeks to develop teachers competencies in assessing their students’ basic and specialized content literacy needs, assessing, evaluating, selecting and matching texts to students, employing and engaging students in application of developmentally appropriate literacy strategies and skills required of them in their various curricula areas. Successful completion of this course demands that the student teacher meet coursework requirements of 50% and the examination components of 50%. Prerequisite for this course is Foundations of Literacy Development.