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AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA
College of Humanities and Social Sciences



Building English Language Community and Communication in WRCA


A design project submitted in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

By
Lusine Sargsyan

Raichle Farrelly, Adviser
Liliana Edilyan, Reader
Yerevan, Armenia
April 17, 2015
We hereby approve that this course design
By
Lusine Sargsyan
Entitled
Building English Language Community and Communication in WRCA

Be accepted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the degree
Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Committee on the MA Design Project

.........................................
Dr. Raichle Farrelly, Adviser

.........................................
Liliana Edilyan, Reader

.........................................
Dr. Irshat Madyarov
MA TEFL Program Chair

Yerevan, Armenia
April 17, 2015
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my Graduate Committee who supported
me throughout this project. Special thanks to my adviser, Dr. Farrelly, and
my reader, Mrs. Edilyan for their aspiring guidance, invaluably
c?nstructive criticism and friendly advice during the pr?ject w?rk.









TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables.
..............................................................................
...........v
List of Figures.
..............................................................................
.........vi
Abstract....................................................................
............................vii
Chapter One: Introduction.
..........................................................................1

Chapter Two: Literature Review.
..................................................................3
Chapter Three:
Deliverables..................................................................
.......11
Chapter Four: Reflections &
Recommendations................................................20
References.
..............................................................................
..............27
Appendices.
..............................................................................
.............30
Appendix
A...........................................................................
.................30
Appendix B.
.............................................................................
.............38
Appendix C.
.............................................................................
...........119


LIST OF TABLES


Table 2.1. Assumptions about Adult Learners from Chapter
two..............................3
Table 2.2. Comparison of client-counselor relationships in psychological
counseling and CLL Chapter Two.
.............................................................................
......9
Table 3.1 Goals and Objectives from Chapter
three............................................13
Table 3.2 Assessment Plan from Chapter
three.................................................15
Table 3.3 Learning Plan from Chapter
three....................................................16




LIST OF FIGURES


Figure 2.1. Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs from Chapter
Two.......................6




Abstract
The current course design project presents a community language-learning
m?del for women attending Women's Resource Center Armenia (WRCA). The
course is aimed at developing students' four language skills, self-directed
learning strategies as well as bringing them t?gether in str?ng, untied
c?mmunity. The deliverables ?f the project include a detailed syllabus with
course description, schedule, g?als and ?bjectives, assessment plan and
grading rubrics for the course assignments, as well as twenty lesson plans
with all the teaching material. The course was piloted with l?w-
intermediate students in WRCA, whose age ranged from 45-65. The c?urse
evaluation results indicated that it was a successful c?urse, and met the
course g?als and objectives.

Keywords: Community language learning, community-based language
learning, adult learning theory, autonomy, goals and objectives, learning
plan, lesson plan.

Chapter One: Introduction
Introduction
Nowadays, to become active citizens of Armenia women need to gain the
essential tools, through support and education. Women need a safe
environment to develop their abilities, both personal and professional, and
be actively engaged in social, political, and cultural activities.
However, this whole action cannot be done without knowledge of the English
language. The world language of communication is English because large
percentage of the knowledge acquired on the Internet can be attained only
through English language. Furthermore, English is considered to be an
international language and mean for people from various countries and
cultures to convey information and interact with each other. Women need to
be actively engaged in English language learning, to become invaluable
members of the society, because it will give them more possibilities to
have more opportunities in various types of activities for which the
knowledge of English language is a must.
This course was designed specifically for the Women's Resource Center
Armenia (WRCA), which helped women attending to the center to improve their
knowledge of English language. The main aim of the course was to develop
their communication skills by touching upon different topics and
implementing different teaching methods. It also aimed at developing
women's listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with interactive
and authentic activities. By watching different videos, reading authentic
materials and discussing different topics, students developed their
receptive and productive skills.
This course employs communicative language teaching methods to keep with
the real-world approaches to teaching that is prevalent in community-based
learning centers.
Besides, one of the most important facts is that it has many
techniques to reduce anxiety, which is relevant especially for the adult
learners. There is a mutual trust between the students and the teacher,
which makes the student feel more comfortable and motivated to ask
questions and engage in class discussions.
The primary goal of this course design was that it would be useful to
Women's Resource Centre to have a ready made English language course which
would meet their students' needs and expectations. The most important fact
was the following: in WRCA the EFL teachers were usually volunteers, who
did not have teaching experience. So, the design project included all the
necessary materials for future volunteer teachers: learning plan,
assessment plan, and detailed lesson plans.









Chapter Two: Literature Review

Given that the WRCA targets an adult population, the following review
of literature will begin with a review of adult learning theory and
followed by a discussion about community-based learning. As in community-
based programs the teachers are usually volunteers and they mainly do not
have teaching experience a subsequent section will address issues related
to EFL in Volunteer Based Programs.
Since this course was designed for women, it needs to create certain
innovative approaches in order for them to learn the English language and
at the same time to be aware of social, political and cultural changes. So,
in the literature review will be highlighted mainly two approaches-
Participatory Approach and Community- Language Learning.

Adult Learning Theory
To differentiate how children and adults learn languages Knowles
(1980) introduced the approach of andragogy, "the art and science of
helping adults learn" (p. 43) in contrast to pedagogy, " the art and
science of teaching children" (p. 34). Table 1 shows sets of assumptions
about adult learners suggested by Knowles (1980).
Table 1
Assumptions about Adult Learners
| 1. Their self-concept moves from one of being a dependent |
|personality toward being self-directed human being; |
| 2. They accumulate a growing reservoir of experience that |
|becomes an increasingly rich resource for learning; |
| 3. Their readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly |
|to the developmental tasks of their social roles; |
| 4. Their time perspective changes from one of postponed |
|application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly, |
|their o