What Specialism Should I Choose for my DELTA Module 3 Assignment?

As tutors, this is a question we’re often asked when people are considering their Cambridge DELTA Module 3 course applications. The answer really depends on your situation and what you’re looking to get out of the qualification. Here are some examples from our inbox.

Elisa:

“I mainly teach young learners but I want to get into EAP. Does the choice of a specialism influence your future career?”

Short answer: Not necessarily.

Longer answer:

Many people will point out that just having the Module 3 will enhance your skills in terms of conducting needs analysis, course design and assessment - regardless of the specialism you choose. They’re right. The assignment requires you to demonstrate understanding in these fields. Others might also say, again quite rightly, that in some contexts employers won’t even know what Module 3 is, let alone ask you what specialism you chose. This is true even if they do recognise the DELTA or Dip TESOL as worthwhile qualifications. In your case, with EAP, some lecturers who work in the field suggest a DELTA or Trinity Dip TESOL to help you enter the field, without mention of specialism choice. If you’re at the interview stage and able to cite work you’ve done in course design for a different specialism, emphasise that these skills can be transferred to your desired role. My own assignment was on teaching one to one, and I went on to get into business training and exam preparation. So, the long and the short of it is, when it comes to career progression, the important thing is doing Module 3 not so much what you do it in.

José:

“Should I choose a Module 3 specialism I’ve already got experience in?”

Short answer: Yes, this will make things easier for you.

Longer answer:

It would be nice if M3 was a qualification that required you to research and discover something completely new that you had an interest in. In fact, there is some scope for this, but most of the time it’s really about deepening your knowledge in a field you already have some experience of. One assessment criterion is related to critical engagement with the literature - if you have some experience in the field you can use this to contrast with or illustrate and discuss key issues garnered from your reading. Here at DublinTEFL we run a 16-week preparation course to help candidates complete their qualification. In this time-frame you can get great results and be more than happy with your achievement - as one past candidate put it “I not only managed to pass with a distinction, but I also ended up with a piece of work that I felt truly proud of”. You want to ensure you set yourself up for success by considering how much time and resources you have to take on something completely unknown. If you are keen to research a new area of teaching, you should as a minimum ensure you have a class to work with - e.g. Business English is new for you but you’ve just got a job teaching an in-company group.

Alia:

“I’m not teaching right now, can I still take Module 3?”

Short answer: Yes

Longer answer:

But you will need access to a group of learners in order to complete your needs analysis. These could be an old group of students, a group ’borrowed’ from a colleague or a future group. If your specialism is 1-1 teaching then contacting an ex-student (or taking on a new one) could be an easy solution. You want to factor in this access at around week 4 or 5 of a 16-week Module 3 course. Possible needs analysis tools you will use include questionnaires, interviews and audio/video recorded tasks. As well as this some kind of language or skills testing will be involved. If you give them the results, many learners would be happy for you to do this even if they’re not taking a course with you.

David:

“I’ve got a great group of business English students who’d be ideal for my assignment, but they finish before the Module 3 course does! Can I still use them?”

Short answer: Yes

Longer answer:

As outlined in the answer to Alia’s query above, you need access to a group of learners for the needs analysis section. Once this is done, you design a course of 20 hours to meet their needs. There is no obligation to teach the course you’ve designed, though. It can be hypothetical - what you would teach them. Of course, after all that effort, you’ll probably want to actually run the course. Even if you don’t, you can be sure you’ll have designed some great material and assessment tools for similar classes.

Still have questions?

Drop us a line and one of our DELTA course tutors will get back to you.

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