Language Teaching Pedagogy

Welcome to this guide about language teaching pedagogy. This is a pedagogical research guide insomuch as – beyond providing lists of pertinent resources and their access points in the library catalog and online – its contents are likewise meant to serve as a resource for language teaching pedagogy. While the topics of this guide are general in scope – and thus applicable to all educators of language – it was conceived in part to accompany a teaching methodologies course in the French and Italian Department. Each of the subsections of this guide address a singular aspect of second language acquisition and/or language teaching through brief overviews and illustrations of these aspects. In addition to these overviews and illustrations, links to both online resources and books in the PCL Library are provided in order to point researchers in productive directions for furthering their knowledge on the particular subjects indicated.  

Below, on the remainder of this pager, users will find tutorials for using the UT Library's website to find books, ebooks, articles, and databases. While many of the resources in this guide are directly linked to their respective library catalog entries, familiarity with the searching operations outlined below will allow users to effectively continue their research / studies with more autonomy.

Search for a Book

From the UT Libraries' homepage, type the book title you are searching for in the search box. You'll find results across many different library resources.

When your results load, select "Library Catalog" from the dropdown arrow to narrow your results to include books and media

Understanding your Results 

After searching, you need to look for four details:

1. Is this book in print or is it electronic (an ebook that you can access online)?

2. If the book you want is a physical book, log into your account and look for the pick it up button. 

3. Is the book AVAILABLE? If not, there will be a due date. Click the Pick it Up Button to request it and select the library location where you'd like to pick it up. Keep in mind that it will take several days for the current borrower to return it. Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come get them!

4. Are you ready to check out? Either get the book off the shelf yourself, or click the Pick it Up button and a library staff member will get the book and bring it to the library location you selected to pick it up. Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come get them! It will take 1-2 business days.

Checking out Books

Wait for an email telling you your books are ready before you come to the library location your chose to pick them up. Bring your UT ID. 

UT Libraries aims to provide ebooks that can be accessed by unlimited simultaneous users. Publishers often do not allow libraries to purchase electronic access to their textbooks, instead they may only offer ebooks for individual use in order to maximize the number of students who have to buy personal copies. 

Check if we already own the ebook you need in our library catalog. If the ebook does not appear to be available, instructors can place a request via our Course Materials page. 

Any user can and should let us know about titles they are interested in via our Suggest a Purchase form. 

Other publishers allow libraries to purchase some books electronically while marketing others as textbooks with only individual access, or put limits on the latest editions. This means that if professors have adopted texts from these publishers, students who are unable to purchase the text will have no access to the content. Rental textbooks are typically not licensed for library use. 

Similar issues impact our ability to license streaming films, even when they are available for individuals to rent or buy through platforms such as Amazon, YouTube, Apple, or streaming through services like Netflix or Hulu. Please visit our Streaming Resources guide for more information about available platforms for streaming media.

Subject specialist librarians and our Open Educational Resources librarian are available to work with instructors to identify alternatives, including:

• Using an ebook that the library already owns or can purchase with unlimited access.
• Adopting an Open Educational Resource (OER). OERs are any type of material or resource used for teaching available in the public domain that is free to use and/or alter. More information is available on our OER guide.
• Selecting book chapters to be posted in Canvas through our Get a Scan service, or articles that can be linked from library resources.

Any instructor is welcome to contact the Libraries for assistance in locating electronic resources that can be provided by the Libraries.

Adapted from UNC Greensboro Libraries page

Start searching with the big search box on the library homepage.

It searches most but not all the library's resources and will show results across six different categories: Articles & More, Books & Media, Journals, Databases, Research Guides, and the Library Website.

A more targeted place to search is at the link for Articles & More beneath the search bar.

We also encourage you to explore the other databases and journals we offer since Articles & More doesn't show results from all sources.

In addition to the general search options above, search in library databases to find more articles related to your topic. 

Some databases like Academic Search Complete are multidisciplinary:

• Include popular and scholarly articles on all topics
• Useful if scholars from multiple disciplines would write about your topic or if you don't know where to start
• Great for assignments in UGS and other undergraduate courses where you may only need a few sources

For subject-specific databases, look on the Databases List (use the "All Subjects" dropdown menu) or on the guide for your class or subject on this Guides List.

• Include scholarly and specialized articles from a specific discipline
• To choose a database, think about what department on campus would have scholars researching your topic, then use the "All Subjects" dropdown menu on the databases page to find that department, or find the guide for that subject (ex. PsycINFO for Psychology topics).