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DELTA Module Two study materials
DELTA Module Two study resources

DELTA Module Two: Module One: Understanding Language, Methodology and Resources for Teaching

DELTA Module Two · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Module One: Understanding Language, Methodology and Resources for Teaching

Module One is the written examination of DELTA. It tests whether you can analyse language accurately, explain methodology, and evaluate resources and skills work. The exam has three papers, each 1 hour 30 minutes: Paper 1 (language knowledge and awareness), Paper 2 (methodology and resources), and Paper 3 (language skills and awareness). Tasks are short-answer and matching, so precision and justification matter more than length.

What each paper rewards

  • Paper 1: grammar, lexis, phonology and discourse. You name features correctly and explain meaning/use in context. Expect tasks that ask you to correct a false statement about form, complete a phonemic transcription, or identify a discourse feature.
  • Paper 2: approaches and methods, lesson planning, materials and assessment. You match aims to procedures and comment on teacher decisions, often using a coursebook extract.
  • Paper 3: receptive and productive skills and subskills. You identify subskills and judge whether a task actually develops them, rather than merely practising them.

Core rules

  • Use metalanguage precisely: tense vs aspect, stress vs intonation, reference vs substitution.
  • When a question says why or comment, give a reason or evaluation, not a label.
  • Anchor every answer in the example: quote the word or phrase you are discussing.
  • Follow mark allocation: one mark usually equals one distinct point.

Worked example

Prompt: explain the difference between She's been writing emails since 9 and She's written three emails since 9. A weak answer says “the first is continuous”. A full-mark answer identifies both as present perfect, then explains that the continuous focuses on an ongoing activity with an incomplete or temporary result, while the simple focuses on completed results and quantity. It links form to meaning and use, and uses the time expression since 9 to show duration vs result.

Traps

Vague “emphasis” answers; confusing borrow/lend; misreading phonemic symbols; ignoring context in meaning questions; writing too much on one task; not reading the rubric that says “give one reason”.

Exam habit that pays

Read the instruction verbatim. If it asks for two features, give exactly two. If it asks for a comment, do not simply label the item.