Second Language Acquisition: LING 438/538 Fall 2006 Neuberger Hall 241

Transcription

1 Second Language Acquisition: LING 438/538 Fall 2006 Neuberger Hall 241 Professor: John Hellermann Office Hours: M: 4-5, W:12:30-1:30 Phone: and by appointment Office: 202 SAB Website: WebCT: Description of the course: Second Language Acquisition is an introduction to the research and theory around the phenomenon of learning an additional language. The course should be relevant to anyone interested in language learning, language teaching, and applied linguistics in general. Goals of the course: When the course is complete, students should be familiar with the major theories and research studies in SLA and the history of the field. Students should also be comfortable analyzing data using different methods and theoretical perspectives. Current and future teachers should be able to apply and make relevant the theory and research studied in this class to your own teaching practice. Required Readings: -Gass, Susan & Selinker, Larry (2001). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. -Packet of articles (available at Smart Copy). All these articles are also available on electronic reserve. Requirements for the course: Participation I will lecture, but most classes will include time for discussion and analysis. We will be critically reviewing the ideas, theoretical, and methodological claims made in the studies of second language acquisition from the textbook and packet of readings and working on applying the findings in the readings to in-class analyses of data from language learners. The readings listed on a particular day should be read by everyone for that class meeting. Graduate students will be assigned to be discussion leaders on the readings for most class periods, but all students are obliged to participate in the small-group and full-class discussions of the readings. Regular attendance alone will earn you an average grade (that is C ) for the participation portion of your grade. Participating fully in discussions and problem solving will earn you a good or superior grade. This means you have read the material, done the homework, and participate equitably in a small-group or class discussion. While you are expected to attend every class, there may be times when important circumstances from outside the classroom, regrettably, force students to miss class. In those cases, I expect you to let me know beforehand. In class work/homework I will ask you to display your understanding of key concepts in the readings through in-class group work and through short quizzes. Some days I will collect these assignments and they cannot be made up and if you are absent from class (and haven t notified me beforehand). Please write all homework answers on a computer and print out the answers to hand in unless otherwise noted. Graduate students: Leading discussion groups Two-three times (depending on your numbers) in the semester, you will be asked to be a discussion leader for small group discussion (3-4 people) in class. I will assign discussion leaders for each class in which time for small group discussion is planned. As discussion leader, you should try to get a discussion started by encouraging your group to ask questions about what might have been unclear or confusing about the assigned reading. You should

2 also offer your interpretation(s) of the reading as a way to open up opportunities for others to critically assess the reading. On the day you lead a discussion, you should submit a 1-page outline of what you found to be the important aspects of the article to bring up in discussion with any notes or discussion questions you ve devised. Other major assignments: Data Collection Assignment The primary purpose of this assignment is for you to get some experience collecting original data using two different data elicitation methods. After you collect the data, you make a short analysis and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of data collected. I will give you handout with more details. Interlanguage Analysis I will give you some interlanguage data in written form to examine. You will write up an analysis of what the data tell you about interlanguage and your observations of language development based on the evidence in the data. Interaction Analysis The purpose of this assignment is for you to observe and analyze interlanguage data that results from a spoken interaction between or among learners of a language. I will give you handout with more details and the data for analysis. Methodology Review (Graduate students only) Identify a problem or area of research in SLA that interests you (perhaps something you d like to pursue for a thesis) and review the research methods used in research studies (from peer-reviewed journals) in that area. This review will be followed by a synthesis and a critical appraisal of the strengths and limitations of the existing research and suggestions for future research on the topic selected. Remember, the particular problem or area of SLA research is what unifies your selection of articles to read. Your focus is on the research methods used to try to understand that particular issue. I will give you handout with more details. Research Proposal (Graduate Students only) Identify an issue or area of research in SLA that interests you (perhaps something you d like to pursue for a thesis) and write up a formal proposal for a research study of that issue. The proposal should include a review of the relevant research (you should have read 5-7 articles) which leads to the motivation for the study. Next, you should have research questions or hypotheses and a description of the methods for data collection and analysis you would use. Finally, you should discuss possible implications for the research. Details will come later in a separate handout. Final examination Short answers and essay questions based on information from the lectures, readings, and class discussion from the entire term. An average grade ("C") will be given to exams that contain accurate descriptions and examples of relevant concepts and describe how they relate. A good ("B") exam (in addition to that for a C exam) will also draw on information from more than one source and relate facts to larger issues or perspectives in SLA. Excellent ("A") exams will also synthesize information and include theoretical and cross-linguistic perspectives. Course Requirements and Weighting: Classroom exercises, discussion, homework, quizzes 15% 15% Data collection assignment 15% 15% Interlanguage Analysis 25% 20% Interaction Analysis 20% 15% Final Exam 25% 20% Proposal or Methodology Literature Review %

3 Topic Outline for class meetings reading assignment Assignments due Week 1 9/25 Introduction to the course and to SLA 9/27 -Data collection and analysis -Ch. 1 -Ch. 2 (pp ) -Chaudron, 2003 (pp ) Week 2 10/2 -Data analysis continued -What is the target? -Ch. 2 (pp ) -ch. 2 # 7 (altered) -ch 2 #18 10/4 - native language influences -contrastive analysis -Ch. 3 -problem 4.1 Week 3 10/9 -data analysis -contextualized data, CA, and other methods 10/11 - error analysis -L1 influences- more recent perspectives - Firth & Wagner, - ch. 5, -Dulay & Burt (1974) -Schachter, observations of IL from classroom data excerpts (Lab School media) -HW due: problem 2.1 Week 4 10/16 -Child language acquisition and child SLA Ch 4 -*Tomasello, /18 Adult SLA -pp Marinova-Todd, et al 2000 Week 5 10/23 Universals 1: Universal grammar 10/25 Universals 2: Typological universals, markedness -ch. 7 (pp ) -ch. 6 -Data collection assignment Week 6 10/30 -Monitor, Competition etc -ch 8, pp Grads: Submit topics for RP or MR assignments 11/1 Cont. -ch. 8, p 206-end -Eskildsen & Cordierno, HW due: from text #2, and #1 or #3 Week 7 11/6 -Variation, Pragmatics -ch. 9 11/8 -Nelson et al., 1996 Week 8 11/13 Input, interaction, output -ch. 10 -Schmidt, Interlanguage analysis

4 11/15 -van den Braden, -Swain, 2000 Week 9 11/20 -Instruction and SLA -ch. 11 -Interaction analysis 11/22 -*Reder, et al forthcoming -*Hellermann & Cole, forthcoming Week 10 11/27 -Major theories in SLA -ch. 12 -Larsen-Freeman, 11/29 -Catch up and review -Methods or Research Proposal Final Exam: Wednesday, 12/6 2:00 in this classroom Readings in the packet Chaudron, C. (2003). Data collection in SLA research. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.), The handbook of second language acquisition (pp ). Malden, MA: Blackwell. Dulay, H. C., & Burt, M. K. (1974). Natural sequences in child second language acquisition. Language Learning, 24, Firth, A., & Wagner, J. (). On discourse, communication, and (some) fundamental concepts in SLA research. Modern Language Journal, 81(3), Eskildsen, S., & Cadierno, T. (2007). Are recurring multi-word expressions really syntactic freezes? Second language acquisition from the perspective of usage-based linguistics. In J. Niemi (Ed.), Studies in Languages: Proceedings from the First Nordic Conference on Syntactic Freezes. Joensuu, Finland: University of Joensuu. *Hellermann, J. & Cole, E. (under review). The development of practices for action in classroom dyadic interaction: Focus on disengagements. Language Learning. Larsen-Freeman, D. (). Chaos/complexity science and second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 18(2), Marinova-Todd, S. H., Marshall, D. B., & Snow, C. E. (2000). Three misconceptions about age and L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 34(1), Nelson, G., Al-Batal, M., & Echols, E. (1996). Compliment responses. Applied Linguistics, 17(4), *Reder, S., Harris, K. A., Kurzet, R., Hellermann, J., Brillanceau, D., & Banke, S. (forthcoming). Using a modified Sustained Silent Reading for low-level adult ESOL students: A report on the National Labsite for Adult ESOL's reading experiment. Boston: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL). Schachter, J. (1974). An error in error analysis. Language Learning, 24, Schmidt, R. (1993). Awareness and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, Swain, M. (2000). The output hypothesis and beyond: Mediating acquisition through collaborative dialogue. In J. P. Lantolf (Ed.), Socuicultural theory and second language learning (pp ). Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Tomasello, M. (2000). First steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cognitive linguistics, 11(1/2), Van den Branden, K. (). Effects of negotiation on language learners output. Language Learning, 47, *electronic reserve only Some journals for research in SLA Applied Linguistics English Language Teaching Journal English for Specific Purposes Foreign Language Annals ( foreign language education and ESL) French Review Journal of Applied Linguistics Journal of Asian Pacific Communication Journal of English for Academic Purposes Journal of Second Language Writing Hispania Canadian Modern Language Review German Quarterly Second Language Research Studies in Second Language Acquisition Language Learning Modern Language Journal Practical English Teaching TESL Canada Journal TESOL Quarterly TESL Reporter System

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