Applied Linguistics for ESOL Educators Course Syllabus Summer 2009 3 credit hours Instructor: English Department 451 Grubbs Hall Pittsburg State University 1701 South Broadway Pittsburg, KS 66762 Hours: Class: MTWRF 01:00-03:50 (08-26 June) Office: MTWRF 10:00-11:00 MTWR 04:00-05:00 Other times by Appointment EMAIL: prudd@pittstate.edu TEL: 620-235-4701 Course Description and Objectives: Applied Linguistics for English-for-Speakers-of-Other-Languages (ESOL) Educators focuses on how knowledge of the way languages work will directly benefit the teaching of English Language Learners. The first half of this course is theory; the second half is application. This course covers the linguistic components of language (the theory section of the book Chapters 2-6, Pragmatics-Phonology), providing an opportunity for educators to explore the relevance of linguistics to second/foreign language teaching and learning (the applied section of the book, Chapters 7-12). The course provides an overview of linguistic, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic analyses as they pertain to the language proficiency and academic achievement of ELL students. Topics to be addressed include phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, semantics, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, language variation, first-language acquisition, second-language acquisition, written language, language processing, nonverbal communication, and the neurology of language. Summer Session Timetable: This intensive, summer course runs just three weeks, from (June 08-June 26). Work received after class on the day it is due each week will be considered late, and will result in a reduced grade. All late work will lose 10%. If you know that you won t be able to get work in on time, see me before the due date, and we may be able to make arrangements for an extension. Required Text: Parker, Frank and Riley, Kathyrn. (2005). Linguistics for Non-Linguists. 4th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Additional articles and websites may be recommended via email as needed, in response to your questions and concerns as they arise. Assignments: 1. Reading, Discussion Board Postings and Participation (30%) Read the entire text as per the schedule below. For each chapter, please pose questions, share opinions, and reflect on what is being discussed (participation). It is strongly recommended that you complete the in-chapter 1
exercises in each chapter. You may want to complete the Supplementary Exercises at the end of each chapter as you read, as a guided reading activity. You are required to read all postings. As we will cover thirteen chapters, you are required to make a minimum of thirteen postings. Beyond that, quality outweighs quantity. You must write a 150-200 word commentary on the topic and a 50 word response to two of your classmates comments. Avoid postings with one or two-word responses to your classmates (such as, Yes, I agree ), as they are time consuming for your classmates, and will not count toward your posting requirement. All postings are due by class time following day. See the rubric at the end of this syllabus for posting guidelines. Your thirteen chapter topics are: Week One (June 08-12). M (June 08): Read Chapter 1: Introduction. This chapter has no exercises but will give you an overview of the topics, structure, and theoretical orientation of the course. T (June 09): Read Chapter 2. Pragmatics delineates concepts of how speakers say things without really saying them, and how context affects interpretation. W (June 10): Read Chapter 3. Semantics introduces the concepts of sense, reference, and truth. Chapters 2 and 3 complement each other as pragmatics is concerned with context-dependent meaning, while semantics is concerned with context-independent meaning. R (June 11): Read Chapter 4: Syntax.. We will review our knowledge of traditional grammar terminology. Can you identify the eight parts of speech? Can you diagram sentences? We ll see. F (June 12): Read Chapter 4: Syntax. Whereas pragmatics and semantics deal with meaning, syntax deals with structure: that is, the items that can appear in a sentence and how they can be ordered and combined. Week Two (June 15-19). M (June 15): Read Chapter 5. Morphology introduces concepts related to the structure and formation of words, including the distinctions among various types of morphemes and the processes used to create new words. A great deal of technical terminology will be new to you. T (June 16): Read Chapter 6. First, we ll discuss the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and familiarize ourselves with a phonemic alphabet, a feature system for analyzing segments, and some phonological rules from English. Many technical terms will be new. W (June 17): Read Chapter 6. Phonology is the study of how the sounds in a language interact. We ll look at some examples of phonological rules from English. Many technical terms will be new. Please try to do the transcriptions so that we can discuss them in class. R (June 18): Read Chapter 7. Language Variation introduces the concepts related to regional, social, gender, and stylistic variation. With this chapter we shift our orientation. Whereas Chapters 2-6 each dealt with a different branch of linguistic theory, Chapters 7-12 each apply concepts from linguistic theory to the language of a particular population or group of speakers. F (June 19): Read Chapter 7. Language Variation continued. We ll view the American Tongues video as it provides a good overview of language variation, especially regional variation, in the United States. We will enjoy discussing some of the examples in the video and adding our own examples of language variation that each of us has observed. Week Three (June 22-26). M (June 22): Read Chapter 8. First-Language Acquisition deals with the major concepts related to the acquisition of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, and to issues in language acquisition. We will share many of our own personal observations based upon forms we have heard from our siblings, our nieces and nephews, or our own children. T (June 23): Read Chapter 9. Second-Language Acquisition (SLA) introduces general issues in SLA; patterns in the acquisition of phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics; and nonlinguistic influences on SLA. This unit is relatively difficult because it deals with two linguistic variables: the language the speaker has already acquired (L1) and the language the speaker is learning (L2). Nevertheless, it is probably the most 2
important chapter if you are taking this class because of your work with students who are English Language Learners. W (June 24): Read Chapter 10. Written Language introduces concepts related to writing systems, the English spelling system, and errors in written English. Read Chapter 11. Language Processing introduces several concepts related to the processing of spoken and written language, including concepts from psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, and rhetoric. These two chapters are taught in conjunction for a more extended unit on written language. The former draws more on concepts from phonology and morphology, while the latter draws more on concepts from syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. R (June 25): Read Chapter 12. The Neurology of Language introduces concepts related to normal and abnormal language processing by the brain. Perhaps the most intimidating feature of this chapter is the amount of technical terminology, so be prepared. Read Chapter 13. The concluding chapter emphasizes the two basic contributions that linguistics can make to neighboring fields. One contribution has been emphasized throughout the book: linguistics offers an explanation for language phenomena that practitioners in related fields encounter every day. The other contribution is more subtle: linguistics offers a model for explanation that practitioners can adapt to their own fields. Review for final exam. F (June 26): The Comprehensive Final Exam represents 20% of your final grade. 2. Homework Exercises (20%) Homework assignments will be assigned for you to complete and then submit in class. These assignments are an important opportunity for you to practice concepts and test ideas that are covered in the textbook and our class discussions, and they will provide skills that will be crucial for the exams. Some homework assignments will be posted on Angel. Please note that no late homework assignments will be accepted except in the case of serious crisis. In such cases, you must notify your instructor before the due date. Other coursework or exams will generally not count as serious crisis. A missed homework assignment will result in a zero. If you feel that there are extenuating circumstances regarding a particular assignment, you may discuss the issue with your instructor. Homework will be graded as follows: 5 points: You followed all instructions, provided well considered answers and/or got 90% or more of the assignment right. 4 points: You didn't follow some instructions and/or were on the wrong track with several of your answers/discussion points. 3 points: You didn't follow most instructions and/or were on the wrong track in at least a third of your work. 2 points: You didn't follow most instructions and/or were on the wrong track in at least half of your work. 1 point: You did the assignment, but didn t complete it or did it all wrong. 0 points: No assignment was turned in. Homework Assignments (20%) are due by class time of the due date. 3. Research Project (30%) You may select from more than one project (see hand-out) for your research-based project. However, there is one caveat. The examination you must pass for certification in ESOL is somewhat based on contrastive analysis. Therefore, Project #1 may better serve your educational needs. Any of the projects, however, can be invaluable for anyone teaching English as a second other language. Research Projects are due by midnight of (July 01) and represent 30% of your final grade. 3
Final Exam (20%) A final examination of multiple choice and short answer items will be given during the final week of the course, and will cover the material we have explored in the assigned chapters. The Final Exam is due by the end of class on June 26 and represents 20% of your final grade. Evaluation Criteria: Participation 30% Homework Exercises 20% Research Project 30% Final Exam 20% Grading Scale: The number percentages will be calculated as follows for letter grades: 90-100 A 80-89 B 70-79 C 60-69 D 0-59 F Research Project: English 714 Applied Linguistics for ESOL The Research Project You may select either of the following projects for your research-based project. However, I offer this caveat. The examination you must pass for certification in ESOL is somewhat based on contrastive analysis. Therefore, Project #1 may better serve your educational needs. Any of the projects, however, can be invaluable for anyone teaching English as a second other language. Project #1 A Contrastive Analysis Select a target language. This could be your native language if (and only if) your mother tongue is not English. If you are a native English speaker, select as your target language one (like Spanish, Korean, Arabic, etc.) that you believe will be most useful to your future needs. Definition of Contrastive Analysis Contrastive analysis (CA) is an inductive investigative approach based on the distinctive elements of a language. While there are two kinds of contrastive analysis: intralingual and cross-linguistic, if you choose this project you are to do a cross-linguistic analysis, that is between your target language and English (the emphasis here is on American and not British English). This cross-linguistic analysis should focus on at least two significant elements of the target and American English languages. I would strongly suggest that the most useful approach would be to work with phonology and/or syntax and/or semantics. Background. In the heyday of foreign language teaching in the 1960 s, foreign language teachers saw contrastive analysis as a solution to language learning (L2 acquisition) difficulties of their students. After all, they thought, a comparison between the mother tongue and the foreign language should provide revealing information on problem areas. They were disappointed, however, as this hard approach only partially explained the intricacies of language learning. However, recently contrastive 4
analysis has undergone a revival and has become an important area of research for language description for language teaching and teaching English as a second language. The strong version of contrastive analysis presupposes that it is possible to contrast the system of one language (the grammar, phonology, and lexicon) with the system of the second or target language in order to predict the difficulties which a speaker of a second language will have in learning the first language. Wardhaugh (1974) calls this a pseudo-procedure. The weak version of CA is defined as the linguist uses the best linguistic knowledge available... in order to account for the observed difficulties in second-language learning. Weak Contrastive Analysis makes fewer demands on contrastive theory than the strong version. The starting point for weak contrastive analysis is provided by real evidence from the target language s phonetics, phonology, syntax, etc. Your Task is to select a target language and examine its phonology (sound system) and syntax (sentence structure) and to contrast those linguistics elements within the target language with those same elements in standard American English. You can get a good deal of reliable information online on the Internet / World Wide Web using information provided by major universities around the world as well as using any of the reference books on 2-hour reserve in Axe Library (see your course syllabus for those titles). If you do a Google.com or an Ask.com search and key in English +Chinese +phonology or English +Chinese +syntax or English +Spanish + (whatever your target language is) you will find some very useful information to use as resources. For example, if your target language is Korean, there is wonderful information on Interlanguage Phonology of Korean Learners of English available from http://www.odin.prohosting.com/hkkim/cgi-bin/kaeps/it_phon.htm This is a scholarly site published by Dr. Hyouk-Keun Kim. Project #2 Language and Culture -- Alternate Research Project It is often suggested, and evidence seems to support the notion, that language is an extension of culture. In other words, one s own mother tongue, as well as one s own thought process, is influenced by the broader culture. The question becomes Or Or Is one s language an extension of the culture in which that language is natively spoken? Is one s culture an extension of the language of that culture? Does one s native language influence the speaker s perception of things? Project #3 Cultural Traditions Often teachers and native English-speaking students and others in the community misjudge or fail to understand someone from another culture and vice-versa because customs and traditions differ widely among peoples and nations. Body language is but one example. In some cultures it is considered perfectly normal for two men to walk down the street holding hands or to kiss each other (usually on the cheek). In some cases, American teachers, to show approval or encouragement, will touch a student on the head, perhaps tousle the hair and say good job! However, in some cultures, 5
touching someone on the head is a grave insult. The ubiquitous American symbol for OK means something entirely different in other cultures. In this project, select a target culture and compare and contrast common gestures, body language, and similar issues that might affect effective communication between Americans and those in your target culture. Requirements for the Paper 5-6 pages minimum (not including the bibliography) Documented sources (quotations, paraphrases, statistical data, illustrations (graphs, charts, tables, web shots, etc.) Recommended minimum number of sources actually used 3 Internal documentation (MLA or APA) parenthetical method List of Works Cited (MLA style), References (APA style) (bibliography) Standard, non-fancy font (Times New Roman, Arial, Courier, Bookman) Pages numbered (beginning on page 2) at the top right margin Papers will be evaluated on the quality of the writing, the quality of the research, and the appeal of its presentation. Quality research means that the writer has done more than the minimum. The writer has cited more than the minimum number of sources, relied primarily on professional sources (may also use textbooks, reliable and authoritative web sites), and relies on current research. Attendance: Each of the units we study in this class will build on the previous ones. As a result, if you miss class, you may have some difficulty following the new discussion. If you must miss class, get notes from a classmate. If you do not understand a concept you missed, make arrangements to see me during my office hours so that we can go over the material. It is your responsibility to make up any work that you miss. Flagrant Non-Attendance: Everyone has two (2) pre-excused absences for those difficult times in life that interfere with class attendance. Use those absences wisely for a student who misses more than 2 classes may be dropped from the roster. Late Work: I will accept work no more than one week late. All late work will lose 10%. If you know that you won t be able to get work in on time, see me before the due date, and we may be able to make arrangements for an extension. Plagiarism: Academic honesty is expected of all students. If you are unclear about the university s policy on plagiarism and academic honesty, view the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities located on the PSU homepage. Article 30 specifically discusses academic misconduct, including plagiarism. Cell Phones, Pagers, and Portable Music Players: These devices must be turned off for the duration of the class period. If your phone rings in class, you will be asked to leave. If you believe you should be excluded from the cell phone restriction, see me individually. 6