ENGLISH/LINGUISTICS 517
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION -- FALL 2007
Time & Place: Tuesday & Thursday 2:10-3:30, Ross 406
Instructor: Professor Carol A. Chapelle
Office: 339 Ross Hall, phone: 294-7274, e-mail:
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 2:00-3:00 & by appointment
Homepage:
Texts: Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, Second Edition by Susan M. Gass & Larry Selinker
Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research by Susan M. Gass & Alison Mackey
Recommended: Appraising Research in Second Language Learning: A Practical Approach to Critical
Analysis of Quantitative Research by Graeme Keith Porte(order online or see on reserve in library)
Readings: Available at the library
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course introduces students to the objectives, methods, and findings of research investigating how people learn a second language. It will help to orient students toward the perspectives of those who investigate questions about second language acquisition (SLA) and help students to examine the published research on topics such as the role of linguistic input for acquisition of vocabulary, the value of conversation for language development, andindividual differences inSLA. The course will include topics such as SLA research questions, methods of data elicitation, linguistic data analysis, and research on interaction. Perspectives to SLAto be introduced will include cognitive, linguistic, interactionist, and sociocultural, and the role of technology in shaping current issues will be discussed. Students will be asked to read several books and research articles as well as to present to the class. Five papers including an annotated bibliography will provide opportunities for application of the concepts and practices by requiring students to analyze language learner data, appraise a research article, present a book report, conduct and report on a small-scale SLA study, and explore an area of interest.
OBJECTIVES
1) Identify important research questions and findings about SLA.
2) Evaluate how theoretical frameworks, research paradigms, data analysis techniques, and methods of measurement help to address questions about SLA.
3) Analyze learner language
4) Find and analyze articles reporting research on SLA.
5) Investigate SLA through tasks used by teachers and researchers.
6) Work collaboratively to talk and learn about SLA.
REQUIREMENTS
1)Paper analyzing learner language (Paper 1; due 9/11; 20% of grade)
2) Paper analyzing research article (Paper 2; due 10/4; 15% of grade)
3)Summary and presentation of a book focusing on one aspect of SLA (Book identification due 9/4; Paper 3 due 10/11; in class report individually assigned; 15% of grade)
4) Paper describing SLA pilot study (Paper 4 due 11/10; 25% of grade)
5) Annotated bibliography (Topic with 4 examples due 11/1; paper 5 due 12/8; 25% of grade)
SYLLABUS
Week / Date / Topics / Readings1 / Aug. 21 / Introduction; Research questions in SLA / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 1
Aug. 23 / Introduction to data elicitation / Gass & Mackey Chapter 1
2 / Aug. 28 / Looking at interlanguage data / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 2
Aug. 30 / The role of native language / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 3
3 / Sept. 4 / Learner corpora(Book selected and approved) / Web page; Granger, 2002
Sept. 6 / Child first and second language acquisition / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 4
4 / Sept. 11 / Psycholinguistics-based research(Paper 1 due) / Gass & Mackey Chapter 2
Sept. 13 / SLA and linguistics; Universal Grammar / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 6 & 7
5 / Sept. 18 / Linguistics-based research / Gass & Mackey Chapter 4
Sept. 20 / The “native speaker” in SLA research / Cook, 1999; Ortega, 2005
Friday Sept. 21 &
Saturday Sept. 22 / Technology & Second Language Learning Conference (Friday 1:00-5:00 Sheman Center; Saturday 9:00-5:00 Memorial Union)
6 / Sept. 25 / Reading research articles/Research methodology / TESOL Quarterly guidelines Web page
Sept. 27 / No class—work on research article
7 / Oct 2 / The lexicon / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 13
Oct 4 / Input, interaction, and output (Paper 2 due) / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 10; Pica, et al. 1993
8 / Oct. 9 / Interaction-based research / Gass & Mackey, Chapter 5; Pica, Kanagy, & Falodun, 1993
Oct. 11 / Theoretical perspectives on interaction(Paper 3 due) / Ellis, Chapters 1 & 2
9 / Oct. 16 / Recast and repetition: Sociocultural views / Duff, 2000
Oct. 18 / Interlanguage Processes & Context / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 8-9
10 / Oct. 23 / Sociolinguistics and pragmatics-based research / Gass & Mackey Chapter 6
Oct. 25 / Nonlanguage influences
Quentin Johnson Linguistics Lecture—Input processing in SLA (Prof. Wynne Wong 8:00pm) / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 12
11 / Oct. 30 / Individual differences (Topic with 4 example sources for annotated bibliography is due.) / Dörnyei, Z. & Skehan, P. (2003).
Nov. 1 / Cognitive processes, capacities, and strategies-based research; Survey-based research / Gass & Mackey, Chapter 3 & 7
12 / Nov. 6 / Designing SLA research: Theoretical basis, research questions
Nov. 8 / Choosing SLA measures
13 / Nov. 13 / Work on SLA pilot study
Nov. 15 / Work on SLA pilot study
Thanksgiving Break
14 / Nov. 27 / Present SLA Pilot study (Paper 4 due)
Nov. 29 / Instructed Second Language Learning / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 11;
15 / Dec. 4 / Classroom-based research / Gass & Mackey, Chapter 8
Dec. 6 / An integrated view of second language acquisition / Gass & Selinker, Chapter 14
16 / Dec. 10-14 / Final Exam Period: Report on annotated bibliography (Paper 5 due)
EXPLANATION OF SYLLABUS AND REQUIREMENTS
1) The first paper will give you first-hand experience in conducting and analyzing learner language according to the methods introduced by Gass and Selenker. Guidelines are available on the Web. This paper should be about 7-9 pages double-spaced.
2)The second paper will give you an opportunity to go to the library and scan the SLA journals to see the types of topics investigated in SLA and to apply what you know about research methods and data analysis. You should spend some time looking for an appropriate study for your analysis in these three journals at the library: Language Learning (P1.L269), SecondLanguage Research (P118.S42x), and Studies in Second Language Acquisition (P51.S88x). In the first part of the paper, you should explain your process of exploration, which should describe a thorough process of looking and considering the possibilities. The paper should be short (e.g., 5 pages, double-spaced), addressing the questions given in the guidelines. You should be thinking about the topic you will choose for your annotated bibliography (see 6 below) while you are looking for this article.
3) You will need to give a class presentation about a book that you read on some area of second language acquisition. You should choose this book during the first two weeks of the semester and get it approved by September 4. I will schedule a date for you to do an oral presentation about the book to the class. I will schedule your book report at a date when the topic fits into the material we are covering on the syllabus.
4) The fourth paper will give you an opportunity to work through the process of planning, implementing, and reporting on SLA research. You will design the particulars of the learning activity you investigate, based on discussion in class. You are encouraged to work collaboratively with one or two other people in the class to design the study, collect the data, and perform the data analysis, but each of you must write your own paper individually. To do this project, you need to find two or more learners who will participate in the task you design.
5) You will need to do an annotated bibliography based on selections from the journals on SLA that focus on a topic of interest to you. During the final exam period, you will need to present some highlights and observations about the articles that you identified for your annotated bibliography.
ASSIGNMENT OF GRADES
Course grades are calculated on the basis of grades on the assignments, according to the weighting given on the first page. Each assignment includes an explanation of how it is graded. In addition, papers are expected to conform to APA Guidelines for writing academic papers, and failure to conform to these standards will result in points being deducted. 5% of the points for each paper will be deducted for each day late that a paper is.turned in.
Each paper is either graded holistically and given a letter grade or is graded on the basis of assignment of points. The letter grade-point correspondences are given below. In calculating final grades, letter grades are coded as the midpoint in the range (e.g., A- is coded as 91) or raw scores are used. These scores are weighted according to the percentages given on the first page to yield a point score, which is then converted back to a grade for the final grade. 5% of this final score is deducted for each absence beyond two.
PointRange / Letter Grade96-100 / A+
93-95 / A
90-92 / A-
86-89 / B+
83-85 / B
80-82 / B-
76-79 / C+
73-75 / C
70-72 / C-
Below 70 / D
READINGS
Cook, V. (1999). Going beyond the native speaker in language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 33(2), 185-209.
Duff, P.A. (2000). Repetition in foreign language classroom interaction, In J. K. Hall & L. S. Verplaetse (Eds.),Second and foreign language learning through classroom interaction, (pp. 139–159). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ellis, R. (1999). Learning a second language through interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, (Chapter 1, pp. 3-31).
Granger, S. (2002). A bird’s-eye view of learner corpus research. In S. Granger, J. Hung & S. Petch-Tyson (Eds.), Computer learner corpora, second language acquisition and foreign language teaching, (pp. 3-33). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
Ortega, L. (2005). Methodology, epistemology, and ethics in instructed SLA research: An introduction. Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 317-327.
Pica, T., Kanagy, R., & Falodun, J. (1993). Choosing and using communication tasks for second language instruction. In G. Crookes and S. Gass (Eds.), Tasks and language learning: Integrating theory & practice. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, Ltd.
Dörnyei, Z. & Skehan, P. (2003). Individual differences in L2 learning. In C. J. Doughty & M. H. Long (Eds.) Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, (pp. 589-630). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.