reading material
 Ellis,
R.
(1997),
Second Language Acquisition
Journal
articles on
e-reserve will
supplement the texts.
A bilingual dictionary
(Suggested)
Article list with who's doing which
presentation.
Publication
Manual
of the American Psychological Association (in the LRC)
Handbook of Applied Linguistics (in Ames)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This
course is an introduction to the field of second language acquisition
(SLA)
with an emphasis on speaking. It has been designed for advanced
undergraduate
Foreign Language and advanced Spanish majors and minors. The course
format will include
readings,
discussions in Spanish, and student presentations. It will examine
speaking in a
second
language from several perspectives: theory, evaluation/testing,
pedagogy,
and materials.
COMPONENTS OF THE COURSE
At the beginning of
the
semester,
the emphasis will be on reading and group discussion in Spanish. We
will start
with
an overview of the major topics of the course to help you decide on an
area for your research projects. After this introductory period, a
typical
week will include reading, discussion, written analyses of the
readings,
and ongoing work on the research project. Each of these components of
the
course is discussed in more detail below. A
highlight of the course will be to present your research in English at
the John Wesley Powell
Conference on Saturday, April 8th 2006.
Readings.
Readings
will be from the two texts and from articles and book
chapters on e-reserve.
Try to focus your attention while reading on these two areas: 1) What
are
the main points in this section/chapter? What information am I learning
here? And 2) by what method(s) is the author coming up with the
information?
In the case of the textbooks, the authors have chosen topics to
address,
and discuss these topics by raising questions, synthesizing research by
other people to respond to the questions, and then summarizing what is
known and what is still under investigation or a subject of debate in
the
SLA field. In the case of research reports, the researchers usually
follow
a standard format of introducing a problem, surveying what is already
known
about it, explaining how they set up their study, and then reporting
and
interpreting results. You will use this same format in your research
paper,
so be aware from the beginning of how the writers make their research
reports
convincing.
Leading of
Class Discussion.
Each
student will (in Spanish) lead a group class discussion
once in the semester on course readings (on e-reserve
in Ames).
You
will facilitate discussion of the chapter/article by handing out a
sheet
describing an activity or offering questions to your classmates the
class-time
before the reading assignment is due to stimulate discussion on the
next
class meeting. (If you present on a Friday, have your handout
ready
on Monday). You should think about important themes for discussion and
application of the article/chapter to the general issue of the
course.
You should give a brief introduction (5-10 minutes) on the readings
bringing
in outside materials where appropriate and important ideas to be
discussed.
Evaluation of class
discussion:
| Quality of
introduction |
20% |
| Quality of
handout or activity used to stimulate discussion |
20% |
| Critical
interpretation of material |
25%
|
Active
engagement of classmates in discussion of ideas, strengths, weaknesses,
conclusions, application of material
to Second Language Acquisition |
25%
|
| Effectiveness
of
manner of presentation and facilitation |
10%
|
Class
Participation.
Active participation in class discussions is an essential learning
component of this class. Careful reading and synthesis of the
assigned
materials is reflected in your contributions. I will be looking for
quality
and quantity of participation (i.e., talking about
the reading, asking questions, responding to presentations of others).
Reaction
Papers. During the course of the semester
you will also write in Spanish 3 one-page reaction papers to some of
the articles you
will read (not to the textbook chapters). You may not write a reaction
paper to an article that you have presented. These response pieces will
follow a specific format: one-paragraph abstract (summary) of the
article
and a two-paragraph discussion (reaction). You should try to fit your
reaction
on one page (single-spaced). The purpose of these one-pagers is to give
you practice in identifying and stating succinctly the research
questions,
results, and implications of research studies, and also to help you
make
connections between and among your readings. In the two-thirds of your
paper that is devoted to reaction you should discuss such things as the
research question, whether other investigators have looked at similar
questions,
what the investigator may have left out of the study that should have
been
included, etc. In other words, base your reaction on the other readings
and on your informed opinion, not on "gut instinct" or your personal
experience
with learning other languages.
- Due dates:
Reaction #1: Jan. 27. Reaction #2: Feb. 17. Reaction #3:
April 10.
Research Project. The
purpose
of the research project is to give you a hands-on introduction to SLA
research.
This is not the kind of paper that you can knock off in a couple of
weeks
of intense efforts at the end of the semester; you will need to invest
consistent time and effort in it over the course of the whole semester.
To facilitate this process, I will have you turn in drafts on a fairly
regular basis. With each draft, I will expect to see greater quantity
and
increased focus. Your project will have several parts: statement of the
research problem, discussion and analysis of previous literature on the
topic, data collection, and data analysis and discussion. SLA research
takes time, particularly if you decide to do a longitudinal study
(examinations
of performance on the same subjects at different points in time), or if
you have data that are time-consuming to transcribe.
- Due dates:
Informal presentation: Feb. 10. Proposal: Feb. 24. First draft: March
17. Conference: April 8. Final draft: April 25.
I will
help each
of you find
a research project that fits your interests and knowledge level, and
will
coach you closely throughout the semester. Here is a list of the types
of projects that you might undertake (note that key phrases are
underlined):
A replication
study,
in
which you re-do
a published study, but add touches of your own, like working with a
different
language, different level of learners, or incorporate an additional
test.
A study of classroom
discourse, such
as the kinds of negotiations of meaning students engage in when
doing pair or small-group activities.
A cross-sectional study, in which
you
examine the kinds of communication strategies (what learners do
to get meaning across when they don’t have the needed vocabulary)
students
at different levels of proficiency use when engaged in a speaking task.
An order of acquisition study in
which
you examine speech samples of learners at various levels for the
appearance
of particular syntactic features.
See the Help
&
Tools
page for more information on format of the paper.
As mentioned above, we will participate in the JWP
Conference on April 8th. Most
professional conferences have both oral presentations and poster
sessions. In a poster sessions, the presenters summarize their
research project on a large poster, which is mounted on an easel.
People walk around, look at the posters, and stop to talk to the
researchers about their projects. In an oral session, the
presenters have 20 minutes to orally summarize their research project
to an audience of students and professors using visuals such as
handouts and power point. (I will decide who will
present in a poster or oral format.)
The
research paper will serve as the final exam for the course; we will
meet
on Tuesday April 25 from 3:30 to 5:30 to celebrate you turning it
in.
GRADING
SYSTEM
The final grade will be
based on
student performance
in the following:
| Leading of class
discussion (1) |
15% |
Class participation
|
30% |
Reaction papers (3)
|
15% |
Research project (present at a session at the JWP
Conference and finished
product)
|
40%
|
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I
will make myself available to discuss appropriate academic
accommodations
that you may require as a student with a disability. Before course
accommodations
will be made, students may be required to provide documentation to the
Associate Provost, 211 Holmes Hall, 556-3107.
*
based on
J.
Liskin-Gasparro's course at
the University of Iowa
|
