Week 15 -- Student-led Discussion

Optional Reading: Reflecting on the Cognitive-Social Debate in Second Language Acquisition. 

Next week I'll do a quick lecture on individual differences and various views on motivation.

Final SLA Task

Student-led Discussion -- 10%

Each of you will lead a 10 minute discussion in which you propose big questions you still have about SLA. This can be related to topics covered in your courses here or things that have not been covered. This is not a review, it is a discussion. Make sure your questions allow room for discussion, opposing views, and relating theory to practice. Also, do not ask a question that you do not have an answer to/opinion for.

You will be evaluated by both the quality of your questions and the depth of your responses. Try to make sure everyone has a chance to participate in your discussion and make sure they stay on topic (make sure you stay on topic for others as well).

Bad Questions:
"Sooo, Krashen -- yay or nay?"
"What is interlanguage?"

Good Question:
"Is Communicative Language Teaching culturally appropriate for Korean EFL students?"

Week 14 -- Individual Differences & Motivation

As we're starting to wrap up the course, I want to shift our focus to our learners. This week you'll read a nice overview of issues facing learners. Also, you'll read a few more reader-friendly articles about the state of education in the US and education research. They're from Alfie Kohn, a journalist turned education activist. 

1. First, please read Dornyei's chapter on Individual Differences. We'll focus mostly on this in class. 

2. Next read the Kohn articles. Start with Well, Duh! Ten Obvious Truths that We Shouldn't Be Ignoring.

3. Then read his article 5 Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job.

4. Finally, read The Risks of Rewards, which summarizes the negative impact of rewards (with citations). 

No Reading Circles from here on out. Instead, please post 2-3 strong reactions (positive or negative) to the Kohn articles. His writing is meant to provoke, so hopefully you feel provoked. 

Week 13 -- Research Paper Presentation

No reading. Prepare for your research presentation. Please make a simple ppt to help us understand all of the parts of your research paper. Each person will have 15-20 minutes to present.

Week 12 -- Pair Presentations

This week's reading tries to make SLA much more practical by examining six different proposals for classroom teaching.

Please read How Languages Are Learned -- Lightbrown & Spada.

Find a partner. Then look over the chapter and decide which proposal you want to present to the class. 

You only have to read your section: How Languages Are Learned -- Lightbrown & Spada.

Post your pair (both names) and choice in the comments section of this post. First come, first served.

Your Presentation/Discussion should be about 10-15 minutes long (including discussion). This is to be a very brief, informal overview of the proposal, examples of research, pros/cons, personal experience, suggestion for future research, and whatever else you want to include to make it meaningful/memorable for your classmates.

You'll be given 15 minutes to meet with your partner next week at the beginning of class to finalize your presentation/discussion plans. Then we'll start.

The presentation/discussion should be:

• informative -- mention the key points
• interactive -- ask questions to the class
• interesting/meaningful -- be creative; allow classmates to personalize

Please make a simple ppt to give us a visual with your key points and to save time writing. Nothing fancy. Don’t overdo it. Content over style. 

The presenters have the option of standing in front of the class or remaining seated in a round table discussion format.

This will be graded as part of your homework grade.

Week 11 -- Long's Interaction Hypothesis

This week we'll be looking at one of our final theories, Long's Interaction Hypothesis. Think of it as a sort of marriage between Krashen, Swain, and Vygotsky. Creepy.

1. Please read this short overview, SLLT_Long's Interaction Hypothesis.
2. Next, read about a very common classroom technique related to interaction -- the corrective recast.

Week 10 -- Sociocultural Approaches and ZPD

This week we will look at the social aspects of language acquisition  and how Vygotsky's ideas have been adapted to second language teaching. As you read, please focus on the concepts of mediation, ZPD, and scaffolding. These have the strongest connections to language teaching.

1. Please read SLLT - Sociocultural Approaches.

New reading circles groups this week. Please check the schedule.

Week 9 -- Information Processing and Bloom's Taxonomy

This week we will continue with the Information Processing model of SLA. Does acquisition happen as Krashen believes (naturally) or according to the IP model (like learning a new skill)? We will also use Bloom's Taxonomy to evaluate textbooks. Finally, we'll examine the difference between difficulty and complexity.

1. First, please read SLLT_cognitive approaches.  This is a brief overview of the IP model.
2. Please read Sousa_thinking skills and learning_how the brain learns. Many of you are probably familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy. It is not very important to draw a distinct line between each level; instead, think of the levels as pairs (Remember/Understand, Apply/Analyze, Evaluate/Create). As you read, reflect on your own classroom activities.

As we have been doing, check the ARC schedule for your role. We'll switch up the groups for next week's reading.

Week 8 -- Memory and Processing

For the next two weeks, we'll be looking at Cognitive Approaches to SLA. This view considers the importance of the brain and largely views errors as problems with processing, sort of like an overworked computer.

This is typically a favorite reading among students.

1. Please Sousa -- How the Brain Works. 

Check the ARC schedule and post your role.

Week 7 -- Input, Output, and the Lexical Approach

This week we are tackling two hugely influential ideas about how languages are acquired. We'll be asking "Is input alone sufficient for SLA success?"

1. Please read this short overview of Krashen's ideas -- 01 Krashen's Monitor Model
2. OPTIONAL: For a deeper look at it, you can read 02 Krashen The Comprehension Hypothesis Extended
3. For an opposing viewpoint,please read 03 Swain Output Hypothesis.
4. OPTIONAL: If you want more Swain and your French is decent, read 04 Swain More Output Hypothesis.
5. Finally, please read The Lexical Approach A Journey Without Maps. Quite frankly, the Lexical Approach is being jammed in here because there is no other place for it, but it is one of the most modern approaches to teaching a second language, so I think you'll find it interesting.

This week we are also going to start Academic Reading Circles. This idea is based on Literature Circles. Click here for Literature Circle role sheets that you can use with your own students. 

Each student will be assigned to a new group and each group member will have a role, which will change each week. For example, you might be the Summarizer this week and the Discussion Leader the next.

Academic Reading Circles (ARC) Schedule.

ARC Role Descriptions. (you may have to download this as viewing it in Google drive is a little wonky)

Week 6 -- Communicative Competence

Congratulations, you have finished the first part of the course, which has been mostly focused on language itself. I know the language components content is not for everyone, but consider it a necessary evil for your continuing studies in TESOL.

Now we will be shifting our focus to the most influential theories of acquisition. Before we do, we have to define what exactly language acquisition entails. We'll answer the question "What exactly are our students acquiring?"

1. Please read the excerpt on Communicative Competence from the TESOL Bible, Brown's Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.

There are two discussion leaders for the first group this week. Next week we'll be doing something different with the blog. This will be your last week with your current group T.T

Jeff, Amy, *Jasper, *Liz (two discussion leaders, not a typo)

 Kevan, Lawrence, *Dee Dee

John, Laura, *David

Finally, to help connect the course content to real-life teaching, please bring the textbooks you teach with to class each week. If you don't use a textbook, bring a book you have used in the past or could possibly use in the future (the resource center has a lot to choose from). You can bring more than one book each week and you can bring a different book each week. 

Week 5

No blog post for this week. Use the time to look over the material for our first quiz on language components and learner language.

A review sheet will be given to you on Saturday, March 22nd.

Feel free to use this space or the G+ community to compare notes or review ideas. If you want to get my attention quickly, please email me directly or write my name as +AdamBoothe on G+.

Good luck.

Week 4 --Syntax and Acquisition theories overview

Hello everyone, this week we'll be talking briefly about syntax, summarizing theories of acquisition, and prepping for the week 5 quiz.

Please complete your final learner language analysis homework about developmental sequences. 

Week 4 Reading: Lightbown & Spada. How Languages are Learned. Chapter2 (HLAL_Chapter 2.pdf)

Directions:
**This week you will read summaries of several L2 Acquisition theories. Choose one to support, summarize it and share learning and teaching experiences that support your choice.

Attention!! Group leaders: If your name has an * in front of it, you are the group leader for the week 4 journal. Please get your summary and comments posted by Wednesday.

Jeff, *Amy, Jasper, Liz

Kevan, *Lawrence, Dee Dee

John, *Laura, David

SLA Week 3 -- Morphology and Syntax

Week 3 Dialogue Journals (due before week 3's class)

Hello everyone, this week we'll be covering morphology.

You can find all of the relevant material here. There is extra stuff too, but that is just for your reference.

1. Record your interviewee doing the Question/Retell task. You can see an example of Rodrigo doing it it in the folder linked above. Complete the Morphology Analysis chart after your interview. We’ll answer the questions in small groups next week in class.

2. The West reading covers the basic concepts/terms related to morphology and the Carlisle reading focuses on morphological processing and word learning.

Attention!! Group leaders: If your name has an * in front of it, you are the group leader for the week 3 journal. Please get your summary and comments posted by Wednesday.

*Jeff, Amy, Jasper, Liz

 *Kevan, Lawrence, Dee

*John, Laura, David

Summary guidelines: KEEP IT SHORT! A good summary is a shorter version of the original that includes only the main points. Try to keep your summaries limited to 200 words or less.

Everyone else -- your role is to leave a comment on the Leader's summary.

Comment guidelines: Comments should demonstrate your ability to personalize the material. Whenever possible, share your own experiences as language teachers and learners that relate to the assigned reading. This should be longer than the summary.

Week 3 Reading: 

West, Morphology: The Inner World of Words

Carlisle, J. Fostering Morphological Processing, Vocabulary Development, and Reading Comprehension.

**Skim 'west_ morphology' to get an idea of the terms, then read Carlisle. Summarize and comment on the Carlisle article only. Questions related to the readings can be posted to the community.

Personalize! Share your experiences teaching/learning vocabulary.

Note: Group leaders should post summaries and comments as replies to this post.