239939 Language Learner Language and Language Learning Processes (S) (SoSe 2013)

It will be assumed that participants have already taken the course "Introduction to Second Language Acquisition", which functions as an introduction to Profile Module 7. It will build on the introductory course and look in more detail both at the language used by learners when speaking and writing English and at the psycholinguistic processes which underlie the language learners produce. The point of departure will be error analysis and interlanguage theory, familiar to students from the introductory course. In this course we will look also at systematic and non-systematic variation in learner language, at the relation between linguistic knowledge and linguistic performance, at automatisation and restructuring processes, at speech planning processes, at trade-offs between accuracy and fluency, at strategies of learning and of communication. Consideration will be given to the units of lexical processing, especially units which transcend the word. We will also pay special attention to lexical compensatory strategies. Attention will also be devoted to the role of monitoring in production and to self-correction. Throughout, our interest will focus primarily on the implications for classroom language teaching.
Students will be expected to briefly present a topic from the course plan each week and provide a handout to be uploaded on StudIP. Please consult me, or our tutor, if we are lucky enough to have one, before giving your presentations.

Requirements for participation, required level

It is recommended that this course be taken after the Introduction to Second Language Acquisition course. Please note that this seminar is only required for students following the old B.A./M.Ed. curricula.

Bibliography

Participants will be required to buy a reader containing the texts chosen for discussion and read them, attentively, !! each week in preparation for the seminar. There will also be a literature list on StudIP (the StudIP entry will be created at the start of lectures). All the books are in the Semesterapparat “Lennon IV” in the library.