This is an introductory course in Second Language Acquisition (SLA). How adults learn, or fail to learn, a second language is a fascinating question. It involves much of what we know about human cognition, psychology, and language. How best to help learners acquire a second language is an equally important educational issue. In addition to all of the factors which play a role in child language acquisition, SLA also involves effects of variation in second language educational, social and usage environments, ages of acquisition, levels of learner cognitive and brain development, motivation, and language transfer.
This survey course describes the development of Second Language Acquisition as a research discipline and then reviews current cognitive, linguistic, psychological, educational, and interactional perspectives. The relevance of all of these disciplines motivates the cross-listing of the course across the Departments of Linguistics, Psychology, and the English Language Institute, and one goal of the course is to learn from each others’ perspectives. Topics include the description of patterns of second language development and the degree to which there is consistency or variation across learners and languages, the question of modularity and the possibility of contributions of innate linguistic, cognitive, and functional universals, the degree to which language is learned and regularity emerges, connectionist and usage-based approaches to language acquisition, learning and instruction, critical periods and language acquisition, and sociocultural and sociolinguistic determinants.
There are two texts, the first a recent survey of different theoretical perspectives on SLA, the second which applies SLA research and its implications in classroom contexts. The course is a lecture / discussion format with 1 exam and an empirical project, undertaken in groups, which investigates one aspect of SLA. Students are expected to read before each class so to be ready to discuss each topic. There will be much opportunity for class discussion and participation.
Text and Readings
(Ordered at Michigan Book & Supply)
- Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Hodder Education. ISBN: 978-0-340-90559-3. Paperback
- Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned. (Third ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN-10: 0-19-442224-0. Paperback
- Electronic coursepack. Readings on the C-tools site.