ENG 540: SLA Seminar: Individual Differences in SLA

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1 ENG 540: SLA Seminar: Individual Differences in SLA Course Syllabus I. COURSE DESCRIPTION This online seminar will help familiarize you with a body of research that attempts to account for individual differences and learning difficulties in second language learning. You will examine various concepts related to individual differences, consider the role of individual differences in the process of second language learning, examine current research designs, and apply critical reasoning skills to consider how present research designs may be improved. II. COURSE COMPETENCIES Successful completion of this course should foster development of some of the following capabilities that are critical for you as an advanced student of language: (1) You will further develop your ability for independent, objective, and rigorous reasoning as you read various articles, reflect upon them, and lead discussions on them. (2) You will be asked to seek, organize, assimilate, synthesize, and use information gained through your own research or case study. (3) You will begin to see how linguistic knowledge may be integrated and applied to complex questions surrounding language acquisition, to the end that you may better envision how the knowledge you gain in your TESL/Linguistics studies may serve as a bridge to new levels of understanding and insight. (4) You will have opportunity to further refine and develop your abilities to organize and express ideas clearly and appropriately, both in the standard use of written and oral communication, through your weekly discussion board postings, your semester project, and your oral presentation of your findings. III. INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION Instructor: Dr. Larry LaFond llafond@siue.edu Work phone: Home phone: Office Location: Peck Hall, Office 3205 Note: Like many of you, I will be out of state during certain weeks of the summer, out of country during others, so your primary means of contacting me during that the summer will need to be through .

2 IV. COURSE MATERIALS Texts and Materials (1) Dornyei, Z The Psychology of the Language learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ.: Erlbaum. (2) Additional materials delivered through Blackboard Web Access: An account and Web access are required for this class. Please note that Blackboard may not work properly with certain Internet browsers or web servers. If you are having trouble connecting, you may obtain assistance at the Faculty Technology Center in the downstairs level of the Lovejoy Library. V. COURSE PROCEDURES We will have two required class sessions in a face-to-face format. Please note, you must be present at both of these sessions to complete the course: May 30, 2009, from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (There will be a break for lunch from 11:30-12:30), and July 11, 2009, from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (Again, there will be a break for lunch from 11:30-12:30) We have face-to-face class meetings only at the very beginning and end of the semester. In between, each week of ENG 540 will follow a very specific format; there will be specific deadlines that are not flexible. We will be reading material from our textbook and from our Blackboard site, as well as additional materials. As part of your weekly assignment, you will be expected to be an active participant in discussions of these readings with the other students in the class, and to facilitate this we will use the Discussion Board function of Bb. In general, you will be given discussion questions by your colleagues each week, and you will be required to enter into the discussion by 7 p.m. (CST) on each due date, with your final comments on that thread due four days later. These postings constitute the major portion of your grade for the course. If you miss or are late on any of them, it may affect your grade. Guidelines and a grading rubric for postings will be posted on Bb under Course Materials. It is important to note that 500-level graduate coursework has some very specific kinds of characteristics. I expect to see evidence of the following in your discussions: Independent thinking, self-direction, and efforts that lead towards synthesizing theory and practice in ways that propose new and innovative solutions; Demonstration of increased self-awareness as both a student of linguistics and a TESL practitioner; Increased facility with obtaining and understanding current primary scholarship within the field of Individual Differences; Ability to reflect on your own individual characteristics as a language learner/user and ability to communicate effectively using widely accepted conventions of Standard English. At least once during the semester you will play a special role as either as either discussion question moderator or a discussion closer. Moderators are asked to create a well formulated prompt to get the discussion of the material started for the week. Closers must post shortly after the final due date of the question and pull together, summarize and synthesize responses.

3 Well-formulated discussion prompts will stimulate critical thinking through a thoughtful and reflective discussion; they may also disseminate information, share ideas and, in general, provide a connection among course participants. All of our postings will help create a studentcentered and highly interactive learning community and since this is where most of the learning in this course will takes place, participation in these discussions is worth more points than anything else. Basic Requirements of a Student-Led Discussion There are three basic requirements for successful student-led discussions: You must begin participation by the due date and complete any additional postings you want considered for a grade within four days of the initial due date. You must participate in at least two other students' discussions each week. You should respond back to most students who respond to you - in the discussions you lead and in the student-led discussions in which you participate. The Two Cardinal Rules for Creating a Great Discussion Response When you create a posting in the discussion forums in Blackboard, you should correctly complete two "editable" fields in order to receive credit for your response: the Subject field and the Message field. One cardinal rule applies to each of these fields. Cardinal Rule #1: Your message must introduce new and relevant information, or at very least pose a new, insightful question for discussion flowing from your introductory discussion of a topic. Your job in composing a message is to provide new information that is appropriate to the issue being discussed. Cardinal Rule #2: You should create a Subject field that conveys the essence, or main point, of your message. Your subject line should NOT begin with Re: --It is not enough to just to hit reply or use the topic as your subject. You should create a short phrase or sentence that summarizes of the main point that you are making in your message. The goal here is to state the main idea of your message in the subject line. This requirement is intended to accomplish three goals: It requires the author to think about and clearly state the main point of his/her message. To do this, the author must have a clear understanding of the material, and this aids in learning and remembering. It provides the reader with advance information that is helpful in mentally organizing the content of the message. The reader should be able to determine the essence of your message simply by reading the Subject line. It requires the author to reflect on Cardinal Rule #1; that is, the author must actually contribute something meaningful in the posting - not just something like "I agree with you." Consequently, you may wish to create your Message first and your Subject label last.

4 How I Will Evaluate Your Discussion Responses For each weekly discussion forum, I will evaluate your total work (the sum of all of your postings). I will post your weekly grade in Blackboard, so that you always will have an idea of how well you are doing in the course. Note that both your Subject(s) and Message(s) will be used to determine your score on any discussion posting, so it is possible for you to write a great message but have an unacceptable subject line, leading to a slightly lower score for that posting. Your total grade is based on: The quality and timeliness of your messages: o Did you post by the due date? o Were your messages original? Have you raised any new issues? o Did your responses bring in new data and/or other readings? o If you copied or paraphrased another source, did you cite it? o Were all your messages relevant to the issues being discussed? o Were your messages written in academically appropriate fashion? [With no "chat" lingo, no spelling errors, no grammatical errors.] o Did you write complete paragraphs, not just a short sentence or two? o Were all your postings consistent with the two "Cardinal Rules". The level of your participation o Does your post engage your colleagues in authentic dialogue, not just complete a course assignment? o Did you respond to others who participated in the discussion? o Did you engage in multiple postings? If you were a moderator o Did you provide an insightful discussion question? o Did you respond to others who participated in the discussion? o Did your message(s) sway others to participate fully in discussion? If you were a closer o Did you integrated, synthesize, and summarize postings of other students? o Did you complete your posting within 6 days after the original post? Discussion Responses - In a Nutshell In a nutshell, each of your postings should: Teach us something Make us think Help us feel that we are a community of learning VI. ADDITIONAL ISSUES (1) There will be no extensions on the paper/presentation for this course for any reason. If you have any reason to suspect that you may not complete the coursework in time, you should not take this course. (2) Some of your research may lead you into some interesting questions that you might like to pursue in greater depth than the semester will allow. If this is the case, please let me know and we might discuss the possibilities of working together on future independent studies, thesis options, preparation of conferences papers, or other ways to develop your ideas. (3) Students needing special academic accommodations and who have documented disabilities should make an appointment to discuss these accommodations. Students with disabilities are also encouraged to visit the SIUE Disability Support Services office.

5 (4) The University gives high priority to matters of academic ethics and abhors all types of cheating, including plagiarism. If you present words or ideas from some other source as though they are your own, you are guilty of plagiarism. Most cases of plagiarism are unintentional, caused by careless documentation or lack of understanding. Nevertheless, plagiarism is a serious offense and may result in a failing grade for the assignment and/or the course. Serious cases of intellectual dishonesty may be grounds for expulsion from SIUE. If you have any questions about the proper documentation procedures for any assignment, please consult with me before handing in the assignment. VII. GRADING POLICIES Discussion board postings, active engagement, and homepages 60% 150 points possible Final Exam 20% 50 points possible Project and Presentation 20% 50 points possible Total: 100% 250 points possible The final grade will be based on the following total percentages: % A (Exemplary work in all areas identified in assignment instructions) 81-90% B (Good work in most areas, but some lack of attention to detail is present) 71-80% C (Standard work, but needs improvement in numerous areas) 61-70% D (Substandard work, needing improvement in all areas) 0-60% E (Entirely fails to meet the standards of university work) A course grade of I (incomplete) will be given only if you have completed nearly all the work required for a class and are prevented from finishing the class due to a serious medical emergency. Any incomplete grade must be completed by the end of the next semester following the course, or the grade will be changed to an F. VIII. GENERAL SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND ACTIVITIES: MT = Main Text: Dornyei, Z Bb = Blackboard course site DB = Discussion Board posting Date Themes Reading Work Due May 30 Introduction At SIUE from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. June 3 Begin Research Will vary Bb homepages June 6 Overview of IDs MT 1 Discussion 1 June 10 Personality, Temperament, and Mood MT 2 Discussion 2 June 13 Language Aptitude MT 3 Discussion 3

6 Date Themes Reading Work Due June 17 June 20 June 24 June 27 Motivation and Self-motivation Learning Styles and Cognitive Styles Language Learning Strategies and Student Self-regulation Other Learner Characteristics MT 4 Discussion 4 MT 5 Discussion 5 MT 6 Discussion 6 MT 7 Discussion 7 July 2 Review --- Optional Online Review 8 p.m. July 9 Final Exam --- Online Final July 11 Final Class and Presentations Course Evaluations At SIUE from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. IX. ADDITIONAL READINGS WORTH EXPLORING AND/OR USING FOR PROJECT IDEAS: 1. Introduction to Individual Differences Dörnyei, Z. (2006). Individual differences in second language acquisition. AILA Review 19 (2006), Successful and Unsuccessful L2 Learners Gan, Z., Humphreys, G. and Hamp-Lyons, L..(2004). Understanding successful and unsuccessful EFL students in Chinese universities. The Modern Language Journal 88, Age and L2 Learning DeKeyser, R. (2000). The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 22: Bialystok, E. (2002). On the reliability of robustness: A reply to DeKeyser. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24: Language Aptitude and L2 Learning Robinson, P. (2005). Aptitude and second language acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 25, Learning Styles and L2 Learning Johnson, J., Prior, S., & Artuso, M. (2000). Field dependence as a factor in second language communicative production. Language Learning 50,

7 6. Personality and L2 Learning Verhoeven, L. & A. Vermeer. (2002). Communicative competence and personality dimensions in first and second language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics 23, Anxiety and L2 Learning Horwitz, E. (2001). Language anxiety and achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21, Motivation and L2 Learning Dörnyei, Z. & Csizer, K. (1998). Ten commandments for motivating language learners. Language Teaching Research 2: Csizer, K. and Z. Dörnyei. (2005). Language learners motivational profiles and their motivated learning behaviour. Language Learning 55: Willingness to learn Cao, Y. & Philip, J Interactional context and willingness to communicate: a comparison of behaviour in whole class, group and dyadic interaction. System 34, Learners Beliefs about L2 Learning Mori, Y. (1999). Epistemological beliefs and language learning beliefs: what do language learners believe about their learning. Language Learning 49, Learning Strategies Tseng, W., Z. Dörnyei, & N. Schmitt A new approach to assessing strategic learning: the case for self-regulation in vocabulary acquisition. Applied Linguistics 27: Individual Differences and Language Instruction Macaro, E. (2006). Strategies for language Learning and for language use: revising the theoretical framework. Modern Language Journal 90,