Second Language Acquisition - 1st semester
Code
722131105
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Linguística
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
Ana Maria Lavadinho Madeira
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) To provide students with opportunities to develop in-depth knowledge of models of analysis and
fundamental theoretical concepts in the area of Second Language Acquisition
b) To enable students to develop skills which will enable them to research and interpret information autonomously and to critically evaluate competing theoretical proposals
c) To provide students with training in the scholarly presentation of published work in the area, as well as of their own research work, encouraging them to develop the ability to construct clearly structured arguments
d) To enable students to develop the ability to apply theoretical knowledge and methodological tools in original research in the area of Second Language Acquisition
Prerequisites
n.a.
Subject matter
1. Key concepts and research questions in L2 acquisition.
2. Methods of data collection in L2 acquisition.
3. Crosslinguistic influence in L2 acquisition - the concept of ´transfer´ in different theoretical models.
4. The logical problem of second language acquisition.
5. The development of lexical and grammatical knowledge) (functional) morphology, syntax and semantics).
6. The acquisition of properties on the interface between syntax and other grammatical and cognitive domains.
7. Adult L2 acquisition vs. L3, child L2 and heritage language.
8. L2 acquisition and language teaching and learning.
Bibliography
Doughty, C. & C. Long (eds) (2003) The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Blackwell.
Geeslin, K. (2014) (ed.) The Handbook of Spanish Second Language Acquisition. Wiley-Blackwell.
Herschensohn, J. & M. Young-Scholten (eds) (2013) The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. CUP.
Mackey, A. & S.M. Gass (eds.) (2012) Research Methods in Second Language Acquisition: A Practical Guide. Wiley-Blackwell.
Montrul, S. (2004) The Acquisition of Spanish: Morphosyntactic development in monolingual and bilingual L1 acquisition and adult L2 acquisition. John Benjamins.
Pires, A. & J. Rothman (eds) (2009) Minimalist Inquiries into Child and Adult Language Acquisition: Case Studies across Portuguese. De Gruyter.
Slabakova, R. (2016) Second Language Acquisition. OUP.
White, L. (2003) Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar. CUP.
Whong, M., K.-H. Gil & H. Marsden (eds.) (2013) Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom. Springer.
Teaching method
Teaching:
The course will be taught through expository seminars which also include discussions on the readings and topics under examination. There will also be regular tutorial sessions.
Evaluation method
Evaluation:
(a) Participation in the seminar discussions (10%)
(b) Two critical reviews (30%)
(c) Research paper (to be also presented orally) (60%)