© Dr. Loren R. Schmidt, 1999-2016
No part of this syllabus may be used or reprouced
in any manner whatsoever without written permission.
Course Description and Outcomes
ENG 307 Language Acquisition (3) or ENG 507 Language Acquisition (2)
Exploration of current approaches, processes, and materials used to promote first and second language acquisition. Introduction of relationships among psychological, social, cultural, and educational factors influencing learning and language fluency. Particular emphasis on generative models of syntax: analysis of important syntactic structures of English, exploration of the acquisition and internalization of those structures in first and second language learners through field observations of L1 and L2 English Language Learners, and hands-on experience of teaching methods (such as sentence combining) and assessment based on those conclusions. Prerequisite: English 330/523A.
In general, the course has these outcomes for students to pursue:
1. Understand the fundamental principles of language acquisition, both L1 and L2, and the teaching methods that have been developed as we have increased our comprehension of language acquisition.
2. Become more familiar with the phonetic alphabet and phonological elements of language acquisition through real-world practice.
3. Become more familiar with the morphological elements of language acquisition through real-world practice.
4. Become more familiar with the syntactic elements of language acquisition (such as the development of more complex sentences shown through phrase tree structures) through real-world practice.
5. Be able to locate scholarly material concerning language acquisition and teaching methods in electronic and print formats.
6. Learn how field research in linguistics increases our understanding of language acquisition.