ENGLISH 497 - Theories of Language Learning and Teaching

Fall 2005

Professor: Dr. Battenburg  jbattenb@calpoly.edu 
Office: 47-25D
Phone: 756-2945 
Office Hours: M, W 3-4; T 9-11; or by appointment

Texts: 

Brown, H. Douglas. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 4th ed. Old Tappan, NJ: Pearson.  

Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers.  2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.  Cambridge and New York:  Cambridge UP.  

Course Description: 

ENGLISH 497 focuses on learning and teaching English as a second language. The course will consider both theories of language learning and innovative methods to teaching a second language. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, report on their ESL classroom observations, complete an examination, and conduct research to appear in a final paper and presentation. 

In-class activities and reading assignments will be supplemented by accessing world-wide web sites in linguistics. Student will be required to use the computer to participate in these online activities. The website addrfess for the Theories of Language Learning and Teaching web site is as follows: http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/theory/

Class Requirements:

  1. Attendance is required. More than three absences will significantly lower your final grade. 
  2. No late assignments will be accepted. Incompletes will not be given except in the case of death or severe illness. 
  3. ESL observation report: 10% 
  4. Class participation: 15% 
  5. Exam: 40% 
  6. Research project or paper: 35%
Schedule:

M 19 Sep.

Introduction to Teaching English as a Second Language 

W 21 

Language, Learning and Teaching Chap. 1 (Brown) 
First Language Acquisition Chap. 2 (Brown)

M 26 

Age and Acquisition Chap. 3 (Brown) 

W 28 

Human Learning Chap. 4 (Brown) 

M Oct. 3

Styles and Strategies Chap. 5 (Brown) 

W 5 

Personality Factors Chap. 6 (Brown) 

M 10

Sociocultural Factors Chap. 7 (Brown) 

 ONLINE ASSIGNMENT DUE

W 12 

Cross-Linguistic Influence and Learner Language Chap. 8 (Brown) 

M 17 

Communicative Competence Chap. 9 (Brown)

Theories of Second Language Acquisition Chap. 10 (Brown)

W 19 

Major Language Trends in 20th Century Language Teaching (Richards and Rodgers pp. 1-69)

M 24

EXAM

W 26

Communicative Activities

M 31 Nov. 

Total Physical Response (Richards and Rodgers pp. 73-80)

Community Language Learning (Richards and Rodgers pp. 90-99)

W 2

The Silent Way (Richards and Rodgers pp. 81-89)

Suggestopedia (Richards and Rodgers pp. 100-107)

M 7

TBA

W 9

Whole Language (Richards and Rodgers pp. 108-114)

Multiple Intelligences (Richards and Rodgers pp. 115-124)

ESL OBSERVATION REPORT DUE

M 14

Nerolinguistic Programming (Richards and Rodgers pp. 125-131)

The Lexical Approach (Richards and Rodgers pp. 132-140)

Competency-Based Language Teaching (Richards and Rodgers pp. 141-149)

W 16

Communicative Language Teaching (Richards and Rodgers pp. 153-177)

The Natural Approach (Richards and Rodgers pp. 178-191))

M 21

Content-Based Instruction (Richards and Rodgers pp. 204-222)

Task-Based Language Teaching (Richards and Rodgers pp. 223-243)

The Post-Methods Era (Richards and Rodgers pp. 244-255)

W 23

Holiday

M 28

Presentations

W 30

Presentations 

RESEARCH PROJECT OR PAPER DUE

Presentations Continued During Final Exam Period
 

Guidelines for Research Project/Paper

Your assignment is to conduct research concerning an issue or problem in language teaching, learning, or acquisition.  Your findings and observations should then be incorporated into a ten-twelve page paper or website. 

Remember to select a topic which can be adequately handled.  The better projects usually deal with a restricted issue.  You should attempt to solve a particular problem rather than simply to provide information.  Along with dealing with relevant research, you are expected to reveal individual analysis and creativity. 

The paper should be typed, double-spaced, with one inch margins.  You may use the MLA, APA, or LSA style.  It is important, however, that you cite with parenthetical references.  Be consistent with the format and style you adopt.  Recommended resources to begin your research include the following located in the Cal Poly Library reference room: International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 4 vols. (1992) and The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 10 vols. (1994).  Also the TESOL Journal and TESOL Quarterly should be of assistance. 

You have considerable freedom in selecting a topic.  Try to examine an issue or problem that you are interested in.  Various example topics are listed below.  Please feel free, however, to explore other areas. 

*Teaching "Dialect Different" Students in School
*ESL versus Bilingual Education
*"Whole Language" in the Classroom
*Code-Switching
*Bidialectalism or Bilingualism
*English Based Pidgins or Creoles
*English Language Planning and Policy in Education 
*Teaching Literacy Skills
*Acquiring Communicative Competence in a Second Language

At the end of the quarter, you will be expected to present your research findings to the class.  Please do not simply read your paper.  You will have an opportunity to discuss significant aspects of your research project, and then there will be time for questions and answers.  Students often have found it useful to distribute hand-outs or use multimedia to illustrate various ideas.  Basically, you should plan on your presentation to last 8-10 minutes.