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SLATE LECTURE SERIES
SLATE Colloquium Series
1999-2000
Upcoming
Lectures:
December 2, 1999
Jessica Williams (University
of Illinois at Chicago)
Recent studies have suggested that the incorporation of some attention
to form into meaning-centered instruction can lead to improved performance
in processing input and increased accuracy in production. Most have
examined attention to form delivered by instructors or instructional
materials. I will report on a study that examined the extent to
which learners can and do spontaneously attend to form in their
interaction with other learners. Results suggest that the degree
and type of learner-generated attention to form is related to proficiency
level and the nature of the activity in which the learners are engaged.
I will also report on a study in progress that extends the notion
of focus on form to the acquisition of word meaning. In keeping
with the definition of focus on form, in this study, readers' attention
is briefly diverted in order to focus on the meaning of unknown
lexical items.
October 21, 1999
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig
(Indiana
University)
Tense and Aspect in Second
Language Acquisition: Past, Present, and Future
In the last decade there has been a significant increase in the
number of studies of the acquisition of tense-aspect systems in
second language. Investigations have included learners in both host
and foreign environments, and both instructed and uninstructed learners.
Because we now know more about tense- aspect than ever before, it
is important to assess that knowledge and to chart new directions.
This talk explores five main areas in tense-aspect research in second
language acquisition: meaning-oriented approaches and form-oriented
approaches. The form-oriented approaches include research on acquisitional
sequences, the aspect hypothesis, the discourse hypothesis, and
the influence of instruction. I will review the theories that drive
each one and the major results of their (independent) investigations.
The goal of this talk is to present new research questions in each
of the areas that will lead to significant contributions to our
understanding of how L2 systems of temporal reference develop.
November 11, 1999
Gordon D. Logan (Psychology,
UIUC)
Attention and automaticity are intimately related. In everyday life,
attention determines what is focal and automatic processing determines
the background. Like well-choreographed dancers, attention leads
and automatic processing follows. Shifts in attention bring new
input to bear on the cognitive system, some of which is processed
deliberately but most of which is processed automatically. Thus,
to understand automaticity, we must also understand attention. I
propose a new theory that provides a quantitative account of the
interaction between attention and automaticity. The new theory is
a natural combination of existing theories that address the phenomena
separately. The combination exploits deep similarities in the formal
structure of the separate theories and views different cognitive
activities--attending, categorizing, remembering--as different perspectives
on a single underlying process. The theory specifies the conditions
of attention that will and will not result in learning, explaining
how attention determines the acquisition of automaticity during
training and the expression of automaticity during skilled performance.
December 2, 1999
Jessica Williams (University
of Illinois at Chicago)
Professor Williams is known for her contributions to ESL by her
publications in journals such as TESOL Quarterly, Applied Linguistics,
Language Learning and the International Journal of Writing. Her
interests have included L2 writing, communicative success, and planning
and discourse. More recently she is known for her work Focus on
Form, a volume that she co-edited with Cathy Doughty and to which
she herself contributed several selections. Her talk in the SLATE
series will focus on a soon-to-be published study in Language Learning
that centers on how and under what conditions learners generate
a focus on form during communicative interactions in a classroom
setting.
Abstract:
Recent studies have suggested that the incorporation of some
attention to form into meaning-centered instruction can lead to
improved performance in processing input and increased accuracy
in production. Most have examined attention to form delivered by
instructors or instructional materials. I will report on a study
that examined the extent to which learners can and do spontaneously
attend to form in their interaction with other learners. Results
suggest that the degree and type of learner-generated attention
to form is related to proficiency level and the nature of the activity
in which the learners are engaged. I will also report on a study
in progress that extends the notion of focus on form to the acquisition
of word meaning. In keeping with the definition of focus on form,
in this study, readers' attention is briefly diverted in order to
focus on the meaning of unknown lexical items.
April 27, 2000
Andrea Golato (University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Title: Pragmatic Transfer of
Compliment Responses in English and German
Paying compliments, identifying them as such and responding
to them in an appropriate fashion is one element of communicative
competence that seems to vary from culture to culture. Not being familiar
with the organization of compliments and compliment responses in the
target culture can lead to difficulties or even to misunderstandings
in communication. Using conversation analytic methodology, this paper
investigates the notion of pragmatic transfer with respect to compliments
and compliment responses in conversations between native speakers
of German and (American) English. The first part of the paper contrasts
how compliments are paid and received in both American and German
conversations. I will point out some of the differences in the sequential
organization of compliment responses in the two languages and isolate
areas where cross-cultural communication can become problematic. In
the second part, I will present one such example in which a nonnative
speaker of English transferred the format of a German compliment response
into American English. I will illustrate the communication problems
that result and examine the resolution the interactants negotiate.
Finally, I will discuss the implications of this type of research
for studies in second language acquisition and for the teaching of
foreign languages.
April 6, 2000
Nick Ellis (University
of Wales, Bangor)
Title: Frequency effects
in Language Acquisition
This paper reviews frequency effects in first, second and foreign
language acquisition. Psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic theories
of language acquisition hold that all linguistic units are abstracted
from language use. In these usage-based perspectives, the acquisition
of grammar is the piecemeal learning of many thousands of constructions
and the frequency-biased abstraction of regularities within them.
Language learning is the associative learning of representations that
reflect the probabilities of occurrence of form-function mappings.
Frequency is thus a key determinant of acquisition. Frequency underpins
regularity effects in the acquisition of orthographic, phonological
and morphological form, and learning accords to the power law of practice.
Nevertheless, the effects of frequency in input are modulated by the
need to simultaneously satisfy the constraints of all other constructions
that are represented therein. The interactions of input and existing
representation can be described as Bayesian interactions in a rich
network of interacting associations and connections (some competing,
others, as a result of the many redundancies of language and representation,
mutually reinforcing). Recent work in child language acquisition (Bybee
& Thompson, 1997) provides important leads for further refining our
understanding of how frequency shapes grammar in SLA. Productivity
of pattern (phonological, morphological, or syntactic) is a function
of type rather than token frequency. In contrast, high token frequency
promotes the entrenchment or conservation of irregular forms and idioms.
An important goal of the theory of SLA is thus to account for the
acquisition of grammatical constructions. A developmental sequence
- from formula, through low-scope pattern, to construction - is proposed
as a useful starting point to investigate the emergence of constructions
and the ways in which type and token frequency affect productivity
of pattern.
February 24 and 25, 2000
Carl Blyth (University
of Texas at Austin)
Carl S. Blyth is Assistant Professor of French Linguistics in the
Department of French and Italian at the University of Texas at Austin.
He coordinates the Lower Division French language program, supervises
TAs, and teaches courses in French linguistics, sociolinguistics,
and foreign language teaching methodology. His research interests
include conversation analysis, narrative analysis, discourse grammar,
sociocultural theories of language learning, pedagogical grammar,
and instructional technology. For the past several years, he has explored
the applications of computer technology to foreign language learning
culminating in a recently published book and companion website titled
Untangling The Web: Nonce's Guide to Language and Culture on the Internet
(1999). In collaboration with graduate students and departmental colleagues,
he has recently completed an on-line reference grammar of French that
includes recordings and self-correcting exercises called "Tex's French
Grammar: la grammaire de l'absurbe" available at http://www.lamc.utexas.edu/tex.
February 24, 2000, 7:30-8:30,
Location: TBA
Title: R&D: The Role
of Applied Linguistic Research in the Development of Electronic Materials.
This talk will show how a coherent research agenda in applied linguistics
is a crucial element in the development of more pedagogically sound
electronic materials. In particular, this talk examines the development
of a CD-ROM and companion website for the first year French curriculum
at the University of Texas at Austin. Various kinds of data were gathered
as part of the formative evaluation of these electronic materials--attitudinal
surveys, think aloud protocols, mouse click tracking, standardized
exams. Therefore, the goal of this talk is to demonstrate how these
"research data" were used to improve the finished products (CD-ROM
and website) as well as classroom pratices.
February 25, 2000,
12:00-1:00 p.m., Location: G-27
FLB
Title: Designing Effective
Pedagogical Grammar Rules
This talk will review several important design criteria for effective
pedagogical grammars: truth, demarcation, clarity, simplicity, conceptual
parsimony, relevance, and *humor.* Each design criterion will be illustrated
with 'good' and 'bad' pedagogical language rules. Finally, online
pedagogical grammars will be demonstrated and discussed in light of
these design features.
See Fall 1999 SLATE Lectures
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