Vår 2018

ENG-1040 Language Acquisition - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

The course is directed at teacher training students (Lærerutdanning 5.-10. trinn), but may be taken as a single course. The course LRU-1301 Engelsk 5.-10. trinn: språk og didaktikk is recommended, but not required.

Course contents

As adults we tend to take our own language competence for granted. This soon changes when we are faced with the prospect of learning a foreign language. This humbling experience has a tendency to make us realise how incredibly complex languages are and how much effort goes into learning them. Yet, very young children seem to acquire their native language effortlessly and in the course of a very short time. In this course, we will first study how children acquire their first language and then consider how a second language is learned. To what extent are the two situations different and to what extent the same? We will consider several aspects of first and second language acquisition, such as phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics. The emphasis will be on the acquisition of English as a native and a foreign language, but comparative elements may also be included; especially the first language acquisition of English will be compared to the acquisition of Norwegian.The course will provide the students with a good background in how English is acquired as a first and a second language, as well as some information on the acquisition of Norwegian, and the combination of these will provide them with a better basis for understanding the error patterns that can be observed in the English of Norwegian learners.

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 December for the spring semester and 1 June for the autumn semester. Exchange students and Fulbright students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester

Admission requirements

Higher Education Entrance Qualification (generell studiekompetanse) or prior learning and work experience (realkompetanse).

Application code (Nordic applicants): 9199

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

The student:

is able to identify different characteristics of (English) child language
is able to identify different characteristics of second language acquisition
has a general overview of when different structures are acquired in first language acquisition
is aware of differences between acquiring a native and a foreign language
has some knowledge of different theoretical approaches to both first and second language acquisition.

Skills:

The student:

has an overview of various methods used in language acquisition studies
is able to describe child language data
is able to anticipate what kinds of errors Norwegian learners of English will make
is able to discuss issues related language acquisition both orally and in writing.

Language of instruction

Language of instruction and examination is English.

Teaching methods

The course will be taught four hours per week and will consist of lectures and seminars.

Quality assurance:

The course undergoes a midterm evaluation or an end-of-term evaluation every third year.

Assessment

The following coursework requirements must be completed and approved in order to take the final exam:

Coursework requirement: One oral presentation.

Assessment method: A 4-hour school exam.

Performance in the course will be assessed on an A-F grades scale. Grades are A-E for passed and F for failed. A re-sit examination is offered in the event of an F grade. The deadline to register for a re-sit examination is January 15th for the autumn semester and August 15th for the spring semester.

Date for examination

Written examination 14.05.2018

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.

Recommended reading/syllabus

Textbook:
Patsy M. Lightbown & Nina Spada (2013). How languages are learned. Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers. (4th edition).

Compendium:
1. Pinker, S. (1994). The Language Instinct. Chapter 2, Chatterboxes. pp. 25-54.

2. Crain & Lilo-Martin (1999) Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition. Chapter 3: Stages of Language Acquisition. pp. 25-32.

3. O'Grady, W. How Children Learn Language. Chapter 4. Words all in a row. pp. 80-113.

4. Westergaard, M. (2003) Unlearning V2. (same as in Compendium ENG-1040 Spring 2015). EUROSLA Yearbook 2003. pp. 77-101.

5. Jensen, Isabel N., Roumyana Slabakova & Marit Westergaard. 2017. 'The Bottleneck Hypothesis in L2 acquisition: A study of L1 Norwegian speakers¿ knowledge of syntax and morphology in L2 English.' In Maria LaMendola & Jennifer Scott (eds.), Proceedings of the 41st annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 333-346. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. (This paper will be available in open access).

6. Herschensohn, Julia. 2013. Age-related effects, chapter 15, in Herschensohn & Young-Scholten (eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, 317-337, 21 pages.

7. Gregersen, Tammy and Peter D. MacIntyre. 2014. Capitalizing on Language Learners' Individuality: From Premise to Practice. Multilingual Matters. Chapter 1. Anxiety, pp. 1-13.

8. Gregersen, Tammy and Peter D. MacIntyre. 2014. Capitalizing on Language Learners' Individuality: From Premise to Practice. Multilingual Matters. Chapter 4. Motivation, pp. 107-118.

9. Genesee, Fred. 2015. Myths About Early Childhood Bilingualism. Canadian Psychology, Vol. 56, No. 1, 6-15.

10. Rodina, Y. & M. Westergaard. 2015. 'Grammatical gender in Norwegian: Language acquisition and language change.' Journal of Germanic Linguistics 27, 145-187.