Lecture Series: 2007-2008
"MOCA (Multimedia Online Corpus Analysis): Assessing Language Development Using Corpus Analytic Techniques"
Tuesday, May 6 2008 | 3:30-5:00 | Room 53a, Olson
Scott Payne, Director, Academic Technology Services, Amherst College
Interest among second language acquisition researchers and teachers in using corpus analytic tools and techniques to develop a more nuanced understanding of language development is burgeoning. However, a number of theoretical and technical issues must be addressed before corpus-based assessment can become a viable approach for measuring longitudinal language development. The presenter discusses a number of these issues and presents some ideas for how they might be addressed. Findings from analyses of a diachronic learner corpus of third semester Spanish are also presented. These analyses include an adaptation of Youmans’ Vocabulary Management Profiling to learner language and the demonstration of a specialized data visualization tool used to generate these analyses. The presenter also discusses the design of next-generation corpus tools and provides a demonstration of MOCA, a multimedia online corpus analytic tool currently under development at Amherst College.
View the flyer [PDF] | Listen to the recording [mp3, 25MB]
"'Heritage' Language in the Here and Now: Perspectives from Cantonese-background Learners of Mandarin"
Thursday, April 17 2008 | 3:30-5:00 | Room 53a, Olson
Ann Kelleher, 2007-08 SLAI Mini-grant recipient, Department of Linguistics, Unviersity of California, Davis
Since the mid-1990’s, use of the term “heritage” in the U.S. has increased within foreign language teaching contexts to describe learners with some home background in the language of study. Its use in educational contexts is one part of a larger heritage language movement that is broadly conceived and related to the advancement of languages other than English in the U.S. This paper presents preliminary findings from an ethnographic case study of a university Mandarin program. Examples from classroom observations and interviews with students in a “Mandarin for Cantonese Speakers” course highlight some of the connections between language ideologies, language practices and identity formations of the self and others. I examine how these examples inform the formation of a “heritage language field” that is currently being constructed within the domain of Second Language Acquisition. Findings from an analysis of the first four volumes of the Heritage Language Journal using Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1995) and Cognitive Grammar semantics (Langacker, 1987) provide an empirical perspective on the way contested terms such as heritage language learner and heritage language are used within the articles of the journal. While a consensus view of these terms is emerging, they are also being pulled in a number of contradictory directions. I argue that the ethnographic work examining the “here and now” of a specific heritage language program points to the importance of constructing the “heritage language field” in a way that encompasses the sociopolitical contexts of language development, particularly as policies and practices around language development are increasingly driven by situated responses and reactions to transnational migration.
View the flyer [PDF] | Listen to the recording [mp3, 30MB]
"Issues in Second/Additional Language Socialization Research"
Thursday, March 13 2008 | 3:30-5:00 | Room 53a, Olson
Patricia A. Duff, University of British Columbia
This presentation examines some of the main contributions of second (or additional) language (L2) socialization research to date and the issues that have emerged. Although current understandings of L2 socialization have drawn heavily on early first language (L1) scholarship in linguistic anthropology and in sociocultural approaches to learning and practice, L2 contexts often involve more complicated and unpredictable processes and outcomes than L1 contexts do because of the co-existence of multiple, sometimes competing, linguistic and cultural norms and community memberships, and also because of the mobility of many L2 learners. Examples are given from research with L2 learners in a variety of educational settings that illustrate the difficulties many learners have entering into and negotiating new languages, genres, and communities, and mastering the new local conventions expected of them. Importantly, their challenges stem not only from their levels of linguistic competence in their L2, but also from the social, cultural and political contexts themselves, their personal histories, aspirations, and trajectories, and the ways in which they are positioned by themselves and by others in their learning. Future directions of L2 socialization research are outlined as well as some of the methodological and explanatory inadequacies of existing research.
View the flyer [PDF] | Listen to the recording [mp3, 19MB]
"Reflections on the Role of the Language Specialist in the Present State of Education"
Tuesday, December 4 2007 | 3:30-5:00 | Room 53a, Olson
Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University
In this talk, I will not present data. Instead, I will share my impressions and sketch out what I see as the ambiguous role of the language specialist in the context of the real world problems of education, in which language is part of a larger problem in which there are multidisciplinary players. I will draw on reflections from my personal experiences in K-12 education, higher education, and educational research.
View the flyer [PDF] | Listen to the recording [mp3, 12MB]