Department of English
TESL/Applied Linguistics: What's New?
Current EventsSixth Annual Technology for Second Language Learning ConferenceThe Sixth Annual TSLL conference will take place September 26 and 27, 2008. The theme is " Developing and Evaluating Language Learning Materials." View the call for papers Past EventsApplied Linguistics Lecture: Taking features apart and putting them back together again by Dr. Donna LardiereDr. Donna Lardiere, Georgetown University, will present on Friday, November 9, 4-5:00pm in N147 Lagomarcino Hall. Over the past two decades within formal linguistic approaches to SLA, the failure of many adult language learners to reach nativelike grammatical proficiency has been descriptively modeled in terms of an inability to reset one or more parameters from the L1 value to that of the L2. More recently, this view has been updated in terms of “parametric feature selection” in which certain features that are morphologically expressed (or “selected”) in the L2 but not in the learner’s L1, are claimed to be no longer available, resulting in the phenomenon of incomplete L2 acquisition known as “fossilization.” Using findings from a recent longitudinal case study (Lardiere, 2007) and a cross-sectional study (Choi & Lardiere, 2006), I show how the formal task facing a second language learner is actually much more complex than the parametric “selecting” of a new feature such as [+past] or [+plural] in the target language. In sum, I will argue that acquiring the L2 involves determining how to reconfigure or remap features from the way these are organized in the L1 into new formal configurations on possibly quite different types of lexical items in the L2. This is a formidable learning task that goes far beyond the simple “switch-setting” or “selecting” metaphors often used to characterize the acquisition of a second-language grammar.
Fifth Annual Technology for Second Language Learning ConferenceThe Fifth Annual TSLL conference will take place September 21 and 22, 2007. The theme is "Towards Adaptive CALL: Natural Language Processing for Diagnostic Language Assessment". Professor Robert Mislevy from the University of Maryland will be the Plenary Speaker. View the proceedings or see the final report. 2007 Quentin Johnson LectureProfessor Wynne Wong from The Ohio State University will present the 2007 Annual Quentin Johnson Linguistics Lecture Thursday, October 25, at 7p.m. in 1213 Hoover Hall. A reception will follow.
Input Enhancement: Theory, Research and Classroom Practice No matter what theoretical framework or context second language acquisition (SLA) researchers work from, they agree that acquisition cannot happen without exposure to comprehensible input. SLA scholars are also in agreement that while input is an essential ingredient of successful L2 acquisition, exposure to input alone is not sufficient. There is a general consensus that in order for input to be usable for acquisition, learners must minimally pay attention to the input in some way (e.g., Robinson, 1995; Schmidt, 1990, 1995, 2001; Tomlin & Villa, 1994). The position that attention to input may also be a necessary condition for successful SLA has prompted researchers to investigate whether L2 learners’ attention to input may be enhanced so that the potential for intake, that is to say, the feature(s) of input that learners attend to and process in some way, is maximized. In this presentation, Professor Wong will first talk about the theory of input processing as a theoretical framework for input enhancement. She will discuss two techniques of input enhancement as pedagogical tools, specifically, structured input activities and textual enhancement. She will present her in-progress empirical study on textual enhancement that uses eye tracking as an online measure of attention Applied Linguistics seminarA seminar entitled "Input Processing Instruction: Establishing a Research Agenda" will be given by Professor Wynne Wong from The Ohio State University On Friday, October 26 from 10:00-11:30 in Ross 212. 2007 Applied Linguistics Colloquium SeriesThis semester students and faculty in theTESL/Applied Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and Technology programs will present their current research and projects. Please join us in Ross 212 for the following presentations: Monday Feb. 19 @ 12:00 Erik Voss Using Video for Language Learning with the Electronic Film Review (EFR): Exploring Lesson Plans and Task Types (Abstract) Monday Feb. 26 @ 12:00 Elena Cotos Integrating Learner Corpus-Based Data-Driven Pedagogyin Academic Writing Classrooms (Abstract) Monday Mar. 19 @12:00 Maja Grgurovic & Carol Chapelle Effectiveness of CALL: A research synthesis of CALL comparison studies (Abstract) Wednesday Mar. 21, 2007 @ 3:40 Mervyn Lewis, Itochu Corporation, Japan SST: Testing Spoken English in Japan (Abstract) Monday April 2 @ 12:00 Carol Chapelle What about content? Beginning level language learning materials and the case of French in the U.S. (Abstract) Linguistics lecture: Interactional Feedback in Second Language Communicative ClassroomsDr. Roy Lyster will present on April 13, 2007 from 3:30-5:00 in room N-147, Lagomarcino Hall This talk will first address the need for teachers to provide feedback to second language learners in terms of feasibility and effectiveness. Then different types of feedback will be explored in terms of their appropriateness for different instructional settings, different types of learners, and different types of linguistic targets. The talk will illustrate how language teachers can exploit a range of interactional feedback types, which vary from implicit feedback in the form of recasts that scaffold interaction and facilitate students' participation, to feedback in the form of prompts and other signals that push learners to extend their linguistic resources. About the speaker: Dr. Roy Lyster is Associate Professor of Second Language Education and Co-Director of Graduate Programs in the Department of Integrated Studies Education at McGill University in Montreal. His research focuses primarily on immersion and content-based classrooms, including both observational and experimental studies of teacher-student interaction, form-focused instruction, and corrective feedback. Results of his research have appeared in journals such as Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, Applied Linguistics, Journal of French Language Studies, International Journal of Educational Research, Modern Language Journal, and The Canadian Modern Language Review. Author of Learning and Teaching Languages Through Content: A Counterbalanced Approach, published by John Benjamins in 2007, he is also President of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics. 2006 Applied Linguistics Colloquium SeriesThis semester students and faculty in theTESL/Applied Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and Technology programs will present their current research and projects. Please join us in Ross 212 for the following presentations: Tuesday Oct. 17 @ 3:00 Viviana Cortes A comparative study of lexical bundles in history writing in Spanish and English (Abstract) Monday Oct. 30 @ 12:00 Roberta Vann Tuesday Nov. 14 @ 3:00 Volker Hegelheimer & Dan Douglas Monday Nov. 27 @ 12:00 Anne O'Bryan Tuesday Dec. 12 @ 3:00 Anna Kosterina & Mohammad Haji-Abdolhosseini Technology and Second Language Conference, Fall 2006 conferenceThe Fourth Annual Conference on Technology and Second Language Learning was on the theme of Learner Strategies in CALL. Keynote speakers were Dr. Andrew Cohen, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Phil Hubbard, Stanford University. Read more... Bryan Smith - Call Club Guest Lecturer 2006Professor Bryan Smith, University of Arizona Technology and Second Language Conference, Fall 2005 conferenceThe Third Annual Conference on Technology and Second Language Learning was held in conjunction with the Conference of the MidWest Association of Language Testing. Plenary speaker: Professor J. Charles Alderson, Lancaster University, UK. Read more... Leonardo's LaptopHuman Needs and the New Computing Technologies Ben Shneiderman Ben Shneiderman is a professor of Computer Science founding director of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, and member of the Institutes for Advanced Computer Studies and for Systems Research, at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Deborah Schiffrin, Georgetown University--English Department Goldtrap Speaker 2005Approaches to Discourse Analysis Saying It Again Deborah Schiffrin is Chair of the Linguistics Department, Georgetown University and author of Discourse Markers; Meaning, Form, and Use in Context: Linguistic Applications; Approaches to Discourse; and Handbook of Discourse Analysis, co-edited with Heidi Hamilton and Deborah Tannen. Merrill Swain Lecture via ICNThe Merrill Swain Lecture at the University of Iowa will be broadcast at ISU via the ICN network on Friday, April 22, 2005 at 4:00 p.m. in N147 Lagomarcino. Tom Cobb--Call Club Guest Lecturer 2005Friday, April 29, 2005
Ron Scollon--Quentin Johnson Lecture 2005Ron Scollon spoke on Thursday, December 2, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Sun Room. Conference on Technology for Second Language LearningThe second annual Conference on technology for second language learning took place on October 02, 2004 at the Memorial Union on the Iowa State campus. Read more... *** Doctoral Program in Applied Linguistics and TechnologyThe Department of English proposal was approved at the meeting of the Iowa Board of Regents on May 19, 2004. Applications for the program are due January 15, 2005 for the program scheduled to begin in fall semester 2005. Join the CALL ClubVisit the Call Club website for information about meeting times. Stephen Alessi--Call Club Guest Lecturer 2004Stephen Alessi from the University of Iowa gave a lecture on computer-assisted language learning. Elaine Tarone--Quentin Johnson Lecture 2004Elaine Tarone gave a lecture at ISU this spring semester. Click here for more information. Alexandra Johnston presentation on Nov. 14, 2003.Alexandra Johnston gave a presentation entitled "Comembership in immigration gatekeeping interviews: Construction, ratification and refutation" Conference on Technology for Second Language LearningConference on technology for second language learning--October 10-11, 2003 at the Memorial Union on the Iowa State campus. ISU Faculty and Students Attend...International WorldCALL conference held in Banff, Canada May 7-10, Visitors from the University of ConcepciónErnesto Figueroa and Emerita Bañados of the University of Concepción in Chile visited from April 26-May 2, 2003. Cynthia Myers Received Fulbright Grant for Fall 2003Cynthia Myers, adjunct instructor of English, was awarded a Fulbright grant to go to Chile to work on a web-based English course for students at the Universidad de Concepcion in Concepcion, Chile. The project is coordinated by a development team of Chilean faculty there. During her semester stay, she consulted on materials development and evaluation for the project. The 2003 Quentin Johnson Lecture: The Penn State TelecollaborationProfessor Celeste Kinginger, Pennsylvania State University: Project for Foreign Language Learning |
TESL/Applied Linguistics, Department of English• 203 Ross Hall • Ames, IA 50011 • Phone: 515-294-2180 • Fax: 515-294-6814
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