Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 101451

Coordinator Kenny Wang Opens in new window

Description This subject is designed for students who are interested in understanding how a second language is learned. It examines learning in both natural or classroom contexts as well as language development in child and adult learners. Students are introduced to current theories of Second Language Acquisition, as well as current research and its applications to the classroom or the translation process. Students will conduct a small research project to become familiar with the process of learning a second language and some basic research notions and techniques.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Linguistics

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 1 10cp

Check your fees via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 3 subject

Equivalent Subjects LGYB 1999 - Second Language Acquisition

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. appreciate the widespread importance of the Second Language Acquisition in Australia and its relevance both to the teaching and learning of English as second language for non English background children and adults as well as overseas students (ESL);
2. demonstrate their understanding of the relevance of the teaching and learning of any language other than English (LOTE);
3. demonstrate an understanding of the development of the field and theories of Second Language Acquisition (SLA);
4. recognise developmental sequences in the acquisition of a second language with particular reference to English as a Second Language;
5. demonstrate their understanding of the variation and the role of individual differences and environmental factors in SLA;
6. conduct an SLA research project including elicitation, recording and analysis of interlanguage data;
7. apply their knowledge of the implications of SLA findings for language assessment and language instruction.

Subject Content

The relevance of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) to understanding learners in Australian and international contexts;
Key terms in SLA and central issues from observation of learners' behaviour;
Historical and theoretical developments in the SLA field: from Behaviourism and Contrastive Analysis to Current theories and Models of SLA;
Focus on one current theory: Processability Theory and its research methodology;
L1-L2 Transfer;
Language assessment and syllabus construction in L2: the Teachability Hypothesis and current developments.