February 2015 – Volume 18, Number 4
Amy S. Thompson
University of South Florida, United States
<athompsonusf.edu>
Zeynep Erdil-Moody
University of South Florida, United States
<zerdilusf.edu>
Abstract
This study investigated whether foreign language lessons coupled with engaging learners in reflective practice facilitates a deeper understanding of second language acquisition (SLA) course content. During this semester-long SLA course, 14 graduate students were taught eight Turkish lessons for 25 minutes at the beginning of each class. As a weekly homework assignment, the students wrote reflective journals about their understanding of the SLA concepts presented in class, synthesizing their thoughts with past and current foreign language learning experiences. An analysis of the reflective journals indicated that the students internalized the SLA concepts presented in class as a result of the reflection about the Turkish lessons and were cognizant of the benefits of the assignment. Thus, by the end of the semester, the students possessed a deeper understanding of the course content and their own teaching beliefs.
Keywords: SLA, teacher development, teacher education, multilingualism, reflective practice, journaling
Introduction
As a result of globalization, intercultural communication has become significantly more important. With almost half of the world’s population now speaking a language other than their mother tongue, language teaching and language teacher education have gained international value. The increased significance of language teaching entails well-designed language teacher education programs that can meet the needs of the globalized world. Content knowledge of second language acquisition (SLA) is an essential part of language teacher education, as it increases language teachers’ awareness of the processes and challenges language learners undergo during the language learning process. Nevertheless, future language teachers are not always aware of the future benefits of learning content knowledge in SLA. The current study describes an innovative teaching method for a graduate-level SLA course to help the students internalize SLA content more effectively.
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate why reflective practice regarding SLA concepts and language learning experiences is important for graduate students in an SLA content course. This study uses reflective journals as a data source to illustrate that SLA concepts can be better learned by incorporating reflections about learning a novel language into an SLA course. This pioneering strategy to teach SLA content allows the learner-teachers to reflect on their current foreign language learning experience and make connections to SLA concepts addressed in the class. The results of this study help to elucidate the effectiveness of reflective practice for students in an SLA content course and add to the growing body of literature on teaching SLA content in alternative and innovative ways.
Review of the Literature
To date, the theoretical SLA content knowledge of pre-service language teachers and future researchers has not played a significant role in SLA research. Additionally, the use of reflective practice in graduate-level SLA content courses has not been prevalent in the SLA literature until recently (e.g., Gorsuch & Beglar, 2004; Richards, 1998). With regards to pre-service teachers, research demonstrates that beliefs about teaching influence future teaching practice, and that “prior knowledge and histories [of pre-service teachers] affect what and how they learn and how they make sense of experience” (Graves, 2009, p. 117). Graves (2009) further argues that these teacher-learners filter the input from educational courses through their personal teaching theories and beliefs about language learning and teaching; therefore, SLA courses should integrate pre-service teachers’ reflections to give them an opportunity to re-conceptualize their beliefs. To address the increasing demand in SLA instruction, literature on teaching SLA as content has called for innovative strategies to incorporate teachers’ perspectives, critical reflections, collaborations, and co-constructed knowledge (e.g., Gorsuch & Beglar, 2004). Similarly, Musanti and Pence (2010) emphasize that knowledge about teaching and learning is co-constructed and that pre-service teachers become autonomous and independent as they internalize the teaching and learning processes.
The emerging sociocultural and constructivist perspectives on teacher education posit a view on teacher identity and beliefs as dynamic and continuously being shaped within the social interactions in academic settings and their own teaching practice and reflection (Burns & Richards, 2009). Research shows that teachers learn from actual practice, personal experiences, and observation, as opposed to the traditional lecture format (e.g., Kagan, 1992; Vásquez & Harvey, 2010). As a result, recent literature on teacher education has emphasized the integration of reflective practice into content course syllabi. For instance, Schön’s (1983) reflective practitioner model operationalizes reflective practice as developing awareness by reflecting on action in a continuous learning process (e.g., Gebhard, 2005; Schön, 1983; Vásquez & Harvey, 2010). Similarly, Farrell (2006) emphasizes that reflective practice requires teachers to examine their own attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions regarding teaching and learning so that they can make critically reflective decisions, assume more responsibility for their own teaching, and construct workable teaching theories that can be implemented in classroom practice.
One way to engage pre-service teachers in reflective practice is through reflective journals in which they reflect on their own understanding of learning theories that will later shape their actual teaching. Research demonstrates that reflective journals are a useful tool for pre-service teacher education because they probe their assumptions about teaching and learning by engaging them in critical reflection (Farrell, 2006, 2007). There is, however, no research that examines the reflective journals of pre-service language teachers in which they use their language learning experiences as a tool for better understanding SLA concepts. The current study is an attempt to fill this gap in the literature. This literature review will be twofold: First, the long-needed shift for alternative ways to teach second language teacher preparation courses, such as an SLA course, will be visited. Second, related literature regarding reflective practice in SLA and teacher education will be briefly discussed.
Teaching SLA content
As Freeman (2007) notes, “the compatibility of SLA research and classroom practice – how they fit one another – has to be a central concern to researchers, to teacher educators, and to teachers” (p. 894). How second or foreign languages are learned, what processes are experienced, and what other factors influence these processes play a central role in the acquisition of other languages. Hence, SLA content courses are crucial for second language teacher education, as they impact how language teachers develop their beliefs about the second language acquisition process. The field of SLA itself is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on:
…many other areas of study, among them linguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics,
sociology, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and education, to name
a few. Given the close relationship between SLA and other areas of inquiry, there are
numerous approaches from which to examine the questions above. [1] Each area of inquiry
examines second language data from a unique perspective, which includes goals, data
collection methods, and analytical tools (Gass, Behney, & Plonsky, 2013, p. 1).
It is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed discussion of the diverse perspectives of SLA, although it is relevant to indicate that the main textbooks for the SLA class discussed in this article were Gass and Selinker (2008) [2] and Dörnyei (2005), both of which approach SLA from an inherently cognitive perspective. It is also relevant to note: “[O]ver the years, the study of SLA has become inextricably intertwined with language pedagogy…SLA is not about pedagogy, unless the pedagogy affects the course of the acquisition” (Gass, Behney, & Plonsky, 2013, pp. 1-2). However, theoretical SLA courses are crucial for language teachers because they help them “understand the complex phenomenon that each and every student is struggling with” (Gass, Behney, & Plonsky, 2013, xxi).
SLA content courses, thus, help pre-service teachers to formalize their beliefs about the language learning process. Teacher beliefs are defined as the statements that reflect teachers’ ideas, thoughts, and knowledge regarding what they think should be done in the classroom while teaching, such as the methods and techniques to be used and the theories to follow (Basturkmen, Loewen, & Ellis, 2004). This definition underscores the significance of selecting an effective and efficient means of instruction in applied linguistics courses. Research indicates that instructors of many graduate-level applied linguistics courses employ the traditional teacher-fronted instructional method, although this method has been criticized (e.g., Gorsuch & Beglar, 2004; Richards, 1998). This type of “traditional transmission-based instructional practice” has “little impact on what teachers learn” (Graves, 2009, p. 117). Thus, there is a disconnection in how students are taught to teach their future language courses from the example they are shown in their own content courses. A collaborative learning community where future instructors can “engage in meaningful activities collaborating with peers to co-construct knowledge about teaching and learning” (Musanti & Pence, 2010, p. 73) is a more effective instructional method. Gorsuch and Beglar (2004) underline the importance of understanding the beliefs that language teachers bring to their profession, the types of knowledge and language learning experiences they count on, and “how they make sense of their professional worlds” (p.1). Graves (2009) further argues that pre-service teachers should first be aware of their existing beliefs about teaching to be able to improve and transform them.
Kagan (1992) claims that the research articles teachers read regarding teaching practices have very little impact on their beliefs. Vásquez and Harvey (2010) further argue that “reading academic texts alone is unlikely to bring about re-examination of one’s beliefs” (p. 422). Therefore, it is evident that pre-service teachers’ pre-existing beliefs about language learning and teaching need to be restructured and redefined via SLA content courses. For these beliefs about language teaching and learning to be redefined, reflective practice, which will be discussed in the following section, should be more efficiently integrated into SLA course content.
Reflective Practice
The notion of reflective journals is based on developing awareness (Vásquez & Harvey, 2010). Griffin (1993) delineates reflection as “a conscious effort on the part of an individual to carefully consider the beliefs, theories and personal experiences that affect his or her action” (p. 35). Recently, teachers have been considered as “reflective practitioners,” based on Schön’s (1983) reflective practitioner model, because they “have the ability to theorize about their practices and practice their personal theories” (Abednia, 2012, p. 706). This reflective practitioner model views teachers as having the capacity for creative and fast context-based problem solving, a skill which entails constant reflection on learning and experiences. The tacit nature of knowledge regarding teaching enhances the importance of reflective practice and requires a “degree of self-awareness to uncover our beliefs and make them available for reassessment” (Roberts, 1998, p. 36). Roberts (1998) also argues that reflection incorporates both a rational analysis of teaching beliefs, as well as an emotional process as it involves a “degree of self-confrontation and self-questioning” (p. 35). Likewise, Farrell (2007) illustrates reflective journals that indicate “evolving theories of teaching” as a useful tool to engage pre-service teachers in critical reflection and he defines the process of reflective journal writing, and feedback from the instructor/supervisor as a way to “track and reflect on growth in the prospective teachers’ understanding of what it means to teach” (p. 200).
How can future instructors and researchers engage in the idea of being a reflective practitioner? Reflective writing has been used to explore the processes of acquiring a second language; it has also been used in teacher education to encourage reflection. Borg (2006) defines reflective writing in teacher education as “strategies which require teachers to express in written form their thoughts, beliefs and attitudes, typically in relation to particular topics or experiences” (p. 249). Studies show that reflective writing allows for a shift in the pre-service teachers’ awareness of teaching methods and theories, a reconceptualization of their beliefs, and the development of new dimensions to their teaching philosophy (e.g., Byrd, 2010; Griffin, 1993). Hence, reflections help future teachers to develop self-views and to broaden their interpretations of experiences, thereby making the learning more meaningful (Fink, 2003). Therefore, reflective journal writing is an “effective medium through which prospective teachers can be challenged to look at themselves and their developing teaching practices” (Byrd, 2010, p. 207).
Several studies demonstrate reflective journal writing as a tool to examine how pre-service teachers’ cognition and beliefs about teaching and learning are altered as a result of their critical reflections, which are based on their own learning teaching practice and teacher education courses (e.g., Borg, 2006; Chabon & Lee-Wilkerson, 2006; Farrell, 2006, 2007; Gebhard, 2005; Vásquez & Harvey, 2010). Borg (2006) emphasizes that prior learning experiences influence pre-service language teachers’ cognition and beliefs about teaching and how they evaluate the appropriateness of certain SLA concepts and methods. Chabon and Lee-Wilkerson (2006) accentuate the importance of reflective journals in education to investigate the evolving insights and the shift in the awareness of new concepts. Writing journals has been shown to increase learners’ awareness of what and how they learn and to enhance the assimilation and implementation of new concepts to current situations (Chabon & Lee-Wilkerson, 2006).
Reflective journals on the topic of previous language learning and teaching experiences in teacher education have been used to both raise the awareness of pre-service teachers and to also give an opportunity to these pre-service teachers and their instructors to monitor changes in actions and attitudes. If previous L2 learning experiences influence their cognition to a great extent, how would a simultaneous foreign language learning experience influence pre-service second language teachers’ comprehension of SLA theories? Ellis (2010) emphasizes that “knowledge of SLA can have an effect on trainees’ [pre-service language teachers] beliefs about language learning” (p. 193). Among these studies, a few innovative educational practices such as “mini lessons in an unknown language” (Angelova, 2005), “awareness-raising activities based on published research” (Erlam, 2008), and an “action research project” (McDonough, 2006) were found to have influence on pre-service language teachers’ beliefs. These samples of reconceptualized language teacher education practices demonstrate positive impact on redefining beliefs and understanding of language learning processes. For example, Angelova’s (2005) experimental study demonstrates an increased awareness of how teacher-learners feel while learning a foreign language and indicates positive responses to the use of mini-lessons in Bulgarian as opposed to traditional formal teacher education method. Little is known, however, about how SLA theories can be better learned by incorporating foreign language lessons into the SLA course while simultaneously utilizing reflective journals as a tool to examine the evolving beliefs of pre-service teachers.
In other words, how are pre-service teachers’ beliefs about SLA processes and their broader understanding of these theories influenced by a foreign language learning experience and simultaneous reflection on this experience? To fill this gap in the literature, the present study describes the results of reflective journal writing as a result of Turkish mini-lessons being integrated into an SLA course. This method synthesizes the impacts of prior language learning experience and learning a novel foreign language in conjunction with reflective journal writing of pre-service language teachers or nascent researchers; the results indicate how these language learning experiences influence their understanding and evaluation of SLA concepts (see the Appendix for an overview of the concepts included in this course). The questions examined in this study revolve around the deepened understanding of SLA concepts via reflections of the Turkish lessons, as well as if the students are cognizant of their deepened understanding as a result of these reflective journals. These questions are crucial for teacher education in order to investigate how best to teach SLA content to pre-service teachers.
The Study
Research Questions
The current study seeks to expand upon previous research by examining the facilitation for a deeper understanding of SLA theories through the use of reflective journals based on a series of foreign language lessons integrated into the SLA course. In weekly journals, the participants simultaneously synthesized their past language learning experiences and current Turkish language learning experiences to delve deeper into the SLA course content. The following innovative idea was integrated into the SLA class: Providing Turkish mini-lessons as a pedagogical tool to allow participants to experience first-hand various SLA concepts during the language lessons, while at the same time using reflective journals to analyze these SLA concepts, drawing associations between their language learning experiences and the theories. Because all but one of the participants had almost no background in the Turkish language prior to the SLA course, learning Turkish provided them with the unique experience to return to the beginning stages of learning a language, and thus, stimulated them to reflect upon the SLA processes involved.
The research questions for this study are as follows:
- Does engaging in reflective practice in conjunction with the incorporation of foreign language lessons into a theoretical SLA course result in a deeper understanding of SLA concepts?
- Do the students acknowledge the benefits of engaging in reflective practice in a graduate level content course?
These questions are significant to the literature regarding SLA content course teaching so as to offer innovative ways to teach SLA concepts and to facilitate a deeper understanding of these concepts so that future language teachers can apply these theories while designing their language courses.
Context and Participants
The current study was conducted at a large public research university in the southeastern United States. Participants included six master’s students in an applied linguistics program in their final semester and seven doctoral students in either their first or second year. All of the participants were enrolled in a graduate-level SLA survey course. The 16-week SLA course, which met once per week for three hours, provided an overview of the major theoretical perspectives within the field of SLA (see the Appendix for an abbreviated course schedule). The course textbooks were Gass and Selinker (2008) and Dörnyei (2005), which were supplemented with research articles from academic journals.
The demographic information of the participants is summarized in Table 1. The class consisted of eight international and six domestic students, whose ages ranged from 23 to 50. Most of the participants had several years of prior language teaching experience. Overall, the students in the course had diverse language learning and teaching profiles, which added to the richness of their reflective journal assignments.
Table 1. Participant demographics
Participant number | Pseudonym | M.A. or Ph.D. | L1 | Additional languages |
1 | Hamid | Ph.D. | Arabic | English |
2 | Mete | Ph.D. | Turkish | English, German |
3 | Heather | Ph.D. | English | Spanish, Arabic |
4 | Robert | M.A. | English | Spanish |
5 | Natasha | Ph.D. | Russian | English, German, Greek |
6 | Nathan | Ph.D. | English | Spanish, Latin, Italian, Portuguese, Korean |
7 | Julie | Ph.D. | English | Spanish, Korean |
8 | Anna | Ph.D. | Hungarian | Romanian, English, German, Italian, Turkish |
9 | Mina | M.A. | Farsi | English |
10 | Angela | M.A. | English | Spanish, Chinese |
11 | Katherine | M.A. | English | Spanish |
12 | Alexandra | M.A. | Russian | English, German |
13 | Suzana | M.A. | Serbo-Croatian | English, Spanish |
14 | Brooke | M.A. | Chinese | English, Korean |
The course instructor was a faculty member in applied linguistics, who had taught this course twice before at the time of this project. The Turkish instructor was a second-year Ph.D. student at the time of this project and was an experienced EFL/ESL teacher. The impetus for this study was to determine whether teaching an unfamiliar language (i.e., -Turkish) – would allow students to experience the SLA theories and principles via the mini language lessons, enabling them to make more salient associations to the concepts via the reflective journals.
Procedure
Eight Turkish mini-lessons were incorporated into the SLA course syllabus (Appendix). On the first day of the semester, the researchers explained to the SLA students that they would be learning Turkish for eight weeks during the first 25 minutes of each class, and that they would be writing reflective journals to make associations between the SLA concepts learned that week and their Turkish learning experience. The Turkish lessons started in the second week of the semester and ended in week nine. These lessons utilized Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and were delivered primarily in Turkish. The lessons consisted of a series of authentic tasks such as introductions, shopping, and ordering at a restaurant. The purpose of using CLT as the method to deliver the Turkish mini-lessons was to give the pre-service teachers an opportunity to experience the cognitive processes and challenges that second or foreign language learners experience while constantly engaging in hypotheses testing of new structures before developing autonomy. The focus of the lessons was not on the explicit rules and explanations of grammar, but on communicative meaning, which allowed the students to analyze the rules collaboratively and implicitly during the course.
After each class, the students in the class reflected on their language learning experience using the assigned SLA readings of the day, and they submitted the journal entries the following week at the beginning of class. They were permitted to use informal language (i.e., first person for describing personal experiences) in the journal entries (unlike the other course assignments), and the entries were required to be a minimum of two pages, double-spaced. In order to allow more flexibility, no rubric was provided for the journals. The only point emphasized by the professor regarding the journals was the clarity of expressions, specific examples from the Turkish learning experience, and the integration of the SLA themes discussed in class with their personal Turkish learning experience.
The Turkish Mini-Lessons
Prior to the onset of the SLA class, eight Turkish mini-lessons were designed based on CLT, and the materials, including PowerPoint slides, picture cards, posters of salient information, were prepared. The lessons were delivered over the course of eight weeks for 25 minutes at the beginning of each class. The eight-week syllabus was divided into tasks, starting with the basic interactions, such as greetings and asking and telling someone’s name to more complex interactions, such as having a basic conversation at a restaurant. The topics became more intricate as the lessons progressed and required higher order cognitive abilities such as associating the new input to previously-learned structures, and the analysis and discovery of morphosyntax. Although the sessions started with minimum vocabulary, more lexical items were added gradually during the lessons.
CLT, which is a “unified but broadly based, theoretically well-informed set of tenets about the nature of language and language learning and teaching” was adopted as the teaching method for the Turkish lessons because it allows learners to “use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom” (Brown, 2007, p. 46). CLT aims to address all of the components of communicative competence, including grammatical, functional, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and discourse; the Turkish lessons targeted the intertwined usage of these components in authentic settings. CLT is an approach that emphasizes meaningful communication, and Brown (2007), therefore, suggests that CLT classrooms “equip students with the skills necessary for communication in [authentic] contexts” (p. 46) with ample constructive corrective feedback without focusing on forms. Thus, the beginner-level Turkish lesson topics, which can be seen in Table 2 below, covered words and expressions that would be used in authentic communicative settings for meaningful communication.
Table 2. Weekly topics for the Turkish lessons (beginner level)
Lesson 1 | Greetings, part one: Asking and telling your name |
Lesson 2 | Greetings, part two: How are you? |
Lesson 3 | Pragmatic aspects of the second person pronoun ‘you.’ |
Lesson 4 | Numbers and asking and telling one’s age |
Lesson 5 | Country names and locations |
Lesson 6 | Where are you from? |
Lesson 7 | Colors and clothes |
Lesson 8 | Food and restaurants |
Results
After each Turkish lesson throughout the semester, participants submitted a reflective journal to share insights on how the Turkish language lessons influenced their understanding of the SLA theories. By the end of the semester, 350 pages of journal entries had been collected. These journals were analyzed by both of the researchers in order to diminish misinterpretation (Stake, 2005) and prejudice (Patton, 2002), while enhancing credibility and interpretative validity of the analysis (Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2007). Although several themes were addressed in the journals, space limitations prevent the discussion of all of them.
For the first research question, which examines the understanding of SLA concepts through learning Turkish, two salient themes are used as examples: a) age and language learning, and b) language learning motivation. [3] To answer the second research question, examples of the students’ perceptions of the benefits of reflective practice are provided. Excerpts of the journal entries to illustrate the students’ understanding of the two representative SLA themes (age and language learning and motivation) are presented first. Subsequently, results from the students’ perceptions of the benefits of reflective practice are presented. Excerpts of the reflective journal entries are provided below, and the implications of these results are addressed in the discussion section.
Research Question 1: Does engaging in reflective practice in conjunction with the incorporation of foreign language lessons into a theoretical SLA course result in a deeper understanding of SLA concepts?
In order to analyze this research question, two salient themes from the journals were examined: a) age and language learning and b) language learning motivation. These are both topics discussed in class (Appendix).
Age and Language Learning
The relationship between age and language learning was one of the first themes to be discussed in the SLA course. Age was discussed in conjunction with various theories, including the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and Universal Grammar (UG) vs. the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis. As Julie notes in her journal, some of the literature on the CPH would suggest that older learners would have a more difficult time learning an additional language.
Excerpt 1:
Seeing as I am over forty, Marinova-Todd & Snow would suggest that I cannot learn another language, perhaps only with great difficulty, awkwardly, and with a heavy accent. However, my process in Turkish so far, does not lag behind the others. (TJ2) [4]
Another student, Mina, comments on how she might have learned Turkish differently as a child, rather than the process that she underwent as an adult.
Excerpt 2:
Long’s (2005) argument of the critical and sensitive periods of acquiring the phonology or syntax and semantics of the L2 is somewhat true. I assume that if I had learned Turkish when I was much younger, provided that I had a chance to practice it often, I could have learned the vocabulary and the rules easier. (TJ2)
In the excerpt below, Angela is grappling with the idea of how much exposure is needed at a young age to influence the language learning process. She also is beginning to understand how complex language learning is and how many factors affect the process.
Excerpt 3:
I have been thinking about the critical period hypothesis in conjunction with my own personal language learning experiences, which include Spanish, Turkish, and a small bit of Mandarin. The concept of “exposure” to a language intrigues me, and I wonder how much exposure at a young age is required in order to contribute to critical period learning, assuming such a period exists… However, coming back to the concept of “exposure” during the critical period, I had none for the Turkish language – yet, I feel like my pronunciation is progressing at a rate similar to my Spanish pronunciation early in the learning process… maybe the fact that I have learned Spanish previously has prepared me to notice the details of a different language…as some studies have hypothesized. I am beginning to see how complicated it is to actually “prove” or “disprove” the CPH, since each person’s own language learning experience naturally includes so many variables that overlap and influence each other, making it very difficult to pinpoint exactly what truly affects the second language acquisition process. (TJ2)
In the following two excerpts, two students, Katherine and Mina respectively, deliberate about UG and the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis.
Excerpt 4:
I believe that during this lesson, I have not used or drawn upon my universal grammar (UG). Possibly, UG exists and only children use this when acquiring an L2 as stated by Gass and Selinker (2008). I say this because while deciphering the similar or non-similar linguistic features, I believe that I consciously thought about my L1 and L2 as opposed to drawing upon an innate source. (TJ4)
Like Katherine, Mina also contemplates how the experience of learning a language differs for children and adults, although she frames her thoughts according to the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis.
Excerpt 5:
I realized that I am a supporter of the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis which, according to Gass and Selinker, states that the ways adults and children learn languages differ significantly. One of these ways, according to Gass and Selinker, is the nature of knowledge that children and adults have when they start learning a language. Adults who learn an L2 already have a fully formed language system in one language; therefore, they do not need to learn how language functions and what language varieties are required in various social contexts. The only thing they need to learn is what language form is used depending on the context. Children who acquire a first language, on the other hand, learn not only what forms they may use but also why these forms are used (p. 164). When we were learning numbers and the phrase “How old are you” in which numbers are used, I realized that no one had the question in what social setting this phrase is used. This was due to the fact that everyone already possessed that knowledge thanks to their first language. Therefore, the only thing we had to use was what words could express [the concepts]. (TJ4)
As the excerpts above indicate, reflective journals about the Turkish lessons, as well as about previous language learning experiences, helped the participants engage more closely with the SLA theories at a personal level and facilitated a deeper understanding of the content. The excerpts above point to a comparison of current and previous language learning experiences, analysis of the class content, evaluation of the credibility of the theories, and critical reflection on the whole process, which are all a result of the mini foreign language lessons and reflective journals integrated into the course content. Overall, participants mostly emphasized the importance and merits of starting learning a second language at an early age; however, they were still aware that at later ages, with some possible difficulty in processing the language and its complex features, they were able to learn the target language with- quality instruction and motivation to learn.
Motivation
In the journal entries about motivation, many comments focused on personal motivation; however, the examples here are limited to comments that directly relate to the literature on motivation. Many of these journal entries about the topic of motivation were quite lengthy, so the examples provided below are abbreviated excerpts. One of the students in the course, Robert, utilized the part of the content about motivation that directly related to teachers motivating their students.
Excerpt 6:
On a personal note, I have always felt more motivated to listen to our Turkish instructor because she is so passionate about her language. A dispassionate instructor can trample a student’s motivation. As Gass and Selinker (2008) illustrate in Chapter 12, referring to demotivation, saying that initial student motivation can be “diminished by some negative factor, very often some classroom experience, most notably a teacher” (p. 431). This reinforces the importance of the instructor’s role in language teaching. (TJ8)
Another student, Anna, also indicates how the Turkish instructor motivated her, connecting this idea to Dörnyei’s (2009) notion of possible selves and her identity as a language teacher.
Excerpt 7:
I perceive a learner’s motivation and identity as fluid and interrelated constructs influenced by the individual’s ethnicity, perception of one’s ethnicity, culture, and the additional variables developed in Dörnyei’s psychological theory of “possible selves”… Initially, I had low motivation to learn the language because I perceived it as a class project. However, the instructor’s attitude and the similarities I found between Turkish and the other languages helped me develop a “different” attitude… I wonder, as an instructor, how would I be able to motivate students to continue learning English? (TJ9)
The next two examples, from Hamid and Alexandra respectively, indicate a thorough understanding of the motivation theories discussed in class via a synthesis of these theories in relation to their own Turkish learning experiences.
Excerpt 8:
Dörnyei and Otto (1998) adopted this [process-oriented] approach to elaborate a model that breaks down the motivational process into three temporal stages: preactional stage, actional stage, and postactional stage…I still remember when I first learned that we were going to take short Turkish lessons. I questioned the experiment and thought that the very short time will render limited learning experiences that we can reflect on. My learning motivation at this preactional stage was not that high for those reasons. By the end of the first Turkish lesson, I noticed the change in my motivation. I was becoming more interested in the language, probably because it was new and that it has a surprisingly large number of words borrowed from Arabic. (TJ8)
As with the excerpt above from Hamid, Alexandra also describes her motivation when learning Turkish, using different terms than Hamid. She notes the progressive shift in her motivation upon a sudden realization of possible communication opportunities in a specific target language context: a Turkish restaurant.
Excerpt 9:
First, I analyzed my motivation from the…social psychological perspective. Due to the fact that one of the most significant components of motivation, according to Gardner (1985), is integrativeness interpreted as learners’ attitudes to specific language groups and their willingness and interest to socially interact with members of these groups (Dörnyei, 2005, p.68). These factors are directly related to learners’ success in learning a second language. After analyzing my personal experience with learning Turkish, I came to the conclusion that this important component of motivation was always absent in my learning experience. I have never had either desire to interact with Turkish-speaking people or special liking of this cultural group… Finally, I analyzed my motivation from the point of view of the process-oriented perspective that, according to Dörnyei (2005), sees motivation as possessing a dynamic character and temporal variation. I realized that my motivation really changed depending on such factors as my attempt to think positively about this language experience and a topic that was learnt in class. For instance, the topic of the final lesson was learning names of various Turkish foods and how to order them in a restaurant. This topic was interesting to me due to the fact that I learnt something interesting about a different culture and that I can use this knowledge when ordering food in a Turkish restaurant. Thus, my motivation changed in a positive direction during this lesson. (TJ8)
Like Hamid and Alexandra, Julie also relates motivational terms to her language learning experience, but she elaborates further, incorporating a metaphor.
Excerpt 10:
Of the plethora of motivational theories, those that seem the most indispensable are from the work of Dörnyei and Ushioda (2009). One aspect of the process oriented model of L2 learning is the temporal dimension of motivation. Many learners have the initializing motivation that gets them started on their study and early efforts to make conversation in the L2 (or L3 or L4). The acquisition of a language parallel may be thought about as analogous to a relationship. The new friend of beau charms and attracts, easily winning my attention and friendliness; likewise with new foreign tongue. With the passage of time and experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, the initial attraction may start to fade. Similarly, the novelty of the new language begins to fade. At this point, a sense of commitment can make the relationship persist, but the charm will ebb and flow. Whether the tide is in or out, the loyal friend remains steadfast. Likewise, the successful language learner makes a commitment to keeping up with his efforts to learn, even if the initial enthusiasm has begun to wear off. Will I be loyal to my new linguistic beau? (TJ7)
As the aforementioned examples suggest, the participants’ comments reveal an understanding of language learning motivation theory through several themes. The Turkish learning experience, coupled with the reflective journal writing, raised their awareness and enabled them to more deeply understand the SLA concepts presented in class.
Research Question 2: Do the students acknowledge the benefits of engaging in reflective practice in a graduate level content course?
To answer the second research question, the students’ journals were analyzed for comments regarding the benefits of reflective practice with the Turkish language lessons. As illustrated by the comments below, reflecting on the Turkish language lessons helped the students to analyze both their future teaching agendas, as well as their future research foci. There were also comments about the several unexpected benefits of incorporating the Turkish lessons into the SLA course. One of the students in the class, Hamid, perfectly illustrated the reasoning and process that the faculty member hoped the students would undergo through these journal writing assignments:
Excerpt 11:
At the beginning, [the impetus] was not clear, but when I went through the experience myself the purpose behind the writing of the journal became very obvious as I felt the effect on my understanding of the lessons. I understand that the students will ideally go through the following stages in each lecture:
- Pre-lecture stage: The student goes through the readings
- During the lecture: The student listens to the lecture and participates in the discussion
- Post-lecture stage: The student goes back home and spends some time reviewing the lecture and relating the theories to their own experience.
When the student goes through all of these stages they can guarantee ultimate understanding of topics in this class… The writing process was very helpful…During this process of internal deliberation I usually solidified my knowledge of the topics (TJ10).
Many of the other students commented on how engaging in reflective practice helped in understanding the concepts presented in the SLA course more thoroughly. Examples of these comments come from Katherine (Excerpt 12) who stated, “The writing process did help with my understanding of the concepts” (TJ10) and Anna (Excerpt 13), who wrote that “The writing process helped me to review the concepts and deepen my understanding of them…I hope you will use this approach with future students in this course” (TJ10).Alexandra also noted that, “The series of Turkish lessons provided a great opportunity to connect theoretical concepts of the SLA field with real language learning experience” (Excerpt 14). Furthermore, reflecting on these lessons and writing a reflective journal after each lesson helped me to understand these concepts even better” (TJ10). There were several students, such as Nathan, who provided more details in how the journal assignments were critical in understanding the course material.
Excerpt 15:
The journaling process, over time, really helped me to internalize and process the readings in relation to my own personal SLA experience in real time. I found that this internal processing provided a much more profound connection to the content and provided a means for continual assessment of my grasp of the materials in a structured, yet open-ended way. In particular, I found that citing my own examples as data for analysis in relation to theory covered in the course [to be] an excellent way of abstracting information and processing it. The immediacy of feedback on this also helped greatly to monitor what I understood and where I needed to revisit a point in a more formative format. (TJ10)
Therefore, from the student perspective, the Turkish journal assignments were an efficacious way of processing and internalizing the concepts from the SLA course, thus providing evidence for the second research question.
Other than helping the students to learn the course material, there were several other unexpected benefits of the Turkish lessons and the journal assignments. One of the most salient of these benefits was the analysis of future teaching practices. In the following excerpt, Brooke illustrates her transformation from not understanding the purpose of the assignment to realizing how it will affect her future teaching career.
Excerpt 16:
To be honest, I [didn’t] really understand the reason for having these short lessons at the beginning of this semester, except for the journals that we were required to complete associated with each class. However, at the end, I feel like I actually experienced a lot from a second language learner’s perspective, beyond some Turkish language acquired. The most meaningful and valuable part of the whole process becomes clear and obvious, which is to feel how the language learners feel, experience what the language learners experience. This is extremely important in helping me prepare myself in my future teaching career. (TJ8)
Angela, another student, discussed one theme consistently in her journals throughout the semester, which related to the idea of feeling “panicky” when forced to interact in a language to which she had no previous exposure. The following excerpts are presented in order from her journals 1, 4, and 10. Her initial shock and discomfiture translated into her determination to use her newly-found empathy to work with students.
Excerpt 17:
Even after this first lesson, I can confidently say that I have gained a deeper compassion for the struggles of beginning language learners in an “immersion” context…I was previously unaware of how out-of-control one can feel when thrust into a second language. (TJ1)
I do value the experience of the Turkish lessons, particularly the feeling of not knowing anything, as strange as that sounds!…when I am teaching someday, I expect that particularly with my lower-proficiency classes, there will be some students who feel the way I do during my Turkish lessons. I hope that this experience helps me to empathize with them, and also to encourage them and help them reach their language learning potential. (TJ4)
In general, I really enjoyed the Turkish lessons. ..After experiencing that panicky feeling, I will be aware of the amount of text I present to my students in the future, and make sure it is appropriate for their proficiency levels. (TJ10)
Engaging in reflective practice also helped those students who were more research oriented with conceptualizing themselves as Ph.D. students and researchers. Heather, for example, realized the benefit of having to concretely articulate SLA concepts.
Excerpt 18:
The journal assignments have been instrumental as far as reflective exercises necessary for me as the researcher. The journal assignments forced me to literally sit down and articulate through writing how I view things, how I learn languages, how I process, and even how I teach. (TJ10)
Another student, Hamid, illustrated how thoroughly understanding the concepts presented in class, an understanding gained through journaling, helped him discover and analyze areas that he might want to research in the future. He also illustrated how the journal assignment pushed students to read before class.
Excerpt 19:
The good thing about the lessons was that they helped me further my understanding of the concepts we studied in class. Another positive result of these lessons was that they opened my eyes to new areas of interests; following up on ideas that we discussed in class enabled me to fully comprehend some of them. Thus, I became more comfortable with them and I checked them as potential areas of my future research or even my Ph.D. dissertation. Also, this assignment affected the quality of my preparation for the weekly classes; missing the readings is now associated with more serious consequences since it would be hard for the student to reflect on their experiences in the Turkish lessons if they do not really understand the concepts which were introduced in class. (TJ10)
Other students commented on benefits of the Turkish lessons other than those related to academic topics. For example, Katherine expressed how she became aware of a film director’s nationality because of the lessons.
Excerpt 20:
I will say, though, that I did have an unexpected experience the other day when I noticed the credits from a movie which included people’s names using characters (such as ç) from the Turkish alphabet. I would have never known that the director and producer of the film were affiliated with Turkey unless I had the opportunity to explore the Turkish language. (TJ8)
Another fascinating example comes from Robert in what he describes as a “paradigm shift” of how he had previously viewed the world.
Excerpt 21:
There was one moment of the Turkish lesson that created a paradigm shift for me. When our instructor was teaching words for “good” and “wrong” I was struck by her body language for “no.” Throughout my entire life, I thought the shaking of the head from left to right was the universally accepted signal for “no.” Our instructor, however, was doing almost the complete opposite whenever she said “hayir” – her head would slowly be tilted upward and then come back down at eye level. I asked about this during class and I was told that that was the motion made whenever one wants to make a refusal in Turkish. Gass and Selinker address this phenomenon directly in chapter 5, where they discuss Predictability/selectivity saying, “It may be that a learner begins learning a language with the expectation of great similarity, only to find that there are more differences than originally anticipated” (p. 150). Clearly, the example of “hayir” shows how these expectations extend beyond into the extra-linguistic features of language. (TJ4)
There were also more general benefits of the Turkish lessons and journal writing experiences, such as the idea of returning to the role of a learner, as demonstrated by Natasha.
Excerpt 22:
Given all that, I’d say that I am motivated by grades and by a desire to learn who I am as a language learner, the role that I haven’t played for too long. I’ve been a learner for the past five years, but not a learner of a language. What a difference! Thank you, Turkish. (TJ6)
Nathan also stated that he found the activity “helpful and inspirational” (TJ10) (Excerpt 23), and Robert illustrated that he found the Turkish learning experience one of the most fulfilling of his M.A. career.
Excerpt 24:
On the whole, the Turkish lessons were awesome. Even after a few weeks to digest the lessons, I consider them one of the highlights of being in the M.A. program for Applied Linguistics. I say this because they were a unique experience and provided me with an opportunity to learn a language that I would probably never have learned in a formal setting (TJ10).
The aforementioned examples illustrate that the Turkish lessons, coupled with the reflective practice of weekly journal entries, were immensely beneficial to the students. In addition to facilitating a deeper understanding of SLA theories, this innovative way to teach SLA course content raised participants’ awareness not only as language learners, but also as future SLA researchers and language teachers. Reflecting on their personal experiences while learning Turkish and synthesizing them with SLA theories made major concerns in SLA more salient to the participants and shed light on their future goals.
Discussion
From the examples presented above, it is clear that integrating the Turkish lessons and reflective practice in the form of the journal assignment into a graduate-level content class were effective in helping the students understand the concepts presented in the course. Specific comments regarding the better understanding of age and language learning as a result of the Turkish lessons are found in Julie’s comment (Excerpt 1) and Mina’s comment (Excerpt 2). Additionally, the students better understood the constructs of motivation as a result of the Turkish lessons. Robert and Anna related their own motivation to learn Turkish based on the interaction with the instructor, using the concepts presented in class (Excerpts 6 and 7). Hamid (Excerpt 8) and Alexandra (Excerpt 9) reflected on their internal thoughts of motivation in relation to the theories presented, and Julie (Excerpt 10), took her reflection a step further by incorporating a metaphor. As Musanti and Pence (2010) suggest, this is indeed a learning context in which the participants are engaging in a meaningful activity (i.e., undergoing a language learning experience that is similar to what their future students will face) that allows them to co-construct knowledge about their teaching and learning. As both Kagan (1992) and Vásquez and Harvey (2010) suggest, this type of assignment promotes a further analysis of beliefs of teaching than simply reading empirical studies. As stated in Gass, Behney, and Plonsky (2013), the learning of SLA concepts is crucial for future teachers to better understand the struggles of their students, and the Turkish lessons, coupled with the reflective journals help them to achieve this objective.
Regarding the second research question, the students indicated that they were aware of the benefits of the Turkish lesson reflective journal assignment, especially regarding the piqued awareness of how it would affect their interactions with their future students. Based on her feelings of the Turkish lessons, Anna wonders how she will keep her future students’ motivation high (Excerpt 7). Both Brooke and Angela (Excerpts 16 and 17) indicate that the reflecting on the Turkish lessons made them better understand what their future language students might experience. Thus, the reflective writing triggered a reevaluation of the students’ interpretations of experiences as well as conceptualization of teaching and learning processes (e.g., Byrd, 2010; Griffin, 1993). The reflective journals also indicated a shift in awareness of the interaction of theories and teacher beliefs, as indicated. Both Hamid and Nathan (Excerpts 11 and 15) indicated that over time, the assignment helped them to internalize the SLA concepts more effectively, although they might not have been aware of the impetus of the assignment at the beginning of the semester. Katherine, Anna, and Alexandra (Excerpts 12, 13, and 14) also indicated that the writing process itself regarding the reflection of the Turkish language lessons provided a successful outlet for learning. Thus, this assignment supports Borg’s (2006) concept of reflective writing, and the learning became a more meaningful experience (Fink, 2003).
Very few studies indicate facilitative influence of mini-lessons in a foreign language on teacher trainees’ knowledge about language and language learning (c.f., Angelova, 2005). However, incorporating both mini foreign language lessons and reflective practice into SLA course curriculum to teach the SLA theory is an innovative concept, so further research in various contexts with different populations is needed for pedagogical implementations. To fill this gap, this paper illustrates a reconceptualization of SLA course pedagogy by incorporating reflective journals and Turkish mini-lessons, enabling learners to process the SLA theories more easily by reflecting on their personal experiences in learning Turkish. The assurance that the SLA concepts were internalized supports Ellis’ (2010) notion that SLA concepts are crucial for language teachers because knowledge of these concepts can have an impact on language teaching. This reconceptualized SLA course pedagogy illustrated a valuable experience not only as a cognitive but also as an affective exercise which can contribute to innovative SLA course pedagogy worldwide.
Future Directions
Although the language lessons were successful in this initial integration into the SLA classroom, the experience can be improved for future students. In their last journal entry, the students were asked to reflect on the benefits of the Turkish lessons and to provide suggestions for improvement. Below are some of their suggestions that will be incorporated into subsequent mini language lessons in the SLA course.
Several students mentioned that 25 minutes at the beginning of class was too short for a language lesson. As Robert states, “Having longer Turkish lessons would be a way to give students more to discuss in their journal entries” (TJ10). This limitation can be addressed by incorporating fewer, but longer, Turkish lessons at the beginning of the semester. These lessons would be reflected upon throughout the rest of the semester. A few students also discussed language related issues, such as a lack of linguistic accommodation and excessive focus on pronunciation. The idea of accommodation is oftentimes problematic when it comes to beginning language courses because the instructor wants to expose the students to authentic language while at the same time not presenting material that is so difficult that it is demotivating to the students. Overall, the instructor in our study did an excellent job of providing visual stimulation to account for the beginning level of the students, but a greater effort will be made in the future to speak and teach in a slightly more simplified manner.
In addition, there was some benefit to presenting language that was at times too difficult for the students, as it made them reflect on their own teaching, as Natasha stated, “I will make sure to never teach my Russian students formal phrases like these too early in the semester” (TJ7). Regarding the focus on pronunciation, Alexandra stated, “too much attention was paid to pronunciation” (TJ10). This is especially the case that these learners are all adults and research has shown that acquisition of native-like pronunciation in adulthood is highly improbable (e.g., Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009). It is natural for language instructors to want their students to excel at all aspects of the language, and although the instructor mostly focused on the communicative value of the language, in the future, even less emphasis will be put on pronunciation.
The students also made several useful suggestions regarding the materials used to teach the lessons. Nathan suggested “access to the practice website earlier on in the series” (TJ10) in order to help students review the material outside of class for those who wanted to do so. Several students, such as Brooke suggested: “the classroom expressions [be] taught on the first day of class” (TJ10) in order for the students to start interacting with the instructor in Turkish for situations such as “I have a question” or “I (don’t) understand.” Almost every single student commented on the fact that there were few handouts used in the class, and as Brooke stated, “I got frustrated when I was trying to copy things down from the PowerPoint to my notebook, while the teacher had already moved on to the next slide” (TJ5). Towards the end of the Turkish lessons, the instructor did provide a handout to use in class, and almost every student noted this event in the Turkish journal of the week with statements such as Nathan’s, “This week in our penultimate Turkish lesson, we received handouts!” (TJ7). It was apparent from the student journals that tangible visual input was crucial to their language learning process, especially considering the fact that no textbook was used. In the future, a handout with the terms and expressions to be taught in the lesson will be provided to the students.
Finally, there were also several comments and suggestions about the assignment itself. As Mina stated, “One thing that I was curious about was the journal written by other students. I wish we could have discussed the journals in the class and learn from each other’s past experience” (TJ10). For future courses, some sort of sharing mechanism, either through course discussion or on an online discussion board, will be incorporated into the assignment. Additionally, several students mentioned the difficulty of knowing precisely what part of the reading to incorporate into the weekly journals. As Nathan suggested, “Another way to improve on the journal entries would be a question/theme of the week” (TJ10), which is an aspect that will be incorporated into the future Turkish journal assignment. Assigning several key terms for every journal entry will ensure that the students are reflecting on the crucial key terms of the week. This will allow for a more focused reflection rather than the current instructions of “relate each journal to the weekly readings.” [5]
Conclusion and Limitations
The goal of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of Turkish lessons integrated into the SLA course to initiate reflective journal writing in order to more deeply understand SLA concepts, thereby affecting future teaching. Even though the reflective journals integrating the Turkish learning experience and SLA concepts demonstrated positive impact on pre-service teachers in the form of a deeper understanding of the SLA, the results should be interpreted with caution until this teaching method can be implemented in other contexts. Additionally, it might be advisable for further research to utilize other data sources for triangulation. The extensive journal entries provided rich content for data analysis in the present study; however, this might not be the case for other studies that might need to be complemented with additional data sources. Findings from this study also lead to implications for further research on SLA content course teaching.
What does this experience tell us about teaching SLA content courses as a whole? It is true that many M.A. TESOL courses require an SLA course as a part of the curriculum, but through anecdotal evidence, many times the students do not understand what the course content has to do with language learning or teaching. In the SLA community, there is much debate about the relationship between SLA theory and language pedagogy (e.g., Ellis, 2008), but, as illustrated in this study, future language teachers will absorb and store more information about SLA if they can relate the theoretical information to real-time language learning; thus, it is recommended to integrate some sort of reflective practice (such as the journals analyzing the SLA concepts and Turkish learning) into the SLA syllabus. This addition to SLA content courses will greatly enhance the understanding of the SLA concepts presented.
Although most of the students in language-related MA and PhD programs have ample language learning experience, much of that experience happened long ago, such that they cannot remember the beginning stages of language learning. This idea is illustrated by one of the students, Mina, who is bilingual in English and Farsi, but commented several times on the fact that she did not remember clearly when she started to learn English as a child. These Turkish lessons for her not only made her L2 language learning experience resurface, but also reminded her what it was like to be a beginning-level student, something that she will remember when teaching beginning English students. The integration of the Turkish lessons into the SLA course helped the SLA concepts become salient for the students through a simultaneous language learning experience, which will help the students remember the concepts in their future teaching endeavors. The students in this course finished the semester not only with the knowledge of SLA theories, but also with the understanding of how these concepts would be pertinent to their future language students.
Finally, the students’ reflections illustrate how they have reconceptualized their ideas about language teaching. At the program level, the faculty members have a responsibility to not only teach SLA, but also to ensure that the students can relate the theory to actual teaching situations in which they will find themselves after graduation. Exposing students to a novel language learning experience, while at the same time presenting them with a myriad of theoretical SLA concepts, can help bridge the gap between SLA theory and language learning pedagogy. By producing teachers who understand both methodology and theory, the field benefits immensely.
End Notes
[1] A full description of the “questions above” can be found on page 1 of the text.
[2] There is now a 4th edition of this text, and the authors have been altered. To provide the most up–to–date references, the new edition is cited: Gass, Behney, & Plonsky (2013).
[3] Although a detailed description of UG, the CPH, and motivation is out of the scope of this paper, details of these SLA concepts can be found in the textbooks for the course. UG is discussed in chapter seven of Gass, Behney, and Plonsky (2013) and the CPH is discussed in chapter 14. An overview of motivation can be found in chapter four of Dörnyei (2005).
[4] In the excerpts, the number of the journal is indicated. For example, TJ2 means the second Turkish journal.
[5] At the time when this article was being revised, a second iteration of the Turkish lessons in the SLA class was being enacted. Many of the suggestions of the previous students were incorporated: fewer, but longer, Turkish lessons (four lessons of one hour at the beginning of the semester), less of a focus on pronunciation, slightly simplified language, classroom language taught during the first class, handouts provided for every class, and specific terms designated for each journal assignment. Although the class is still in progress, these suggestions made the integration of Turkish lessons even more successful.
About the Authors
Amy S. Thompson is Associate Professor of applied linguistics in the Department of World Languages at the University of South Florida. Her primary research interests involve Individual Differences in SLA, and she teaches a range of graduate level theoretical and methodological courses in applied linguistics.
Zeynep Erdil-Moody is a doctoral candidate at Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology program at University of South Florida. She is also teaching undergraduate courses at the Arts and Sciences College and College of Education at USF. She taught EFL in Turkey for nine years and ESL in the United States for four years.
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Appendix
Abbreviated Class Schedule
Week 1 | Course Introduction | |
Week 2 |
Overview of SLA Overview of first language acquisition Brief Turkish Lesson |
|
Week 3 |
Age and the critical period hypothesis Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #1 – Turkish and week 2 readings |
Week 4 |
Language data The role of the native language (transfer) Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #2 – Turkish and week 3 readings |
Week 5 |
Child SLA Summary of UG Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #3 – Turkish and week 4 readings |
Week 6 |
Typological and functional approaches Interlanguage processing Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #4 – Turkish and week 5 readings |
Week 7 |
Overview of individual differences Learning styles and learning strategies Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #5 – Turkish and week 6 readings |
Week 8 |
Language aptitude Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #6 – Turkish and week 7 readings |
Week 9 |
Motivation Brief Turkish Lesson |
Journal #7 – Turkish and week 8 readings |
Week 10 | Spring break | |
Week 11 |
Other individual differences (anxiety, learner beliefs) Overview of L3 acquisition |
Journal #8 – Turkish and week 9 readings |
Week 12 | Work week | |
Week 13 | Input, Interaction, Output, and Feedback |
Journal #9 – Turkish and week 11 readings |
Week 14 | SLA and the classroom | Journal #10 – Turkish and week 13 readings |
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