Undergraduate courses

SLS 480P: Pedagogical Grammar

This course examines the structural features of English as they apply to the teaching and earning of English as a second or foreign language. The primary focus will be on explaining grammatical concepts within pedagogical contexts. By the end of the course, students will have gained an understanding of particular grammatical features in terms of their forms, meanings, and use, as well as explore potential difficulties involved in learning L2 grammars. In addition, the different ways in which teachers may help develop their learners’ ability to use L2 grammatical features will be discussed. 

graduate courses

SLS 650: Second Language Acquisition

This course is designed to provide a review of current theory and research in child and adult second language acquisition. In addition, it will review relevant research in first language acquisition and explore relationships between theory and practice in the second and foreign language learning classroom. Various theoretical perspectives and issues are addressed, including cognitive-interactionist, emergentist, social, and psycholinguistic approaches, and principal areas of research such as age effects, cognition, development of learner language, and individual differences will be discussed. Quantitative and qualitative research methods and how they might be used in second language (L2) research are also addressed.

SLS 680P: Task-based Language Teaching

This course explores task-based approaches to second/foreign language learning and teaching.   Topics covered include: (a) the theoretical underpinnings for task-based language learning; (b) the key components of task-based program design; (c) the process of developing and empirically testing task-based materials; (d) practical classroom considerations for the use/implementation of tasks in an instructional context; and (e) tasks and technology. The main aims of this course are to introduce students to practical and theoretical issues in task-based learning and teaching. By the end of the course, students will have gained familiarity with key concepts in TBLT pedagogy and research as a basis for critically understanding and developing TBLT practices, as well as a deeper understanding of the relationship between theory, research, and classroom practice in relation to the development of a task-based methodology. 

SLS 680P: Pedagogical Grammar

This course introduces students to issues at the core of describing, learning, and teaching second language grammars. The aims of the course are to (a) examine particular grammatical features in terms of their forms, meanings, and use, (b) explore potential difficulties involved in learning L2 grammars, and (c) consider the different ways in which teachers may help develop their learners' ability to use L2 grammatical features. The course is informed by insights from linguistic theory and description, SLA research, L2 pedagogy, and participants' own experience of learning and teaching grammar. 

SLS 672: Classroom Research

This course familiarizes students with the history and development of classroom-centered research on second language learning, including methodological issues, substantive findings in the field, and current lines of research. These goals are achieved through a combination of readings, discussions, in-class data analysis, and execution of an original, empirical research project. 

SLS 600: Introduction to Second Language Studies

This course introduces the fundamental professional concerns and research approaches in applied linguistics for language teaching and learning. It initiates the graduate student into professional training, showing students how to integrate theory, research, and practice. Basic principles of research methodology are introduced and applied to problems in the study of second language pedagogy, second language use, second language analysis, and second language learning. Key concepts and terminology are elaborated on.