Learner Language: Tools for Teachers 2.0

Описание: Language teacher educators have often wondered about the relevance of second-language acquisition research for the preparation of second language teachers.  The available SLA coursework can seem like lecture material that is difficult to apply to the practice of language teaching.  Using their experience as language teachers, teacher educators and researchers, the presenters developed lab materials to integrate research and practice in such SLA courses. Their presentation highlights these materials on an updated CARLA website, Exploring Learner Language. This site features videos of English as a Second Language learners – native speakers of Spanish, French and Chinese - and transcripts of the language that they produce in responding to the same oral tasks.

This CARLA presentation shows how teacher educators can use this site to provide teachers with the knowledge and analytical skills to determine what the learners in their classrooms do and don't know, and the understanding of how and when to adjust their teaching to best help them. In short, this site combines lecture and practice so teachers can learn to conduct small-scale, practical research on learners’ language in their classrooms to better promote their students’ ongoing learning.

Presenters
Elaine E. Tarone is Professor Emerita and past Director of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Her research and publications explore the impact of social context (interlocutor, role, & task) on learner language, voice and identity.
Bonnie Swierzbin taught ESL in several programs at the University of Minnesota and worked in teacher education at Hamline University. In retirement, she continues to explore how reference is used by both native speakers and non-native speakers of English.

Drs. Tarone and Swierzbin are the authors of Exploring Learner Language (Oxford University Press, 2009).