Students

APPL8250 – Second Language Acquisition

2021 – Session 1, Fully online/virtual

Notice

As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group activities on campus, and most will keep an online version available to those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.

To check the availability of face-to-face and online activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Peter Roger
peter.roger@mq.edu.au
Margaret Wood
margaret.wood@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MAppLing or MAppLingTESOL or MTransInterMAppLingTESOL or MEd
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit explores a variety of approaches to the study of second and foreign language acquisition in both instructed and naturalistic settings. The unit focuses on the range of factors that influence the learning/acquisition of a second language, as well as ways of studying the characteristics of learner language. Throughout the unit, participants are encouraged to reflect on the relevance of second language acquisition research to their own experiences as both language learners and professionals working in educational contexts or other language-related areas.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Identify and explain current issues and research trends in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)
  • ULO2: Demonstrate in-depth familiarity with and the ability to critically evaluate three areas of SLA research
  • ULO3: Communicate knowledge of SLA research to a professional audience
  • ULO4: Demonstrate an understanding of the range of internal and external factors that influence an individual’s learning of a second language
  • ULO5: Apply knowledge of SLA research to personally relevant educational contexts

General Assessment Information

  1. All assessment due dates and times refer to local time in Sydney, Australia
  2. Full instructions for each assignment, together with marking criteria and instructions for submission, will be available on iLearn
  3. Extensions for assignments can be sought by applying for special consideration via ask.mq.edu.au - please advise the unit convenor as well if you have submitted a request for special consideration
  4. Assignments submitted late without an extension may be penalised at 5% of the total marks available for the assignment per day late

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Online key concepts quiz 10% No Week 5
Critical review 20% No Week 7
Annotated bibliography presentation 20% No Week 10
Learner Data Discussion Paper 50% No Week 14

Online key concepts quiz

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 10%

This quiz consists of multiple choice questions that students complete online during a 48 hour period when the quiz is open.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify and explain current issues and research trends in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the range of internal and external factors that influence an individual’s learning of a second language

Critical review

Assessment Type 1: Reflective Writing
Indicative Time on Task 2: 18 hours
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 20%

Students will write a 1000 word guided critique of a scholarly journal article in the field of second language acquisition.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify and explain current issues and research trends in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)
  • Demonstrate in-depth familiarity with and the ability to critically evaluate three areas of SLA research
  • Communicate knowledge of SLA research to a professional audience
  • Apply knowledge of SLA research to personally relevant educational contexts

Annotated bibliography presentation

Assessment Type 1: Media presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 20%

For this assignment, students will prepare a short (5 minute) PowerPoint presentation detailing three academic references, and their relevance to their proposed research topic for the final assignment.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify and explain current issues and research trends in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)
  • Demonstrate in-depth familiarity with and the ability to critically evaluate three areas of SLA research
  • Communicate knowledge of SLA research to a professional audience
  • Apply knowledge of SLA research to personally relevant educational contexts

Learner Data Discussion Paper

Assessment Type 1: Report
Indicative Time on Task 2: 32 hours
Due: Week 14
Weighting: 50%

For this assessment task, students will collect a small amount of data from a language learner and write up the findings in the form of a small-scale research report
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Identify and explain current issues and research trends in the field of second language acquisition (SLA)
  • Demonstrate in-depth familiarity with and the ability to critically evaluate three areas of SLA research
  • Communicate knowledge of SLA research to a professional audience
  • Apply knowledge of SLA research to personally relevant educational contexts

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

APPL8250 will be available both externally (online) and internally (on campus).  A weekly on-campus lecture-seminar will be held in 01 Central Courtyard Room 216 (01CC 216) on Wednesdays from 2 PM - 4 PM.  These sessions will be live-streamed on Zoom, and will also be recorded for all students to access during the semester.

The iLearn site for APPL8250 contains details of assessment tasks, weekly readings, discussion forums, lecture slides and additional resources.

 

Unit Schedule

Week

 

Topic

Lecturer

1

24 Feb 2021

Approaches to studying second language acquisition: An overview

Peter Roger

2

3 Mar 2021

The role of age in second language acquisition 

Peter Roger

3   

10 Mar 2021

The role of the first language in second language acquisition

Peter Roger

4

17 Mar 2021

Learner language, errors and error analysis

Peter Roger

5

24 Mar 2021

Developmental patterns in learner language

Peter Roger

6

31 Mar 2021

Motivation in second and foreign language learning        

Peter Roger

 

 

MID-SEMESTER BREAK

 
7 21 Apr 2021

Learning styles and language learning

 Peter Roger

8

28 Apr 2021

Language learning strategies

Peter Roger

9

5 May 2021

Acquisition of the lexicon in a second language

Jill Murray

10

12 May 2021

Acquisition of second language pragmatics

Jill Murray

11

19 May 2021

Formal instruction and second language acquisition

Peter Roger

12

26 May 2021

Foreign language aptitude and anxiety

Peter Roger

13

02June 2021

Unit Summary: SLA goes to Hollywood

Peter Roger

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to help you improve your marks and take control of your study.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2021.02 of the Handbook