ENGED-GE.2505
FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS
Spring 2013
NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
Department of Teaching and Learning
Tuesdays from 6:45 – 8:25
Bobst LL148
Instructor:
Tim Fredrick
[email protected]
Office hours: Tuesdays by appointment (before or after class)
Course Objectives:
Students will be able to…
• Discuss general debates about what language is and how we should
approach teaching it.
• Define “communicative competence” in a variety of incarnations and contexts.
• Explain the social and cultural influences on language acquisition, learning,
and use.
• Define language variation and describe its impact on the urban education
context.
• Describe the features of pedagogical discourse in all its variations.
• Describe their philosophy on the teaching of grammar and appropriate
pedagogical techniques for improving student grammar.
Course Texts:
Dunn, Ella Minnow Pea
Heath, Ways with Words
Gilyard, Voices of the Self
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
Smith & Wilhelm, Getting it Right
Plus additional readings, which will be provided online
Grading:
I have a liberal grading policy. As long as you are not absent more than once,
rarely/never late, engage in class discussion, complete your work on time, and
demonstrate effort in all aspects of the course, you will be given the opportunity
to grade yourself. I, of course, maintain the right to veto your grade. But, if you
are heading into that territory, I will reach out to you.
When considering your grade for the class, consider if you are able to do the
following:
1. Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the course readings during
class discussions and make connections between them.
2. Apply theoretical concerns covered in course readings with your individual
practice as an educator.
ENGED-GE.2505 FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS
Spring 2013
Assignments
Language Autobiography and Culture Reflection (7-10 pages)
This paper has two parts: First, I want you to look back on how you learned
language and became competent in communicating (by Hymes’ standard). Here
are some questions to guide you, but do not feel constrained by them: Who did
you communicate with as a young child? How did your parents teach you how to
talk to others? How did you learn to read? What were your experiences of oracy
and literacy in school? How did they compare with your experiences at home?
Did you learn more than one language, how, and with whom? As an adult, how
do you continue to gain competence in communicating in a variety of contexts?
Second, I want you to consider the following question. After the course readings
so far – especially Heath and Gilyard – how do you think your culture affected
how you learned to use language and how do you think this will clash with and
complement the young people with whom you see yourself working?
Final Paper Choices (7-10 pages)
For your final paper, you have two choices:
First choice: Select a book that you think will be effective about teaching
secondary students about some aspect of language we have discussed in this
class. Think about our discussions of Ella Minnow Pea and A Clockwork Orange
and how we used them to discuss language as power, language as action, and
language as social. In this paper, you will first summarize the book and how it
reflects some theme we have discussed in this class. Then, you will describe 2-5
lessons (narrative descriptions, rather than lesson plans) of how you use this
book to discuss the theme with your students. For example: If you are going to
have a class discussion, describe what kinds of questions you might ask or in
what direction might you lead students. If you are going to have students do a
role play, describe how you would go about structuring it.
Second choice: In addition to the Smith & Wilhelm text, read two other booklength sources on the teaching of grammar. Using all three texts, write a paper
which summarizes your philosophy on the teaching of grammar. Describe 2-5
lessons of how you would teach/deal with/address grammar in your classroom.
Finally, describe how your philosophy and lessons take into consideration our
themes of language as power, language as action, and language as social, as
well as other topics we have discussed in class.
Course Policies
• Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any student caught plagiarizing (i.e., using
someone else’s words or ideas without proper attribution) will fail the course
and be referred for academic discipline. There are no exceptions.
• With the exception of absences due to religious observance, there is no
distinction between excused and unexcused absences. Students are allowed
one absence (excluding those for religious observance) without penalty. The
second absence will result in the loss of the right to self-grade.
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ENGED-GE.2505 FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS
•
•
Spring 2013
Lateness disrupts the teaching and learning process. Class begins promptly
at 6:45 p.m. If you are not in your seat ready to learn at that time, it will be
considered a late arrival. Two late arrivals will be equal to one absence
subject to the policy above.
If you know you are going to be absent from class, it is essential and proper
graduate school etiquette to alert me via email as to your absence.
Schedule of Classes
Date
1/29/2013
Topic
Intro to Class
Work Due
N/A
2/5/2013
What is Language?
Part One
Dunn, whole book
2/12/2013
What is Language?
Part Two
Truss
Crystal
(both available online)
2/19/2013
Communicative
Competence
Hymes
Bachman
Mehan
(all available online)
2/26/2013
Language Acquisition
and Culture, Part One
Schieffelin (available online)
3/5/213
Language Acquisition
and Culture, Part Two
Heath, Chapters 1-5
3/12/2013
Language Acquisition
and Culture, Part Three
Heath, Chapters 6-Epilogue
3/26/2013
Language Acquisition
and Culture, Part Four
Gilyard, whole book
4/2/2013
Language Variation,
Part One
Labov
Eckert
(both available online)
Language Autobiography and Culture
paper due
4/9/2013
Language Variation,
Part Two
Burgess, whole book
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ENGED-GE.2505 FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL LINGUISTICS
Spring 2013
4/16/2013
Pedagogical Discourse,
Part One
Cazden
Nystrand
(both available online)
4/23/2013
Pedagogical Discourse,
Part Two
Marshall et al.
Lemke
Cazden
Aukerman
And perhaps more to come
(all available online)
4/30/2013
The Teaching of
Grammar, Part One
Smith and Wilhelm, Chapters 1-2
5/7/2013
The Teaching of
Grammar, Part Two
Smith and Wilhelm, Chapters 3-5
5/14/2013
No class
Final Paper due
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