Writing in a foreign language: linguistic and cognitive aspects

Teacher(s)

Degand Elisabeth;

Language

Dutch

Main themes

Theoretical overview of the field of first and foreign language writing with a focus on the cognitive processes involved. Introduction to the psycho-experimental methods in writing.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

At the end of the class, the student will have an overview of the discourse studies concerning writing production in first and foreign language; will be able to formulate specific research questions and to operationalise them; will be able to establish a link between the studies in written discourse production and matters of writing instruction in the foreign language class; will have a practical experience in the elaboration of a psycho-experimental research design and/or corpus analysis.

Content

The seminar addresses the linguistic proficiency and cognitive mastery factors impacting foreign language writing. After an overview of the research question, students will develop a research plan and test a discourse production elicitation task in Dutch as a foreign language. For this purpose the keystroke-logging tool InputLog will be used. The students will develop the experimental protocol, the recruitment of participants and the experimental implementation. Data analysis will be done individually with each student taking responsibility for a specific part of the analysis. The impact of factors will be measured on the presence/absence of linguistic traits to be defined.

Teaching methods

esearch seminar consisting of discussions of the experimental theories and methods presented, one of which will be replicated by the students involving all stages of the experimental protocol:
definition of the research question and hypotheses
preparation of the experimental material and/or items
recruitment of participants
conducting the experiment
analysis of the data
presentation of the results

Evaluation methods

Continuous assessment acquired throughout the seminar: 40% (this part cannot be repeated in the second session)
synthesis of reading notes, preparation of material, recruitment of participants, ...
The collective part of the work will be monitored via "dynamo" to evaluate the individual contribution of each student
Individual research report including individual data analysis and presentation of results (60%). The quality of the written language will be taken into account (penalty of up to 20% of the grade of the written work).

Other information

A course in linguistic statistics is recommended (LCLIG2240 or LFIAL2260).

Bibliography

Portfolio sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

ELAL