Doel vak

Getting acquainted with grammatical aspects of English and at least two
foreign languages and with contrastive linguistics. At the end of the
course, students are expected to be able to (1) collect relevant
language data, to be used for analysis, (2) critically study and analyse
linguistic reference grammars of the languages under consideration, (3)
analyse the form and function of a grammatical feature in two languages,
(4) to make an assessment of the best teaching method for his particular
feature, and (5) to present their findings (oral and written
presentation), according to scientific standards (and using APA).

Inhoud vak

This is the final course of the minor Foreign Language Learning. This
course will start out with a short introduction into linguistic
variation and language families (typologically different and/or similar
languages), at the level of sound systems (phonology), word formation
(morphology) and sentence structure (syntax). Students will give a
presentation on one phonological, morphological or syntactical feature:
he/she will present a description of this feature in English and two
more languages. In the final paper, the student will focus on the
comparison between Engish and one of these two languages, and he/she
will describe the possible impact that this typological difference may
have on second language learners of that particular language.

Onderwijsvorm

Lectures (2 hours per week) and seminars (2 hours per week).

Toetsvorm

Oral presentation (pass/fail) and a paper (final grade).

Vereiste voorkennis

A thorough knowledge of English and basic knowledge of at least two
foreign languages of the minor Foreign Language Learning (choice:
Portuguese, French, Spanish, Moroccan Arabic).
Completion of the course Minor Second Language Acquisition.

Doelgroep

Participants of the minor Foreign Language Learning

Overige informatie

This course is part of the minor Foreign Language Learning. This minor
is particularly interesting for students who are passionate about
learning languages and who are at the same time interested in the
learnability of languages, second language acquisition processes and
studying typologically different languages.