Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Note: Graduate students only
Topic: In other words: How L2 vocab is learned & processed

This course provides an overview of topics and theories in second language vocabulary learning, with a focus on the linguistic, cognitive, and pedagogic aspects of learning words in a new language during adulthood. The course will explore in depth different angles of L2 vocabulary, through topics that include lexical access and processing, instructed learning, immersion, learning through technology, word associations and networks, vocabulary breadth and depth, incidental learning, the role of the L1, and vocabulary assessment. Students will be encouraged to build on previous and/or current interests and to pursue them within approaches to L2 vocabulary learning.

Through engagement in critical discussions and assignments, students in this course will:

• gain an understanding of topics with a long-standing tradition in the literature on L2 vocabulary learning, as well as important directions that have emerged in recent years;
• develop critical understanding of current methodological approaches as well as their application to research in L2 vocabulary learning;
• be able to investigate issues in L2 vocabulary learning in connection with their own research interests;
• critically assess and review a colleague’s work, by providing rigorous and respectful feedback.

HISP-S 614     #28705      2:20P-3:35P    MW      BH 306     Prof. M. Gabriela Puscama