Three credit hour course; meets 2:30-3:45 p.m., MW in BH 135

This course provides crucial background for M.A. candidates preparing for the
ACQUISITION option on the M.A. examination.

This course introduces students to the recent scholarly literature on the
acquisition of German as a first and as a second language, primarily focusing
on the acquisition of clause structure. In the process, the course also treats
broader theoretical and methodological issues in first and second language
acquisition research. In particular, the course will address the following
three basic research questions:

(1) To what extent does clause structure in early child German obey the same
principles as adult German clause structure?
(2) Is adult second language acquisition guided by the same cognitive
mechanisms as native language acquisition?
(3) Which elements of the native language grammar transfer to the initial
state of second language acquisition?

The texts listed below will provide necessary background on issues in language
acquisition. They will be supplemented extensively by articles specifically
dealing with the acquisition of German: recent studies of the acquisition of
German as a first language and recent studies of the grammatical development
of adults with a variety of native languages (English, Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, Turkish, and Korean) acquiring German as a second language. We
will also examine transcripts of naturalistic production by both children and
adults acquiring German. The course material will be presented in class in
informal lecture format. Over the course of the semester, students will be
required to submit two (2) short written assignments, each on the order of
five (5) to seven (7) pages. Students will also submit a final course paper
and give a twenty-minute class presentation based on it. There will be an
«Almost Final» exam near the end of the semester.

Texts:
Cook, LINGUISTICS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
O'Grady, SYNTACTIC DEVELOPMENT
White, UNIVERSIAL GRAMMAR AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
additional articles on reserve