LIN 4200/6200: SPRING 2010 SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Term Paper Abstra t Ass!

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Due in class: Mon 5/3 Directions:

In a paragraph or two, please do the following: 1. Describe the t$p! you are interested in exploring in your paper, in general. 2. Develop a resear % &'est!$# that you are interested in asking about the topic (this will help give you focus for why you are writing the paper !. "xplain, at this stage, what you hope your research paper will $#tr!b'te t$ t%e (!e)* $( SLA#this $ay very well change as you write the paper, but I%d like you to consider this now, so you the stakes&i$plications of your paper is in your $ind during the pre'writing stages. Example of a Term Paper Abstract:
I a$ interested in exploring the debate over bilingual education and why it was taken out of (alifornia schools in 1))* because of +rop 22, and replaced by an alternative language teaching $ethod# -tructured "nglish I$$ersion (-"I . .ilingual education is grounded in the pre$ise that children learning two languages at the sa$e ti$e do so through si$ilar strategies, and opti$al learning happens when the languages are taught in the sa$e context or closely related contexts. -"I posits that a second language is $ost easily and /uickly ac/uired if it is taught intensively and if it is taught solely in that second language. 0rguably, the debate surrounding +rop 22, has gone beyond assessing which $ethod is better for language learning and has instead evolved into a politically charged debate. In this paper, then, I%$ would like to answer the following research /uestion: -tripped of politics and ideology, which is the best way to teach "nglish language learners#bilingual education or -"I1 In exploring such a /uestion, I will first give an overview of bilingual education, discussing the theoretical foundation for it. I will then discuss the alternative language teaching $ethod that replaced bilingual education#-tructured "nglish I$$ersion (-"I . 0fter discussing and co$paring these two $ethods, I will describe the +rop 22, debate and show how politics rather than language pedagogy is at the heart of the debate. 2y argu$ent will then revolve around advancing one of these two $ethodologies as a $ore effective practice based solely on theory and practice of language teaching. In writing such a paper, I hope $y contribution will be to 3return4 the debate over bilingual education to an applied linguistics context (involving experts in -50 fro$ a politically charged context (involving politicians who know nothing about -50 .

Use(') O#)!#e Res$'r es Lists of Topics: 6ivian (ook%s -50 page: http:&&ho$epage.ntlworld.co$&vivian.c&-50&index.ht$ 7i$ (u$$ins%s page: http:&&www.iteachilearn.co$&cu$$ins& (enter for 0pplied 5inguistics: http:&&www.cal.org&resources&digest&sub8ect.ht$l Resources: Internet 9"-5 7ournal (I9"-5 : http:&&itesl8.org&0rticles& (0"50 :esources: http:&&www.cal.org&caela&esl;resources& Samp)e Resear % Paper (hristian%s own fro$ his -50 class< =or a copy, see .lackboard tab 39er$ +aper4.