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Educational Linguistics

This course offers a three-part series on Educational Linguistics and a “bonus,” fourth course focused on Sociolinguistics.

The Educational Linguistics three-part series addresses the processes of language learning. Specifically, we will focus on developing an understanding of the structure and sound systems of English in relation to other languages and in relation to a variety of teaching strategies. By focusing on a comparison of language structures and sound systems as well as theories of second language acquisition and development, this series allows participants to develop pedagogical language knowledge with regards to how students’ rich linguistic repertoires are leveraged in learning a new language. By exploring concepts of positive and negative transfer, participants will develop greater awareness of the difference between systematic errors that may require explicit instruction and natural errors that will correct themselves with appropriately modeled language input.

The fourth “bonus” session addresses issues related to Sociolinguistics. Language is a social activity and language practices are rooted in communities’ cultural practices. Linguistic variations are associated with human geography and social identities informed by socioeconomic class, race and ethnicity, gender identities, age and generation, and more. Despite there not being any valid scientific language or dialect hierarchy in linguistics, there are powerful social hierarchies that place greater value on certain languages, dialects, and registers. In this session, we will discuss humanizing pedagogies that affirm the validity of all languages and dialects and discuss ways to design rich dialogic instruction that facilitates the expansion of students’ linguistic repertoires.

Session 1: Wednesday, April 5 | 2-3:30 PM
Session 2: Wednesday, April 12 | 2-3:30 PM
Session 3: Wednesday, April 19 | 2-3:30 PM
Session 4 (Bonus Sociolinguistics Course): Wednesday, April 26 | 2-3:30 PM