COURSE SYLLABUS – APPROVED FORMAT
General Information
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Department of Modern Languages
SPA 341 - Spanish Applied Linguistics
Spring
3 credit hours
Dr. Karina Collentine
BAA 208
MWF 1-2
Course prerequisites
SPA 304W, SPA 311W, or SPA 312W or International Exchange Student Group
Course description
Provides learners with an understanding of the relationship between Spanish linguistic systems (e.g.,
phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics) and instructional practice and planning. Students obtain an
essential understanding of the language's linguistic components as well as dialectal and regional differences.
Students utilize this knowledge to analyze instructional and curricular practices.
Student Learning Expectations/Outcomes for this Course
ACTFL Standards
Candidates know the linguistic elements of the target language system, recognize the
changing nature of language, and accommodate for gaps in their own knowledge of the
target language system by learning on their own.
Number
1.b
Candidates know the similarities and differences between the target language and other
languages, identify the key differences in varieties of the target language, and seek
opportunities to learn about varieties of the target language on their own.
1.c
Candidates demonstrate an understanding of language acquisition at various
developmental levels and use this knowledge to create a supportive classroom learning
environment that includes target language input and opportunities for negotiation of
meaning and meaningful interaction.
3.a
Candidates demonstrate an understanding of the goal areas and standards of the Standards
for Foreign Language Learning and their state standards, and they integrate these
frameworks into curricular planning.
4.a
Candidates believe that assessment is ongoing, and they demonstrate knowledge of
multiple ways of assessment that are age- and level-appropriate by implementing
purposeful measures.
5.a
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AZ State Standards
Number
Understands state and national curriculum standards
1.1
Understands differing philosophies of education
1.10, 7.4
Interprets controversial curriculum issues
8.4, 8.5, 1.4
Constructs requirements for secondary schools
1.1, 1.2
Integrates subject content in the school program
3.3
Course structure/approach
These objectives will be accomplished through:
• Class lecture and discussion
• Small-group/cooperative activities
• Interviews with heritage and native speakers
• Linguistic analyses
• Reading of required texts
• Guest presenters
• Completion of problems/projects/assignments
• Site observations and activities (for BSED majors)
• Signature assignment (for BSED majors)
Textbook and required materials
Koike, D, & C. Klee (2003): Lingüística aplicada: Adquisición del español como segunda lengua. NY: Wiley.
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
Exams (2):
30%
See the course plan.
Final Exam :
20%
See the course plan.
Projects (2):
35%
See here below.
Participation:
5%
Students are expected to attend class and to participate energetically in all discussions. Active
class participation promotes the development of fluency in Spanish, the target language.
Activities and Exercises:
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10%
See the course plan.
Projects:
For BSEd students (complete both):
Project #1: Trends in Foreign Language Teaching
You will research past, current and future trends in foreign language teaching keeping in mind the
historical, economic, sociological, philosophical, and psychological understandings of the educational
climate while these trends were/are happening. After researching these areas, write a 7-8 page typed,
double-spaced paper (not including title and citation page) in APA format. It should include the
following:
• Your findings about teaching trends for two to three past consecutive decades (within the last
100 years) and the factors that affected these trends.
• Elaboration on how these factors (see above) affect(ed) educational trends in foreign language
teaching.
• A comparison of those past trends with present trends in foreign language teaching. What has
changed and why? Are these trends just variations of a theme?
• A description of at least one present trend that you would incorporate into your future
classroom. How will this affect your teaching practices? Will there be economic costs associated
with implementing this trend? How will you know if it’s effective?
Your paper should cite three to five peer-reviewed educational research sources (in APA format) in
addition to professional organization standards/position papers from foreign language teaching. It should
be free from mechanical, spelling or stylistic errors.
Project #2: Observation of a Foreign Language Class
You will need to make plans to observe a middle or high school Spanish teacher for 4 hours and use the
attached checklist to note the activities that s/he uses. Be sure to attend a class in which new material is
presented and not on a review day, test day, or presentation/project day. This is very important. You
will then write a 5-6 page typed, double-spaced paper noting the teacher's use of the various theories and
concepts learned in class, including:
• input in the class (see p. 26): Was the new material embedded within input? What sort of input
(e.g., a video, a story, a song, an article) was used?
• focus on form (see p. 26): Did the teacher do anything to the input to get students to notice
some feature of the input? What did s/he do?
• negotiation of meaning (see p. 27): When there was a lack of understanding between the
teacher and the students/a student, did s/he negotiate for meaning?
• transference (see p. 32): Did you observe any L1 transference on the part of the students?
Could you determine what the student wished to express?
• fixed expressions (see p. 35): Did you observe any students using fixed expressions? Which
ones were used?
• error correction (see p. 36): What methods of error correction did the teacher use?
• activities in class that promote language acquisition (see p. 40): Did the teacher use authentic
materials?, grammatical concepts presented in context?, contextualized vocabulary?, pair
activities in which students carried out a linguistic function (e.g., requests, ordering food)?
• strategies that the teacher uses to deal with exceptional learners (e.g., heritage learners)
Under no circumstances is this proyect intended to criticize the teacher you observed or reflect
negatively on his/her teaching style. This project is a chance for you to observe some of the concepts
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studied in this class because it is much more practical to observe the concepts than to just read about
them. Furthermore, keep in mind that it will be impossible to observe all of the areas noted above as it
is likely that the teacher only integrates a few of them per class.
For non BSED students (complete both):
Project #1: A Linguistic Analysis
Part A. Interview a native Spanish speaker (or more than one, if necessary) and ask him/her for 5
compound words and 5 idioms in Spanish. Then, give an explanation or example in Spanish of their
meaning (do not translate).
Part B. Analyze the following text at the phonetic/phonological level, the morphological level, and the
syntactical level.
Text: “Al llegar a la provincia, el carruaje paró y Carlos, el soldado, saludó al principe y a su novia,
que habían sido muy buenos con él. El principe vivía en un fabuloso castillo en el centro que tenía
varias flores en el patio. De pronto, Carlos oyó algo en el camino; era el soldado con quien vivía.
Carlos pronto sufriría mucho…”
Project #2: Analysis of the Social Aspects of Spanish
Part 1. Interview 5 native speakers of Spanish and find out the forms of address they use, with whom, in
what contexts, and why. Concentrate on the following pronouns: tú, vos, usted, vosotros, and ustedes.
Present your findings in a table, summarizing what you found. Include your own interpretation of the
data. You need to interview people from different Spanish-speaking countries/areas.
Part 2. Make a list of 5 words that vary a lot in their use or meaning. Ask the same persons as you did
in #1 above what words they use to refer to those things or what other words they know. For example:
turkey, bus, baby, suit. Use a table to present your data. What influences to you notice with respect to
the use of vocabulary?
Part 3. Interview a heritage speaker of Spanish. Find out the following:
1. generation (from the first inmigrant in the family) – give a summary of the genealogical tree
2. how the person learned Spanish and English
3. which language is dominant: Spanish or English?
4. Where, with whom, and with what frequency the person speaks Spanish
5. whether this person (or someone else s/he knows) uses code-switching
Part 4. Write a reflection about this project: What did you learn? What surprised you? What questions
do you still have?
Grading System
For the final grade, the following percentages will determine the student’s final grade: 100-90 = A; 89-80 = B;
79-70 = C; 69-60 = D; 59 or less = F.
Course outline
1/12 Chapter 1 (Introduction to Applied Linguistics): definitions
1/14 Chapter 1 cont.: history of FL methodologies
1/19 Chapter 2 (Second Language Acquisition theories): contrastive analysis, error analysis, markedness
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1/21
1/26
1/28
2/2
2/4
2/9
2/11
2/16
2/18
2/23
2/25
3/2
3/4
3/9
3/11
3/16
3/18
3/23
3/25
3/30
4/1
4/6
4/8
4/13
4/15
4/20
4/22
4/27
4/29
theory, input hypothesis, focus on form, interacctionist hypothesis, variability hypothesis,
sociocultural hypothesis
Chapter 2 cont.: learner transference and overgeneralization, learning theory, communicative value,
use of fixed expressions ("chunks")
Chapter 2 cont.: role of error correction and feedback, classroom activities and tasks, from theory to
practice
Spanish vowels and consonants: place and manner of articulation, voicing, and nasality
Spanish vowels and consonants: place and manner of articulation, voicing, and nasality cont.
Spanish vowels and consonants: introduction to Spanish phonology
Chapter 3 (Pronouns): null subjects, prepositional pronouns, forms of address (tú versus usted)
Chapter 3 cont.: clitic pronouns, reflexive pronouns, uses of se, prepositional phrases, acquisition of
pronouns
Chapter 4 (The Spanish Verbal System): thematic vowel, morphemes for various tenses
Chapter 4 cont.: preterite versus imperfect at the discourse level, acquisition of aspect
Chapter 5 (Mood and Complex Syntax): mood in Spanish, subordinate clauses
Chapter 5 cont.: conjunctions, coordinate syntax, acquisition of mood
Exam 1 (Chapters 1-5; phonetics/phonology)
Chapter 6 (The Lexicon): derivational and inflectional suffixes, gender, connotation, denotation
Chapter 6 cont.: ser versus estar, acquisition of the lexicon
Chapter 7 (Pragmatics): definitions, speech acts, implicature
Spring Break
Spring Break
Chapter 7 cont.: verbal courtesy and Grice's Maxims, deixis, acquisition of pragmatics
Chapter 8 (Language and Society in the Spanish-speaking world): Spanish versus Castillian Spanish,
speech communities
Chapter 8 cont.: regional dialects including seseo, aspiration, grammatical and lexical differences
Chapter 8 cont.: social variables and language, bilingualism
Chapter 8 cont.: Spanish in the Southwest, code-switching, sociolinguistics and second language
acquisition
Chapter 8 cont.: learner diversity, heritage and native Spanish speakers in the Spanish classroom
Chapter 9 (Technology and Second Language Acquisition): computer-assisted language learning
(CALL), theoretical support for CALL
Chapter 9 cont.: synchronouns computer-mediated communication (SCMC), SCMC and information
gap and interactive tasks
Exam 2 (Chapters 6-9)
Chapter 10 (Assessment): measurements of competence, national standards for FL learning, AZ
academic standards, communicative competence, levels of proficiency
Chapter 10 cont.: alternative measures of proficiency, rubrics
Review for Final Exam
Final Exam: Chapters 1-10; Spanish vowels and consonants
Course policy
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See ‘Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes’ above.
Attendance is mandatory in all classes. For missed classes, arrangements must be made with the
professor.
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NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
POLICY STATEMENTS
SAFE ENVIRONMENT POLICY
NAU’s Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy seeks to prohibit discrimination and promote the safety
of all individuals within the university. The goal of this policy is to prevent the occurrence of discrimination on
the basis of sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status and to
prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault or retaliation by anyone at this university.
You may obtain a copy of this policy from the college dean’s office or from the NAU’s Affirmative Action
website http://home.nau.edu/diversity/. If you have concerns about this policy, it is important that you contact
the departmental chair, dean’s office, the Office of Student Life (928-523-5181), or NAU’s Office of
Affirmative Action (928-523-3312).
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
If you have a documented disability, you can arrange for accommodations by contacting Disability Resources
(DR) at 523-8773 (voice)or 523-6906 (TTY), dr@nau.edu (e-mail)or 928-523-8747 (fax).Students needing
academic accommodations are required to register with DR and provide required disability related
documentation. Although you may request an accommodation at any time, in order for DR to best meet your
individual needs, you are urged to register and submit necessary documentation (www.nau.edu/dr) 8 weeks
prior to the time you wish to receive accommodations. DR is strongly committed to the needs of student with
disabilities and the promotion of Universal Design. Concerns or questions related to the accessibility of
programs and facilities at NAU may be brought to the attention of DR or the Office of Affirmative Action and
Equal Opportunity (523-3312).
INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD
Any study involving observation of or interaction with human subjects that originates at NAU—including a
course project, report, or research paper—must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board
(IRB) for the protection of human subjects in research and research-related activities.
The IRB meets monthly. Proposals must be submitted for review at least fifteen working days before the
monthly meeting. You should consult with your course instructor early in the course to ascertain if your project
needs to be reviewed by the IRB and/or to secure information or appropriate forms and procedures for the IRB
review. Your instructor and department chair or college dean must sign the application for approval by the
IRB. The IRB categorizes projects into three levels depending on the nature of the project: exempt from
further review, expedited review, or full board review. If the IRB certifies that a project is exempt from further
review, you need not resubmit the project for continuing IRB review as long as there are no modifications in the
exempted procedures.
A copy of the IRB Policy and Procedures Manual is available in each department’s administrative office and
each college dean’s office or on their website: http://www.research.nau.edu/vpr/IRB/index.htm. If you have
questions, contact the IRB Coordinator in the Office of the Vice President for Research at 928-523-8288 or 5234340.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The university takes an extremely serious view of violations of academic integrity. As members of the
academic community, NAU’s administration, faculty, staff and students are dedicated to promoting an
atmosphere of honesty and are committed to maintaining the academic integrity essential to the education
process. Inherent in this commitment is the belief that academic dishonesty in all forms violates the basic
principles of integrity and impedes learning. Students are therefore responsible for conducting themselves in an
academically honest manner.
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Individual students and faculty members are responsible for identifying instances of academic dishonesty.
Faculty members then recommend penalties to the department chair or college dean in keeping with the severity
of the violation. The complete policy on academic integrity is in Appendix G of NAU’s Student Handbook
http://www4.nau.edu/stulife/handbookdishonesty.htm.
ACADEMIC CONTACT HOUR POLICY
The Arizona Board of Regents Academic Contact Hour Policy (ABOR Handbook, 2-206, Academic Credit)
states: “an hour of work is the equivalent of 50 minutes of class time…at least 15 contact hours of recitation,
lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar, or colloquium as well as a minimum of 30 hours of student
homework is required for each unit of credit.”
The reasonable interpretation of this policy is that for every credit hour, a student should expect, on average, to
do a minimum of two additional hours of work per week; e.g., preparation, homework, studying.
SENSITIVE COURSE MATERIALS
If an instructor believes it is appropriate, the syllabus should communicate to students that some course content
may be considered sensitive by some students.
“University education aims to expand student understanding and awareness. Thus, it necessarily involves
engagement with a wide range of information, ideas, and creative representations. In the course of college
studies, students can expect to encounter—and critically appraise—materials that may differ from and perhaps
challenge familiar understandings, ideas, and beliefs. Students are encouraged to discuss these matters with
faculty.”
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