Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
ASIGNATURA / COURSE TITLE
Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada /
Research Seminar in Applied Linguistics
Lee
1.1.
Código / Course number
32083
1.2.
Materia / Content area
Módulo 3: Módulo de Formación de Carácter Metodológico /
Module 3: Basic module on methodology
1.3.
Tipo / Course type
Formación Obligatoria / Obligatory subject
1.4.
Nivel / Course level
Master / Master (Third cycle)
1.5.
Curso / Year
1º / 1st
1.6.
Semestre / Semester
1º-2º / 1st- 2nd (Fall - Spring semestre)
1.7.
Número de créditos / Credits
5 créditos ECTS / 5 ECTS credits
1.8.
Requisitos previos / Prerequisites
Disponer de un nivel de inglés que permita al alumno leer bibliografía de consulta y
comprender las clases presenciales y comunicarse en ellas / Students must have a
suitable level of English to read references in the language, follow in-class sessions
and communicate.
1 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
1.9.
Requisitos mínimos de asistencia a las sesiones
presenciales / Minimum attendance requirement
La asistencia a las sesiones presenciales es muy recomendable / Attendance
to contact sessions is highly recommendable.
1.10. Datos del equipo docente / Faculty data
Docentes / Lecturers:
Laura Hidalgo
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 306 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 306 (Module VI BIS)
91-497 2931
Correo electrónico / Email: laura.hidalgo@uam.es
Ana Llinares
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 102 (Módulo IV BIS) / Office 102 (Module IV BIS)
91-497 3024
Correo electrónico / Email: ana.llinares@uam.es
Ana Martín Úriz
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 305 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 305 (Module VI BIS)
91-4974425
Correo electrónico / Email: ana.martin@uam.es
Amaya Mendikoetxea
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 205 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 205 (Module VI BIS)
91-497 7082
Correo electrónico / Email: amaya.mendikoetxea@uam.es
Susana Murcia
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 205 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 205 (Module VI BIS)
91-497 7081
Correo electrónico / Email: susana.murcia@uam.es
2 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
Michael O’Donnell
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 311 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 311 (Module VI BIS)
91-497 2273
Correo electrónico / Email: michael.odonnell@uam.es
Manuela Romano
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 306 (Módulo VI BIS) / Office 306 (Module VI bis)
91-4974420
Correo electrónico / Email: manuela.romano@uam.es
Jesús Romero (Coordinador de la asignatura / Coordinator)
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho 102 (Módulo IV BIS) / Office 102 (Module IV BIS)
91-497 3024
Correo electrónico / Email: jesus.romero@uam.es
Horario de atención al alumnado / Office hours: TBA
Rachel Whittaker
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Despacho / Office 308 VI bis (308 Module VI bis)
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Teléfono / Phone: +34 91 497 4425
Correo electrónico / Email: rachel@uam.es
Horario de atención al alumnado / Office hours: TBA
Esther Vázquez
Departamento de Filología Inglesa / Department of English Studies
Facultad de Filosofía y Letras / School of Arts
Despacho /Office: 204-VI bis
Teléfono / Phone: 91-4974082
Correo electrónico/ Email: esther.vazquez@uam.es
Horario de atención al alumnado / Office hours: TBA
1.11. Objetivos del curso / Course objectives
This course forms part of the training of students as investigators and language
professionals, introducing students to the presentation of academic research, and to
the different areas of research in applied linguistics focussed on at present in the
English Department by MULAI staff. The first three sessions are devoted to the
3 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
conventions of writing in the academic world and the structure of research reports,
preparing students to write the papers required in the different courses they follow.
The last sessions, later in the academic year, introduce students to the main
research projects in the department, providing the students with examples of
research projects, their aims, methods and results.
The course will address the following competences described in the ‘memoria de
verificación’ of the masters programme:
G2: To know the different disciplines which make up applied linguistics and its
research methods.
G5: Be capable of critical reasoning, and know how to synthesise information and
reach conclusions from a base of empirical evidence and logical argument, and
also to develop skills for linguistic problem solving.
G9: To be receptive to the exchange of concepts and ideas from different linguistic
models.
E1: Know the main theoretical and methodological frameworks in the study of
language and discourse, and their applications to the study of language in
contemporary society.
E15: To have an analytical attitude to linguistic evidence and show initiative in
solving technical and procedural problems in the use of the scientific method.
E19: Be able to think critically about linguistic problems and its relation to present
society.
T1: Know the basis and development of the scientific method and academic
procedure.
T5: To develop initiative and learn to have autonomy and a pro-active approach to
research.
T6: To learn to be responsible for the different commitments taken, both as regards
personal academic work and when forming part of a team.
1.12. Contenidos del programa / Course contents
This course consists of 6 seminars, divided into two blocks.
Block 1: Seminars 1-3: Introduction to Research
Teachers: Dr. Rachel Whittaker, Dr. Mick O’Donnell
The first part of the course introduces the student to writing up academic research.
It will consist of the following three classes:
Week 1 (18 October, Rachel Whittaker): Writing a Research Report I: Academic writing, a
register and genre approach. Register of academic writing; Writing from sources; Organizing
information in paragraphs; Reader awareness
Week 2 (25 October, Mick O’Donnell): Writing a Research Report II: Structure of a research
report. Students will be shown examples of Masters dissertations and published papers in
applied linguistics, and will be taken through the steps involved in writing each section.
4 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
Week 3 (8th November): Writing a Research Report III: Conventions. Citation and
Reference; Plagiarism (Rachel); Reporting Statistical Results (Mick)
Block 2: Seminars 4-6 Introduction to current research projects of staff.
Subsequent seminars will describe the research projects currently being undertaken
within the department, providing the students with examples of research projects,
their aims, methods, and results.
The following projects will be presented:
1. Language variation, identity and creativity
Teacher: Dr. Laura Hidalgo Downing (laura.hidalgo@uam.es)
Outline of session
Presentation of research group.
Presentation of ongoing research work.
Task 1: What’s in an ad?
Task 2: What’s in a song?
Task 3: Reading for storiness.
References
Carter, R. (2004) Language and Creativity. London: Routledge.
Toolan, M. (2009) Narrative Progression in the Short Story. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.
2. The UAM-CLIL project. Students’ oral and written production in CLIL secondary
school contexts: ideational, interpersonal and textual development in the L2
Teachers: Dr. Ana Llinares, Dr Rachel Whittaker
This session describes the UAM-CLIL project, which has been active since 2005. The
project has collected a corpus of spoken and written English produced by secondary
school students in CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) classes. We
show how we analyse students’ spoken and written expression of content (ideational),
the interpersonal features found in their production, and their information management
(textual), using the framework of Systemic-Functional Linguistics (Halliday 2004), and,
in particular, register and genre theory (Martin 1992). In the session, we will see a
longitudinal analysis of students’ development through the four years of ESO, together
with cross-sectional analyses comparing CLIL students' productions with those of
students studying the same subject in their L1.
References:
LLINARES, A. and R. WHITTAKER (2010) Writing and speaking in the history class: data
from CLIL and first language contexts. In Dalton-Puffer, C., T. Nikula and U.
Smit (eds.) Language Use in Content-and-Language Integrated learning (CLIL).
AILA Applied Linguistics Series (AALS), John Benjamins Publishers.
5 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
WHITTAKER, R. and A. LLINARES (2011) Functions of language in Content and
Language Integrated Learning. In C. Escobar y L. Nussbaum (eds.) Learning
through a Different Language. Barcelona: UAB.
3. A cognitive approach to the grammar of landscape description
Teacher: Dr. Jesus Romero-Trillo
The seminar proposes a taxonomy of the grammar of landscapes to establish the
parameters that can account for the preferences of speakers in their descriptions of
natural contexts. The taxonomy is the theoretical foundation designed for the
research project Corpus of Language and Nature (CLAN Corpus) that is being
compiled worldwide to establish the cognitive and emotional preferences of speakers
of different languages in the observation of natural phenomena. For this purpose, we
have delineated the basic visual features that we deem essential to identify the
features of landscapes and have labeled them accordingly to create a network of
cognitive variables that can help identify the perception of nature with its various
components and features. This taxonomy is complemented by an account of the
observers’ landscape preferences with the use of a qualitative tool that depicts
different types of features, both permanent and transient, present in landscapes.
References:
ROMERO-TRILLO, J. and T. ESPIGARES (1996). “Fundamentos ecológico-lingüísticos en
la percepción de los paisajes naturales”. La Interdisciplinariedad en el
Discurso Artístico: Realidad o Utopía? Vol II. Caramés, J.L., Escobedo de
Tapia, C. y Bueno, J.L. (ed.). Editorial de la Universidad de Oviedo. Pag: 271285.
ROMERO-TRILLO, J and T. ESPIGARES (2012). The cognitive representation of natural
landscapes in language, a taxonomy. Pragmatics & Cognition 20: 168-185.
TURNER, M. G., R. H. GARDNER, R. H. AND R. O’NEILL, R. (2001). Landscape Ecology
in Theory and Practice. New York: Springer-Verlag.
WIENS, J. AND M. MOSS (eds) (2005) Issues and Perspectives in Landscape Ecology.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Theoretical and empirical issues for the study of optionality in native and nonnative grammars
Teacher: Dr. Amaya Mendikoetxea
Part 1: Accounting for optionality in L1 grammars.
Part 2: Exploring optionality in L2 grammars: definition and methodology.
Syntactic optionality has been defined as the coexistence, within the same
grammatical system, of two syntactic structures with the same propositional contexts
and, roughly, the same lexical items. The existence of optionality in stable adult
grammars (L1) is a well-known fact in linguistic theory, but optionality and variability
are pervasive in developing grammars (L1 and L2 acquisition, linguistic change,
language attrition, language disorders and so on).
6 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
The main objective of this session is to discuss the problems optionality raises for the
study of native grammars within a theoretical perspective and to discuss the
theoretical and empirical issues for the study of optionality in non-native (L2)
grammars, under the hypothesis that optionality in non native grammars is a
particular case of variation in developing grammars. The discussion will highlight the
difficulty of establishing a working definition of optionality, which may allow for
quantitative and qualitative analyses of the phenomenon. We will also explore
differente methodologies for the study of optionality: use of corpora and
experimental techniques, such as magnitude estimation, which yields subtler
judgements than classical acceptatibility tasks.
References:
LOZANO, C and A. MENDIKOETXEA (forthcoming) Interface conditions on postverbal
subjects: A corpus study of L2 English, to appear in Bilingualism: Language and
Cognition.
SORACE, A., 2005. Selective optionality in language development. In Cornips, L.,
Corrigan, K.P. (eds.), Syntax and variation: Reconciling the biological and the
social, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pp. 55-80.
WHITE, L. (2000). Grammatical theory: Interfaces and L2 knowledge. In W. C. Ritchie
& T. K. Bhatia (eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (2nd
rev. edn.). Leeds: Emerald.
5. Exploring learner proficiency using a corpus
Teachers: Dr. Susana Murcia, Dr. Mick O’Donnell
As teachers, we often wonder what the students in front of us most need to learn. It
is the goal of the TREACLE project to address this need in the area of grammar
teaching.
We are developing a methodology for using a corpus of Learner English to find out
what particular grammatical problems are most critical for a particular group of
learners. We address this in two ways. The most common approach is to see what
students are doing wrong: the errors they make. For instance, roughly 30% of
grammar errors by students entering the English degree concern determiners in the
NP. This area thus needs more teaching emphasis than it is currently given.
However, we strongly believe that looking at what students do wrong is only part of
the picture. Poor students may avoid errors by avoiding new structures, while more
adventurous students may make more errors. We are thus following another line of
investigation, looking at what syntactic structures students are using as well as the
errors they make. Our studies show when a given syntactic structure is most critical
to the language learner: when only some of the class/level are using it.
These two investigations -- into what learners do wrong and what they are
attempting -– together allow us to revise what we are teaching to the students at
each academic level.
References:
JAMES C. 1998. Errors in Language Learning and Use: Exploring error analysis.
Harlow: Longman.
7 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
O'DONNELL, M. S. MURCIA, R. GARCÍA, C. MOLINA, P. ROLLINSON, P. MACDONALD, K.
STUART, M. BOQUERA. 2009. Exploring the proficiency of English learners:
The TREACLE project. Proceedings of the Fifth Corpus Linguistics, Liverpool.
(http://ucrel.lancs.ac.uk/publications/cl2009/371_FullPaper.doc)
6. Interpreting oral narratives: a socio-cognitive approach
Teacher: Dr Manuela Romano
One of the main features of oral narratives -- that has always interested scholars -- is
their broken or chaotic structure, a feature that correlates with the emotional
character of the events being narrated. In recent years, the theoretical notions from
Cognitive Grammar and Attention Phenomena in language have helped to understand
the main processes which enable hearers to integrate the fragmented, non-linear
structure of these narratives into a coherent and emergent whole. The session, thus,
first explains the theoretical concepts which are then applied by the students to the
analysis of real texts.
References:
DANCYGIER B. (2008). The text and the story: levels of blending in fictional
narratives. In T. Oakley and A. Houggard (eds.) Mental Spaces in Discourse and
Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Pp. 51-78.
FAUCONNIER G. (2008). Mental spaces. In D. Geeraerts and H. Cuyckens (eds.), The
Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp.
351-376.
TALMY L. (2008). Aspects of attention in language. In P. Robinson and N. C. Ellis
(eds), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition. New
York: Routledge. Pp. 27-38.
2.
Métodos docentes / Teaching methodology
The teaching-learning methodology includes the following activities:
A. Contact activities (six sessions of four hours of classes plus programmed
tutorials):
 Theoretical and practical classes: four-hour sessions in which the
teacher presents the content of the course, and then the students
applies these theoretical concepts in discussions, surveys, tasks,
oral presentation, etc., to deepen their understanding of the
issues.
 Tutorial monitoring: programmed sessions to monitor student
progress.
 Invited Seminars: seminars on various topics related to Applied
Linguistics in English and taught by experts.
 Online work: online tasks aimed at monitoring student progress,
discussion forums, collaborative creation of course webpage (wiki)
etc. (These are 'contact sessions’ in that these tasks will involve
online interaction with between teacher and student).
8 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
B. Non-contact activities:
 Readings: guided readings for Block 2.
 Practical exercises: summaries, critical analysis of readings, to be
discussed both in classes and online.
 Application of Block 1 in different course assignments: working in
teams under teacher’s supervision (formulating a hypothesis,
design, data collection and analysis, analysis, presentation of
findings, citing references, publication ...)
CLASS: Thursdays, from 18, 25 October, 8 November 2012 and 6, 13, 20 March
2013 (17.00-20.30)
9 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
3.
Tiempo de trabajo del estudiante / Student
workload
Theory classes
Programmed tutorials
Contact
Expert Seminars
Other: Online work (guided exercises, debate
forum, etc.)
Reading
Practical exercises, summaries, critical analysis of
Nonreadings, etc.
contact
Preparation of assignments
Total Work Load: 25 Hours x 5 ECTS
4.
No.
hours
24 h
4h
6h
percent
42 % = 52
hours
18 h
24 h
13 h
58 % = 73
hours
36 h
125 h
Métodos de evaluación y porcentaje en la
calificación final / Evaluation procedures and
weight of components in the final grade
The first block (weeks 1 to 3) will be assessed through a short research report testing
the student’s ability to write a well-structured research report, and use appropriate
academic language and citation.
The second block will be assessed based on the completion of written or online
assignments. This work will be in conjunction with that for one of the courses related
to a project described.
5.
Semana
Week
Cronograma* / Course calendar
Contenido
Contents
Profesor/a
Teacher
Horas presenciales
Contact hours
1
Writing a Research Report I Rachel
Whittaker
Lectures: 4 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
2
Writing a Research Report
II
Mick O’Donnell
Lectures: 4 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
3
Writing a Research Report
III
Rachel
Whittaker and
Mick O’Donnell
Lectures: 4 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Horas no presenciales
Independent study time
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 6 hrs
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 6 hrs
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 6 hrs
10 de 11
Asignatura: Seminario/Taller de Investigación en Lingüística Aplicada
Código: 32083
Centro: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Titulación: Filología Inglesa
Nivel: Master
Tipo: Obligatoria
Nº de créditos: 5
Semana
Week
4
Contenido
Contents
Language variation, identity Laura Hidalgo
and creativity
The UAM-CLIL project
5
6
7-8
Profesor/a
Teacher
A cognitive approach to the
grammar of landscape
description
Exploring learner
proficiency using a corpus
Ana Llinares
Jesús RomeroTrillo
Susana Murcia,
Mick O’Donnell
Interpreting oral narratives
Manuela
Romano
Theoretical and empirical
issues for the study of
optionality in native and
non-native grammars
Amaya
Mendikoetxea
Horas presenciales
Contact hours
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Programmed Tutorial:
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Programmed Tutorial:
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Programmed Tutorial:
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Programmed Tutorial:
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
Programmed Tutorial:
Lectures: 2 hrs
Online work: 3 hrs
1hr
1hr
Horas no presenciales
Independent study time
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 6 hrs
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments6 hrs
Exercises: 4 hrs
Assignments: 7 hrs
1hr
1hr
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 7 hrs
Exercises: 4 hrs
Assignments: 7 hrs
1hr
Reading: 4 hrs
Exercises: 2 hrs
Assignments: 4 hrs
Seminar: 6 hrs
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