English 3620 Online:

Language Structure and Acquisition for K-8 Teachers

 

fall 2021

General Course Information

 

Instructor: Dr. Robert S. Carlisle
Section: 60; August 23, 2021 to December 09, 2021
Email Address: rcarlisle@csub.edu

Required Texts:

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014).  An Introduction to Language (10th ed.).  (ISBN:  978-1-133-31068-6).

 

Catalogue Description

Systematic examination of the structure of Modern English with emphasis on phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Also covers first and second language

acquisition by children. Course materials also address recent policies and standards as they impact the elementary language arts classroom.

Purpose

The primary purpose of English 3620 is to provide students with the basic knowledge and tools that they will need to be effective Language Arts instructors in the primary grades.  The course introduces students to the basic structure of Modern English with emphasis on phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.  The course also provides students with testing procedures that they will need to conduct independent syntactic analysis in the future.  In addition, the course introduces students to the principles of first and second language acquisition.  Students in the course will learn about the types of linguistic structures that language learners  produce and the reasons for their production.

 

Prerequisites

                                                                                        

The only prerequisite for English 3620 is English 1109 or its equivalent.  Students do not need a background in linguistics or English grammar.

 

 

Technical Requirements and Support

 

Minimum Technical Skills Requirement:

 

Students enrolled in online classes must be able to use the World Wide Web and are responsible for acquiring the skills outlined below if not already proficient in those skills. Ask yourself if you are able to perform these tasks and if not, be sure to acquire these skills prior to the start of class.

 

1.     I know how to use the CSUB Canvas email system to send and receive email and attachments.

2.     I am able to check email daily or every other day Monday through Friday.

3.     I know how to create attachments for email.

4.     I know how to open, save, and manage files in Word and PowerPoint.

5.     For word processing, I am able to edit: copy, cut, paste, find, replace; format: set margins, set headers, set tabs, set automatic page numbering.

6.     I am able to create and back up important files related to coursework.

7.     I have access to a computer and the Internet at home.

8.     The access speed to the internet which I use is through a TV cable or high speed line.

9.     I am able to operate the Firefox web browser.

10.  I know how to use my browser’s Help function for additional assistance.

11.  If a plug-in or other software were required for the course, I would be able to download and install it.

12.  I am able to manage bookmarks (favorites) for sites I visit on the Internet.

13.  I know how to write papers using Microsoft Word including skills such as cutting and pasting.

14.  I am able to perform basic computer system maintenance, operation, and troubleshooting.

15.  I understand a computer problem is not a legitimate excuse for falling behind in assignments.

 

All of the lectures in this class were created using PowerPoint, and students must use a computer with that software installed. Fortunately, PowerPoint is available on every computer on the CSUB campus and on the daughter campus at CSUB-AV. Students who do not have PowerPoint on their personal computers may purchase it at a reduced cost by going through the university bookstore.

If students have difficulty with the content of the class, they need to contact the instructor, preferably using 'Discussion Topics' so that other students can see both the question and the answer.

If students are having any technical problems with Canvas, they need to contact the Canvas Help Desk, either by telephone (661) 654-2307 or by email Helpdesk@csub.edu. Students may also go to the E-Learning Services Building on the east side of the Walter Stiern Library.

Accessibility

California State University, Bakersfield attempts to guarantee access to all classes by all students. Students can find CSUB's accessibility policies and services by going to the website for the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities. In addition, E-Learning Services at CSUB has its own policy for guaranteeing access to students in online classes:

"California State University, Bakersfield is committed to providing equal access to Web-based information for people with disabilities. This is in accordance with Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1998 and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, and Executive Order 926 of California State University."

To achieve the goal of universal accessibility, CSUB uses Canvas as its Learning Management System (LMS), which has received the Nonvisual Accessibility Gold Certification by The National Federation of the Blind.

Course Description

This class extensively examines the major components of the structure of English: phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. The first section of the class introduces language and linguistics and then covers phonology, the sound system of the language. During this section, students will learn the inventory of sounds, how they are formed, and how they are pronounced in different phonological contexts. This section will also cover basic syllable structure, stress, and intonation. For many students, phonology is the most difficult part of the class because it contains so many new concepts and terminology. To facilitate the students' learning of this material, I ask them to study the excellent animated material found at Phonetics: The Sounds of Spoken Language as they are working through the section on phonology. This site contains animations for the production of all sounds in English, displays the symbols for the sounds, and provides example words containing them. Previous students have found this site extremely informative, and even entertaining.

The second section of the class examines morphology, the system for forming and pronouncing words. During this section of the class students will learn what a morpheme is and how they are systematically combined to form complex words.  The second section also covers the word classes of English and how students can identify them

The third section of the class covers syntax, the system for forming phrases and clauses in the language. In this section students will learn how to identify different phrases and clauses by their internal structure and how to correctly identify their grammatical function by applying various tests,

Finally, the fourth section covers semantics and language acquisition.  In the first half this section, students will learn about lexical meaning and how speakers understand the meaning of sentences.  Students will also learn how situational context enables speakers to fully understand the meaning of utterances.

The three major sections of the class are further sub-divided into nine modules, which allow the students to work through the content in a logical sequence. Students take a short examination at the end of seven of the nine modules.

A few given grammatical structures will be presented in reference to children and second language learners. Such an approach enables students to view grammar not as an isolated and irrelevant topic, but rather one that enables them to understand the type of linguistic structures that these groups produce and the reasons for their production. Specifically, we will briefly examine the pronunciation of English by native Spanish speakers and the deletion of inflectional morphemes by elementary school children (both native and non-native speakers of English).

We will also examine the relationship between phonemes and graphemes in English to try to determine why some children have so much difficulty learning to spell and read.

Course Objectives and Student Learning Outcomes

Each of the three divisions of the class contains some broad objectives:

  1. Upon completing Part I: English Phonetics and Phonology, students will be able to:
  2. Upon completing Part II: General Morphology and Word Classes, students will be able to:
  3. Upon completing Part III: Syntax, students will be able to:
  4. Upon completing Part IV: Semantics and Language Acquisition, students will be able to:

To determine whether the students have attained the general course objectives presented above, the instructor has created specific student learning outcomes. Each of the student learning outcomes will be associated with its appropriate module in the course. Students have the opportunity to fulfill the student learning objectives by completing the exercises for each module. Students will then demonstrate their level of knowledge of the learning objectives by taking the examination for the module. The content and form of the examinations are directly related to the exercises, so students must complete the exercises if they expect to do well on the examination.

Pretest

The pretest, which is a requirement for the class, is found in Canvas and will be available to students from 8:00 a.m. one week before classes begin to midnight of the first Sunday after classes begin.  The score on the pretest does not count as part of the students' final average in the class, so students should not study for it. The pretest is an assessment tool to measure student achievement over time from an initial score (the pretest score). After the students take the final examination, which is also the posttest, the instructor can then compare the two scores to determine how much students learned during the quarter. Students can expect to do poorly on the pretest. The average score over the last five years is 38.2. In contrast, the average score on the final exam, which covers the same material as the pretest, is 82.6.

Students must complete all 25 sub-sections of the pretest.  I will remove all students from the class who have not completed the pretest by the deadline stated above.

Before students can view the pretest, they must accept the contract in Course Content.

The Structure of the Course

English 3620 Online is mostly an asynchronous course that allows students to study at their convenience and to work at their own pace, provided that they take all examinations on the scheduled days. As mentioned previously, the course is divided into four major sections: phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics and language acquisition, which in turn are divided into nine modules. Students are expected to follow the order of course content and to take the examination for each module only after they have completed all of the lectures, readings and exercises for that part. To do well in the course, students should precisely adhere to the order of course content and follow the procedure below.

Students will also find some 'Readings' and 'Summary Outlines' in Canvas. Students should become familiar with the titles of these readings and read them at the appropriate point in the class.

Because the examinations are online and programmed to be released on specific dates and times, I must ask students to take their exams on the scheduled dates (see the table below); I have experienced quite a few problems trying to schedule individual examinations. Students will take the seven module examinations and the final examination at any site.

Evaluation

Students are required to take seven module exams during the semester and a comprehensive final. Five of the seven module exams cover individual modules, but Exam 1 covers Modules 1and 2 and Exam 7 covers Modules 8 and 9.  Because all exams are online, all the questions will be objective. However, in some sections students will have to write in a few specific words and at times entire sentences.  Students will also participate in two blog discussions, which occur in the first and seventh modules.

The final average will be calculated according to the information in the table below, which also contains the dates, times, and location of each examination.

 

Examination

Percentage of Grade

Deadlines

Room

Time

Discussion Blogs

10%

See Calendar

Examination 1 covers Modules 1 and 2:  Introduction to Language and English Phonetics

10%

September 09

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 2 covers Module 3:  Phonology and Spelling Patterns

10%

September 23

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 3 covers Module 4:  General Morphology

10%

October 07

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 4 covers Module 5:  Word Classes

10%

October 21

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 5 covers Module 6:  Phrases and Sentence Patterns

10%

November 10

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 6 covers Module 7:  Subordinate Clauses and Grammatical Function

10%

November  23

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Examination 7 covers Modules 8 and 9:  Semantics and Language Acquisition

10%

December 07

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

Comprehensive Final

20%

December 09

any site

6:00 a.m. to midnight

 

 

Students will be able to see their grades immediately after the open period for the exam has expired.

As indicated in the tables above, examinations are given on specific dates and times, and students must take the exams on those dates. Also note that students may take the seven module examinations and the final examination at any site, including home. During those examinations students may use books and notes; however, all sub-sections of the examinations are strictly timed, so students really do not have time to look up answers.

Structure of Examinations

All examinations are online in Canvas, and the sub-sections of the examinations cover the same material as do the online exercises. However, whereas students can retake the online exercises as many times as they wish, they can do the sections of exams only once. In addition, on all examinations students will see only one item at a time, which they must complete before moving on. Once students have completed an item, the system will not allow them to go back and change the answer. During the hours of the exams, students will not have access to the online exercises. Consequently, students need to complete the exercises before the exam begins. Each section is also timed, but I have given students more than enough time to finish. In fact, a statistical analysis of the exams given over the last several years reveals that the average time that students need to finish is less than half of the time provided.

Preparing for Examinations

Students essentially learn the material for this course by doing a large number of exercises in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Over the years, I have discovered a direct correlation between doing the exercises and scores on the examinations; students who complete the online exercises do much better on the examinations than those who do not. Also, students who have higher averages on the exercises do better than those with lower averages. Students may take the online exercises as many times as they wish to increase their knowledge of the subject matter and to improve their grades on the examinations.

Because doing well on the online exercises is so important for success in the class, all students must achieve a minimal average score of 75 for the exercises in each module.  Students who do not attain an average score of 75 on the total number of exercises for each module will not have access to the exam for that module.  Consequently, students will not be able to take the exam and receive an automatic grade of zero, meaning that they will likely fail the class.  In addition, I will remove any student from the class who does not take the first examination.

Before students can take the final examination, students must take the practice exam and earn a score of at least 75. Students may take the practice exam as many times as they wish until they earn that score.  Students will have access to the practice exam one week before the actual final exam.

In this syllabus I have explained quite a few rules for students to follow and their responsibilities in the online/hybrid environment. I suggest that students become quite familiar with these rules and responsibilities.

Grading

The instructor will follow the schema below for assigning grades:

 

Final Average

Grade

94.0-100

A

90.0-93.9

A-

87.0-89.9

B+

84.0-86.9

B

80.0-83.9

B-

77.0-79.9

C+

74.0-76.9

C

70.0-73.9

C-

67.0-69.9

D+

64.0-66.9

D

60.0-63.9

D-

0-59.9

F

 

Policy on Incompletes

Because this is an online class, which goes down after the last day of classes, students may not receive an incomplete grade. Students believing that they cannot finish the class should request to drop.

Communicating with Other Students and the Instructor

Students can communicate with one another by using the Discussion Topics in the Discussions  folder in Canvas.  When writing any questions or comments, students are expected to follow the rules of netiquette by avoiding profanity, sarcasm, and ridicule.  All entries under Discussion Topics are public, and students should place all questions about course content in the appropriate folder in Discussions.  If students do not answer a question posted by another student within 24 hours, the instructor will reply.  To communicate with the instructor, students may also use the instructor’s campus email account.  The instructor makes a dedicated effort to respond to all student email inquiries within 24 hours.

Contract

During the orientation, all students will be asked to sign a contract in Canvas. By signing the contract, students acknowledge that they must take the examinations on the specific dates and times stated in the syllabus. Students can find the contract in Canvas under "Course Content".  Students will not be able to see most of the course content until they have agreed to the contract.

 

Getting to the Course

The course is located on a CSUB server running Cansas, the web-based teaching software used to design the course. To get into Canvas, students need a userid and a password. The userid for all students will be the same as that of their Runner accounts. The initial password for all students is the last five digits of their Runner identification number. However, students can change their passwords once they get into the system.

Important University Dates

September 20, 2021: Last date to withdraw without a "W" being recorded.

November 08, 2021: Last date to withdraw for a serious and compelling reason.

Welcome to the class, and I hope that you enjoy your online experience.

Syllabus for English 3620 Online