General Course Information

Instructor: Dr. Robert S. Carlisle
Office: to be determined
Office Hours: to be determined.
Office Telephone: to be determined.
Office Email Address: rcarlisle@csubak.edu

Archibald, J. (1998). Second Language Phonology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Major, R. C. (2001). Foreign Accent. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates.

Vennemann, T. (1988). Preference Laws for Syllable Structure. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

This seminar provides an intensive examination of recent research in interlanguage phonology and means for evaluating research. Below is a partial list of some of the major topics that will be covered during the semester.

• Research methodology in interlanguage phonology.
• Means of evaluating research.
• The effect of age on acquiring a second-language phonology.
• Syllable structure universals.
• Transfer.
• Variation.
• The interaction between internal and external constraints.
• Markedness.
• The interrelationships between internal contraints and language universals.

The seminar has at least two major goals. The first is to familiarize students with the most current research findings in interlanguage phonology, thus providing them with the necessary background readings to eventually conduct their own research in the field. The second major goal is to examine effective research methods so that students will be able to conduct future research that is both valid and reliable.

The students in this class will be evaluated on three tasks: a ten item annotated bibliography, an oral presentation, and a research paper. Students may choose the same topic for all three assignments in order to develop some depth in a specific content area. A list of possible topics is currently available online. The due dates for the examinations, the annotated bibliography, and the term paper can be found in the schedule of classes.

The final grade will be calculated according to the following schema.

I will schedule a number of office hours per week, and encourage students to meet with me during those hours to discuss their progress in all three of the requirements for the semester: the annotated bibliograpy, the oral presentation, and the term paper. I realize that many students have problems meeting with their instructors at specific times. Therefore, I actively encourage students to send me messages if they have questions about the content of the course.

Syllabus for Seminar