Spring 2013

 

302 (1) Second Language Learning	MWF	8:30-9:20	staff
302 (2) Second Language Learning	MWF	9:30-10:20	staff
302 (3) Second Language Learning	TR	9:00-10:15	Ahn
303 (1) Second Language Teaching	MWF	10:30-11:20	Fukukawa
303 (2) Second Language Teaching	TR	9:00-10:15	staff
303 (3) Second Language Teaching	TR	1:30-2:45	staff
312 (1) Techniques in SL Teaching: Reading & Writing	MWF	10:30-11:20	Gilliland
313 (1) Techniques in SL Teaching: Listening & Speaking	MWF	9:30-10:20	Lee
380 (1) Bilingual Education	MWF	8:30-9:20	Sharma
380 (2) Bilingual Education	MWF	1:30-2:20	staff
418 (1) Instructional Media	TR	1:30-2:45	Wilding
430 (1) Pidgin and Creole English in Hawaii	MWF	11:30-12:20	Sakoda
441 (1) Language Concepts for SL Learning & Teaching	TR	10:30-11:45	Grüter
441 (2) Language Concepts for SL Learning & Teaching	MW	9:30-10:45	Schwartz
460 (1) English Phonology	MWF	9:30-10:20	Takeda
480N (1) Topics in SL Analysis: Corpus Linguistics in the L2 Classroom	TR	9:00-10:15	Onnis
480P (1) Topics in SL Pedagogy: (topic to be announced)	MWF	10:30-11:20	staff
480P (2) Topics in SL Pedagogy: Professionalism in SLS	TR	10:30-11:45	Faucette & Harsch
480R (1) Topics in SL Research: (topic to be announced)	MWF	11:30-12:20	staff
480U (1) Topics in SL Use: Communicative and Interactional Competence	MWF	1:30-2:20	Burch
490 (1) SL Testing	TR	9:00-10:15	Hudson
600 (1) Introduction to Second Language Studies	MW	11:00-12:15	staff
613 (1) SL Listening & Speaking	TR	10:30-11:45	Gilliland
620 (1) SL Reading	MW	3:00–4:15	Day
630 (1) SL Program Development	TR	1:30-2:45	Brown
650 (1) Second Language Acquisition	MW	9:30-10:45	Schmidt
660 (1) Sociolinguistics & SL	TR	10:30-11:45	Davis
670 (1) SL Quantitative Research	TR	1:30-2:45	Hudson
678 (1) Discourse Analysis	MW	11:00-12:15	Higgins
680N (1) SL Analysis: Generative Approaches to L2 (morpho) Syntax	W	3:00-5:50	Schwartz
680N (2) SL Analysis: Corpus Linguistics in the L2 Classroom	T	3:00-5:50	Onnis
680P (2) SL Pedagogy: Materials Development	F	1:30-4:20	Day
730 (1) Seminar in SL Education: Critical Pedagogy & Motivation	R	3:00-5:50	Crookes
750 (1) Seminar in SL Acquisition: Linguistic Relativity & the Role of the L1 in SLA	F	9:30-12:15	Grüter
750 (2) Seminar in SL Acquisition: Social Media, Agency, & Languaging	T	3:00-5:50	Zheng
760 (1) Seminar in SL Use: The Sociolinguistics of Multilingualism	M	3:00-5:50	Higgins
760 (2) Seminar SL Use: Language, Identity, and Ethnography	W	3:00-5:50	Davis
760 (3) Seminar in SL Use: Categorization and Epistemics in (Inter)Action	W	3:00-5:50	Kasper

SLS 312: Techniques in Second Language Teaching – Reading & Writing. Gilliland.
Website: https://laulima.hawaii.edu/portal

Course Description
This course provides an overview of the theoretical and practical issues involved in the teaching of second or foreign language (L2) reading and writing. The theoretical and empirical perspectives are integrated with practical experiences. It will be taught as an “O” focus course (oral communication), so preparation for and feedback on student presentation skills will be an important part of the course.

Student Learning Outcomes
KNOWLEDGE: Through this course, students will become familiar with:
• How people learn to read and write an additional language (in general terms)
• Approaches for teaching reading and writing, based on current thinking regarding good practice
• Specific instructional techniques for developing various aspects of reading and writing
• Characteristics of effective materials and activities for developing reading and writing skills
• How different contexts may influence choice of teaching approach, materials, and activities

SKILLS: Through this course, students will learn to:
• Design lesson-plans, materials, and activities which are appropriate for your teaching context and goals
• Implement classroom activities in an effective manner for a specific educational context
• Evaluate the usefulness of educational materials for developing reading and writing
• Produce useful professional genres such as lesson plans, presentation handouts, rationales and reflection papers
• Analyze classroom teaching performance, including your own and the performance of others.
• Explain and justify teaching decisions using appropriate academic frameworks

DISPOSITIONS AND ATTITUDES: Through this course, students will develop:
• An understanding of the value of collaboration, by collaborating with classmates in teaching-related activities
• An understanding of the usefulness of reflecting on their own experiences and performance for developing as a teacher

Required Textbook and Readings
• Nation, I.S.P. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL reading and writing. New York: Routledge.
• Harmer, J. (2004). How to teach writing. Essex, England: Pearson Longman.
• Other readings may be assigned from time to time as needed. These readings will be posted on Laulima.

 

SLS 441 (1) (2): Language Concepts for Second Language Learning and Teaching. Schwartz. Gruter.

This course is an introduction to the study of language, with particular attention to the structure of English.  It will examine the component parts of language, namely, phonetics and phonology (the sound system), morphology (the internal structure of words), syntax (the structure of phrases and sentences), and semantics and pragmatics (meaning) as well as touch on other linguistic topics (e.g., language typology, first language acquisition, etc.).  While emphasis will be given to the structure of English, especially its morphosyntax, data from other languages will also be looked at.  The overall goals are (a) to become familiar with the key concepts and terminology needed to describe and analyze language; (b) to gain a basic understanding of the way language works; (c) to appreciate how languages differ (and how they’re the same); and (d) to help in your reading of the primary (second language acquisition) literature.

The course will be a combination of assigned readings, lectures, exercises, small group discussions and individual/group projects.  No prior knowledge of linguistics or language description is assumed

 

SLS480P: Professionalism in SLS. Faucette & Harsch.

Through this course, which serves as the capstone experience in the SLS bachelor’s degree, students reflect upon their learning and accomplishments throughout the pursuit of their degrees, become acquainted with diverse concepts of and approaches to professionalism in the field, and formally compile a professional portfolio. Evidence of learning and accomplishments will include academic writing, presentations, artifacts and reflections on teaching, service, and research experiences, and professional development experiences. Expanding from these initial items, students create important elements of their portfolios (including curricula vitae, statements of professional philosophy (often, but not limited to, philosophy of teaching), cover letters, instructional materials, research papers/presentations, web sites, and so on) and conduct information searches in fields and locations for future employment or graduate study. All portfolios will be formally presented to the Department of  SLS, as well as within the class.

 

SLS 480U: Communicative and Interactional Competence. Burch.

When we teach a language, we all know what the final goal is, right? Or do we? What does it
take to be ‘competent’ in a language? This class will start with the notion of Communicative
Competence (for those of you who read Dick Schmidt’s paper about Wes, the Japanese artist,
this should sound familiar). It will then move into concepts such as the broad notion of Interactional
Competence, including Pragmatic, Strategic, and Sequential competence, amongst others. We’ll
consider 1) what do ‘competent’ speakers of a language actually do, 2) how to teach with the
goal of interactional competence in mind, and 3) issues related to testing interactional competence.

 

SLS 490: Second Language Testing. Hudson.

SLS 490 is an introductory testing course for second and foreign language teachers who have had little or no formal training in language testing. The focus is on the measurement and evaluation of achievement and proficiency in a second language. The class will be structured in a lecture/discussion format. You will be responsible for completing all readings and homework on time. This will frequently be the basis for the class discussion.  Prerequisite SLS 302, SLS 441, Ling 102 or Graduate standing. The learning goals are as below:

1. To provide students with knowledge of the basic content issues in language testing.

2. To provide students with a basic knowledge of the psychometric issues involved in language testing. This course does not assume any advanced math knowledge on the part of the students. However, it does assume that you know how to figure percentages, add, subtract, multiply and divide. If you do not know this, you will need to refresh your memory outside of class.

3. To provide the student with experience in constructing and evaluating language tests.

 

SLS613: Second Language Listening and Speaking. Gilliland.

Course Description

The course focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching the listening and speaking skills to second language students by examining such topics as the components of conversational competence, approaches to developing a curriculum for the speaking skills, developing learning tasks, methodological issues, use of questions in the classroom, the role of dialogs, group work, games, and role plays. In the area of listening other topics include the process of listening, methodological principles, listening to narratives, conversations, monologs, and lectures. A section is devoted to evaluating materials and the classroom activities that have been discussed.

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding the theoretical issues involved in the listening and speaking processes and instruction in L2 settings
• Developing, adapting, and evaluating listening and speaking tasks, activities, and materials
• Familiarity with or experience in conducting either L2 listening or speaking research
• Practice in reflection, self-inquiry, and self-evaluation as tools in developing as L2 listening and speaking teachers.

Textbooks

Field, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (ISBN 978-0-521-68570-2)

Goh, C. C. M., & Burns, A. (2012). Teaching speaking: A holistic approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (ISBN 978-1-107-64833-3)

Other readings will be available in the Resources folder on Laulima

 

SLS 620 Second Language Reading. Day.

This course is an examination of the nature of second language (L2) reading processes, of methodologies in its teaching, and of research. The theoretical aspects of the course are integrated with practical concerns and experiences including observation, classroom practices, assessment, and materials development, selection, adaptation, and evaluation.

The course is organized around readings, lectures, group discussions, practical activities, journals, microteaching, and student presentations. The learning outcomes include [a] experience in developing,  adapting, and evaluating reading tasks, activities, and materials; [b] familiarity with L2 reading research; and [c] practice in reflection, self-inquiry, and self-evaluation as tools in developing as L2 reading teachers.

Core Requirements:

• Attendance and participation
• Observation and report of L2 reading classes
• Participation in a reading metaphor project
• Preparation and presentation of a poster

Individual Requirements:

In addition to the core requirements, students will propose their own individual requirements (e.g., critique an L2 reading resource or professional book or materials; design and pilot an empirical investigation into some aspect of L2 reading; develop a set of L2 reading materials).

Required Texts:

Day, R. R. & Bamford, J.  (1998)  Extensive reading in the second language classroom.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press.

Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

SLS 630: Second Language Program Development. Brown . 

An examination of procedures used in designing, implementing and evaluating language programs.  This course will survey key issues in language curriculum development, introduce students to a systems‑based approach to program and curriculum development, and provide opportunities for practical experience in developing language curriculum. To those ends, we will cover: (a) the history of curriculum design in language programs, (b) the systems approach to language curriculum design, implementation, and maintenance, (c) language needs analysis, (d) goals and objectives for language programs, (e) language testing for norm‑referenced and criterion‑referenced purposes, (f) choosing, adapting and creating language materials for a specific program, (g) teaching in a systems approach language curriculum, (h) evaluation at the program level for improvement and maintenance of curriculum.

The required text is Brown, J.D. (1995). The elements of language curriculum: A systematic approach to program development. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Other more recent readings will be assigned to supplement that textbook.

 

SLS 650:  Second Language Acquisition. Schmidt.

This course introducees students to the field of second language acquisition (SLA), the discipline that studies the learning of any language after the first language or mother tongue, by children and adults, learning naturalistically or with the aid of formal instruction, in second, foreign, and heritage language settings. SLA focuses on many specific questions, including universal features of the learning process (e.g., cross-linguistic influence; the roles of innate factors and environmental triggers; formal, cognitive, and interactionist explanations for developmental), individual differences (e.g., age, aptitude, motivation), and socio-cultural and other contextual factors that affect learning. Relationships are explored between SLA theory & research and language teaching. An empirically based research project is required.

 

SLS 670: Second Language Quantitative Research. Hudson. 

SLS 670 introduces basic design, measurement, analysis, and inference procedures used in second language quantitative research.  The course addresses a range of topics critical to the accurate and ethical use of quantitative methods in L2 studies, including: (a) the purposes and roles of research; (b) literature review and the generation of research questions; (c) study design strategies for gathering, organizing, and analyzing quantitative data; (d) the importance of accuracy (and error) in developing and using measures and other data elicitation procedures; (e) critical reading of research reports; and (f) current concerns with the use of statistical significance testing, the role to be played by power analysis, effect sizes, and confidence intervals, and the nature of ‘scientific research’.

Statistical techniques covered in this course include a variety of applications within the following broad categories:

• description
• comparison of means
• comparison of frequencies
• correlation and prediction
• effect sizes and confidence intervals

The course will address statistics from three perspectives: principles (logic and use), practice (how to calculate and interpret), and presentation (how to display and report). For each technique, the use of computerized tools is demonstrated, and students are afforded practice opportunities through analytic exercises.

 

 

SLS 678: Discourse analysis. Higgins.

This course will provide opportunities to develop a critical understanding of the theories and methods of discourse analysis as they apply to language use, learning, teaching, and education in first, second, and multilingual environments.  The course will be structured as a survey of key discourse analytic frameworks, including interactional sociolinguistics, critical discourse analysis, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, and post-structuralist analysis. Participants will read theoretical discussions alongside empirical studies that use discourse analysis to deepen their understandings of the field.  Requirements for the course will include leading discussion, presenting data for analysis, and analyzing discourse data for a 15-20 page term paper.

Required text:

Gee, J. 2011. How to do discourse analysis: A toolkit. New York and London: Routledge. (purchase on your own).

Recommended texts:

Hyland, K. & Paltridge, B. (eds.) 2011. The Continuum companion to discourse analysis. London: Continuum.

Machin, D. & Mayr, A. 2012. How to do critical discourse analysis. London: Sage.

 

SLS 680N(1): Generative approaches to L2 (morpho)syntax. Schwartz.

A growing body of research ties together current linguistic theory and nonnative language (L2) acquisition.  The overall goal of this type of research (in which the focus on syntax far surpasses all other domains) is to create a conceptually and empirically well-grounded theory of L2 acquisition of grammar. The aims of this course are to become familiar with some current work on theoretical approaches to L2 acquisition whose underpinnings stem from (generative) linguistic theory.  We will closely examine conceptual and empirical research that speaks to issues relevant to such approaches.  In general, although we will concentrate on L2 acquisition (with comparisons to native language acquisition) from within one particular theory of syntax, namely, the Principles and Parameters (P&P) framework of Universal Grammar, it is also expected that other topics on L2 acquisition of interest to the class will be touched on.

The course will be a combination of lectures and student presentations of readings.  While familiarity with introductory syntax is highly desirable, time will be taken in class to ensure understanding of the necessary linguistic background.  A term paper will be required.

SLS 480N/680N: Introduction to Corpus Linguistics in the L2 classroom. Onnis.

This course introduces students to the principles and practice of using corpora for language learning and teaching. A language corpus is a collection of either written texts or transcriptions of recorded speech, made available electronically for automatic search and analysis. The goal of the course is to make the ideas of corpus linguistics accessible to language researchers and teachers as well as to provide opportunities to use the applications of corpus linguistics in the classroom.

The course is organized around three components: (1) a general introduction to corpus linguistics, which contains a brief look at the theory and principles of corpus linguistics; (2) a review of corpus-influenced materials and commonly used corpora;  and (3) a set of corpus-designed activities that rely on several computerized tools to teach a variety of language skills. We will review tasks and activities that invite students to interact with real language material.  At the end of the course, students will be able to use available corpora effectively to create authentic classroom material and activities.

 

SLS 680P(2): L2 Materials Evaluation, Selection, Adaptation and Development. Day.

The goal is to provide an understanding of the theoretical and practical considerations involved in evaluating, selecting, designing, developing, and adapting second and foreign language materials.  This is accomplished through three related activities.  The first activity involves students becoming well versed in the focus of their materials project (e.g., oral fluency, writing). The second is an examination of theoretical beliefs and assumptions of the purposes and roles of materials in L2 teaching.  In this examination, the focus is on the ways in which materials reflect beliefs concerning how second and foreign languages are taught and learned.  The third activity involves practical experiences in evaluating, selecting, designing, developing and adapting materials.  The focus will be on materials that will be used for the UBU-UH SLS 690 project. Accordingly, enrollment is restricted to graduate students who will participate in the UBU-UH SLS 690 project 2013.

While there will be a number of required readings, the major focus of the course is practical experiences in evaluating, selecting, designing, developing, and adapting materials for the UBU-UH SLS 690 project.

Students who complete this course will be able to:

• construct appropriate and useful checklists or other forms for evaluating and selecting materials for language teaching.
• assist teachers and supervisors in evaluating and selecting materials for language teaching.
• evaluate, select, design, develop, and adapt second and foreign language materials.

SLS 730 (1) Seminar in SL Education (Critical Pedagogy and Motivation)

Many language teachers have personal values that support social justice. If language teaching is seen as primarily neutral, they will have little opportunity to manifest those values. But critical pedagogy provides an alternative viewpoint. Critical pedagogy has become more and more visible in language teaching over the last couple of decades. At first it was seen as something only possible in ESL contexts, particularly with immigrants. Increasingly, it is being explored by go-ahead teachers in EFL situations as well.

The term “critical pedagogy” encompasses a range of curricular and classroom practice trends. Originally concerned mainly with oppression seen in terms of class, it is now far broader and flexibly considers matters of gender, race, and sexual orientation as well. It is also consistent with older alternative trends in curriculum such as peace education and environmental education. Critical pedagogy takes for granted the idea that topics of value in the real lives of students would be motivating.

Motivation is a long-standing area of investigation in second language studies. With some exceptions, the topic has been approached from mainstream rather than critical perspectives. In the second part of this course, we will direct our attention to both core elements of the existing mainstream literature and more critically-oriented studies, with a view to developing researchable questions as well as identifying useful classroom and curricular practices that support students’ motivation from critical perspectives.

SLS 750 (2)  Seminar in SL Acquisition: Social media, agency, and languaging. Zheng.

This seminar will provide opportunities for students to investigate a wide array of social media and their implications for SLA, language teaching, curriculum development and instructional design. The notion of agency becomes clearly important for understanding the role of social media in these concepts. From diverse traditions, such as cognitive, sociocultural, dialogical, ecological and distributed perspectives, agency can be treated as learner autonomy in cognitive views; as a “socioculturally mediated and dialectically enacted” activity in sociocultural theory (Lantolf & Thorne, 2006); as flexible action that takes into account environmental factors that reveal both prospectivity and retrospectivity (Reed, 1996) in the ecological framework; as “a dialogical self, contextually interdependent with others and with contexts, moving between different positionings but still part of continuities” (Linell, 2009, p. 113); as part of the dynamics of human interactivity that gives rise to the use of linguistic aspects, material artifacts and values-realization (Steffensen and Cowley, 2010; Hodges, 2009; Thibault, 2011).

A related concept that the seminar will also explore is “languaging”. This term and concept has emerged in recent applied linguistics work (cf “grammaring”; Larsen-Freeman, 2003) and “output-languaging” (Swain, 2006) to discussions of the biosemiotics of doing things together recurrently in the praxis of socioculturally established activities of daily life (Maturana, 1988). It has also been connected to a dialogical understanding of linguistic actions and activities in actual communication and thinking (Linell, 2009). Agency and languaging are inseparable when looking at language learning and development as a holistic endeavor.

The course explores these concepts recently emerging in applied linguistics (and related fields such as cognitive sciences, philosophy and psychology) as central to a distributed view of language that values pairs of perspectives: cognitive and social/environmental factors; linguistic and languaging phenomena; human autonomy and agency. In this light, we will examine the omnipresent role of social media for shaping agency and languaging practices and vice versa. An array of social media including social networks, mobile apps, digital narrative production, film making, affective computing and gaming will be explored.

By engaging with readings, and in online and face-to-face discussions, interaction with guest lecturers, hands-on activities on wide range of social media and analytic tools, and a research project (a design project or app development will be also acceptable), we will fulfill the main class goal of developing new perspectives on second language learning and development and how we learn in general. Students will also gain a theoretical perspective that is applicable for curriculum development, instructional design and application development.

SLS 760: The Sociolinguistics of Multilingualism. Higgins.

The goal of this seminar is to develop a deep understanding of key issues in contemporary scholarship on the sociolinguistics of multilingualism and to become familiar with research approaches widely used in this field. Accordingly, the seminar will explore the sociolinguistics of multilingualism within the framework of superdiversity (Blommaert & Rampton, 2011; Vertovec, 2007), a term that refers to new forms of diversity resulting from increased transnational migration and intercultural contact. We will examine sociolinguistic concepts such as sociolinguistic domains, language ideologies, and the relationship between individual and societal multilingualism, and we will compare past research with current work on superdiversity. In addition, we will become familiar with research on contemporary multilingual practices in a range of contexts, including schools, the home, the workplace, the media, and popular culture. The course will focus on multilingualism in face-to-face interaction, in media representations, and in linguistic landscapes. The seminar will also engage with social theory to shed light on contemporary issues connected to globalization and late modernity. Students will share in discussion leading, present their work, and produce a 25 page term paper or manuscript formatted for submission to an academic journal.

Required text:

Weber, J. J., & Horner, K. 2012. Introducing multilingualism: A social approach. New York and London: Routledge. (purchase on your own).

Additional readings will be in the form of articles and book chapters, in addition to those selected from these publications:

Blommaert, J. & Rampton, B. Language and superdiversity. Diversities. 2011, 13, (2) 
www.unesco.org/shs/diversities/vol13/issue2/art

Blommaert, J. 2010. The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge University Press.

Gardner, S. & Martin-Jones, M. (eds). 2012. Multilingualism, discourse, and ethnography. Routledge.

Higgins, C. (ed.) 2011. Identity formation in globalizing contexts: Language learning in the new millennium. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Vertovec S. (2007) Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(6):1024-54.

 

SLS 760:  Language, Identity, and Ethnography. Davis

This course involves in-depth exploration of language and identity diversity along with study of ethnographic research intended to inform and address inequity.  Diversity is increasingly understood as encompassing transnational flows of ideas, ideologies, people, images, messages, and technologies that are moderated by situated historical, linguistic, and political individual and collective actions.  Individuals often display membership of multiple groups depending not only on ethnicity, language group and nationality, but also on their personal beliefs and agency about the languages they speak and the socio-political and economic currency of those languages. At the same time, individuals may develop hybrid cultural identities through ongoing crossing of cultural and social borders.  Language scholars such as Anthias (2001), Block (2006), and Rampton (2011) suggest that identity is not simply inherited or endowed; rather it is co-constructed through ongoing interaction of individuals with their sociocultural environment.

Dell Hymes (1974) introduced ethnography of communication as the study of language and social interaction that is grounded in particular histories, places, and cultures and informed by sociopolitical conditions.  While ethnography draws on an array of research methods (e.g. participant observation, interviews, interactional/textual analyses, and narratives), it is not simply a set of methods but an anti-hegemonic science (Hymes, 1974) or, as framed by Luke (1996:vii), a “science of activism and intervention” that seeks to address social inequity. The course draws on this ethnographic heritage as well as recent trends towards engaged ethnography (Davis et. al., forthcoming; Hornberger & Johnson, 2011; McCarty, 2011) in reading, discussing, and doing research that addresses the language, identity, and equity questions of particular interest to students.

Course final paper projects can involve working individually or collaboratively on a range of activities that explore diversity, language policies, and transformative practices, such as a research proposal, an ethnographic study, or critical/engaged pedagogical plans for a particular second language/multilingual population.

 

760 (3) Seminar in SL Use: Categorization and Epistemics in (Inter)Action. Kasper.

The seminar will be concerned with two current research directions in conversation analysis, both of which examine the roles of practical knowledge in interaction. Building on Sacks’s early descriptions of participants’ methods for producing social and cultural knowledge in action, recent work has shown up further operations of category work in talk (Bilmes, 2011; Hester & Hester, 2012) and proposed to align categorization analysis with the objectives and methods of sequential CA (Stokoe, 2012). Stokoe’s proposal has renewed a longstanding controversy between ethnomethodology and CA about CA’s project to demonstrate generic orders of interaction through collection-based analysis. Partially intersecting with the categorization of personal and impersonal objects, social epistemics refers to the ways in which participants manage knowledge in their talk, their relative rights to know, and consequently their entitlements to description and evaluation. Although participants’ management of knowledge was a very early concern in CA, the current research program on social epistemics began with two recent articles by Heritage and Raymond, showing how epistemic primacy and subordination are implicated in the construction of social identities and relationships. Stivers, Mondada and Steensig’s edited volume on TheMorality of Knowledge in Conversation (2011) offers crosslinguistic evidence that participants’ local management of knowledge, and especially of epistemic asymmetries, has a far more powerful and pervasive role in interaction than previously thought. Heritage (2012a, b) sums up his proposal on epistemics in action and proposes the metaphor of “epistemic engine” to describe how knowledge asymmetries propel interactional sequences forward.

The seminar pursues three goals: (a) to update ourselves on current debates on categorization and social epistemics, (b) to examine the uptake that both lines of research have had in the literature on multilingual talk, and (c) to explore further topics for the study of categorization and social epistemics in multilingual ordinary conversation and institutional talk, including learning and development.

 

All required texts will be available on Laulima or through electronic resources.