750 (2) Eye-tracking Methods in Language Research

This course will introduce students to eye-tracking as a tool to investigate language processing and learning. We will cover readings from the fields of psycholinguistics (where eye-tracking is well-established), second language acquisition (where eye-tracking is becoming established), and language assessment (where eye-tracking has begun to be used more recently). The main focus will be on the visual world paradigm, with briefer coverage of eye-tracking while reading and other applications. As a collective class project, we will attempt to replicate a published eye-tracking study. In addition, each student will develop an individual research proposal for an experimental SLA study using eye-tracking. As this seminar will include hands-on work with the SMI eye-tracking systems in the Tracker Lab (Moore 427), students taking this class will have to be willing and able to come to campus.

Prerequisites: SLS 650, or consent of the instructor; some background in psycholinguistics and/or quantitative methods is desirable.