Writing in a foreign language: linguistic and cognitive aspects

Teacher(s)

Degand Elisabeth;

Language

Dutch

Main themes

Theoretical overview of the field of first and foreign language writing with a focus on the cognitive processes involved. Introduction to the psycho-experimental methods in writing. Theoretical overview of the field of first and foreign language writing with a focus on the cognitive processes involved. Introduction to the psycho-experimental methods in writing.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

auront un aperçu du domaine des études discursives traitant de la production écrite en langue première et langue étrangère, y compris les questions de recherche principales; pourront formuler des questions de recherches spécifiques et les opérationnaliser, auront  une expérience pratique de l’élaboration d’un design psycho-expérimental et/ou d’analyse de corpus  Cette unité d’enseignement contribue au développement et à la maitrise des compétences et acquis des programmes de l’Ecole de langues et lettres suivants (cf. Tableau des AA ELAL) :  1.6; 2.6; 3.1 ; 4.1; 4.5, 5.1; 6.4

Content

The seminar addresses the linguistic proficiency and cognitive mastery factors influencing foreign language writing. After an overview of the research question, students will develop a research plan and test a discourse production elicitation task in Dutch as a foreign language.  The students will develop the experimental protocol, the recruitment of participants and the experimental implementation. Data analysis will be done individually with each student taking responsibility for a specific part of the analysis. The impact of factors will be measured on the presence/absence of linguistic traits to be defined.
Alternatively, students will contribute to the collection of new data for the Leerdercorpus Nederlands and will analyse these data using corpus-based methods.

Teaching methods

Research seminar consisting of discussions of the experimental theories and methods presented, one of which will be replicated by the students involving all stages of the experimental protocol: 

• definition of the research question and hypotheses 
• preparation of the experimental material and/or items 
• recruitment of participants 
• conducting the experiment 
• analysis of the data 
• presentation of the results 

Evaluation methods

Oral presentation et written research report

Bibliography

Portfolio sur Moodle

Faculty or entity

> ELAL