Research, teaching, and advising in Spanish as a second language: Promoting professional excellence through conference attendance

Grant:

Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)

Academic Year:

2012 - 2013 (June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2013)

Funding Requested:

$2,000.00

Project Dates:

Tue, 11/20/2012 - Thu, 10/31/2013

Applicant(s):

lgarciaa

Overview of the Project:

The goal of this proposal is to fund attendance to the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) conference in Dallas, Texas in March 2013 and at the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) in Provo, Utah in October 2013. These are the two most important venues in my major fields of expertise, that is, Second Language Acquisition, Psycholinguistics, and Study Abroad research. Of note, both conferences place equal emphasis on empirical research and classroom-based practices. On the one hand, I will attend research talks based on data-driven second language acquisition research that will inform me of the state-of-the art research in my areas of scholarly expertise. On the other, I will attend talks in the applied tradition that will inform me of the most beneficial classroom practices that promote successful language learning and second language acculturation. Also, these conferences are an excellent opportunity to present my original research from my ongoing project on the development of fluency (i.e., oral performance) and cognitive abilities by second language learners in study abroad and traditional foreign language learning contexts. The courses that I have designed for 2012-2013 draw heavily on my own research, so it is paramount that I receive the best feedback on my findings from experts in the field. Finally, AAAL and SLRF will be offering specialized workshops on study abroad programming (i.e., costs, sites, requirements) that will also benefit me in my role as Study Abroad advisor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

I received funding from the Lecturer’s Professional Development program to attend two highly regarded international conferences to present my research, attend other colleagues’ talks, and participate in discussions that enhanced my knowledge of the practices of foreign language teaching, learning, and advising. The first conference was the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL), held in Dallas, Texas from March 16 to the 19, 2013. The second conference was the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF), held at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah in October 2013.

Project Achievements:

One major achievement was that I interacted with peers in the field of Second Language Acquisition and discussed my research projects on the development of fluency and cognitive abilities in the study abroad context. It was a great benefit to receive feedback on my research projects, as three courses that I taught at UM during the grant period related directly to the area of Second Language Acquisition: Spanish Second Language Acquisition (Fall 2013 and Summer 2013), Study Abroad Research (Winter 2013), and Teaching Methods of Spanish (Fall 2013 and Winter 2014). The feedback that I received on my research helped to shape the courses that I designed and, more specifically, the research practices that my students implemented during those courses. A second achievement was that during the SLRF conference, I attended a workshop on the eye-tracking paradigm, which is perhaps the most cutting-edge research methodology in second language acquisition. Based on the knowledge gained during this workshop, I implemented numerous curriculum changes to my Spanish Second Language Acquisition course; as a result, my students were informed of the most up-to-date research practices in the field. A third achievement was that I learned highly useful information about Spanish study abroad programs. As part of my duties as Lecturer III in Romance Languages and Literatures, I advise Spanish language concentrators and minors on which study abroad programs are most suitable for them based on their learning backgrounds, language proficiency, and second language goals. The AAAL conference offered a special colloquium on second language learning in the study abroad context. This colloquium afforded me knowledge on the different Spanish-language programs that are currently available, including program costs, requirements, expectations, and durations. The knowledge that I gained was of great interest to the large pool of University of Michigan undergraduates who spend part of their undergraduate careers in the study abroad context.

Continuation:

Yes, the research aspect of the project is continuing well beyond the grant period. For example, I continue to mentor excellent UROP students who help to transcribe, code, and analyze my second language fluency data. Currently, we are examining the impact of study abroad on second language pronunciation, namely on the pronunciation of intervocalic stop consonants in English-speaking learners of Spanish. We are processing our data and hope to submit an abstract for presentation at AAAL in Toronto, Canada in March 2015.

Dissemination:

Based on the findings of my research project (and the feedback that I received from the audience of both conferences), I am currently drafting two manuscripts to be submitted to top journals in my field of research. The first manuscript concerns use of language contact questionnaires in the study context, to be submitted to Applied Linguistics. The second manuscript concerns psycholinguistic development in the study abroad context and its correlation to fluency development, to be submitted to Frontiers in Psychology.

Advice to your Colleagues:

My collaboration with UROP has been a great benefit for advancing the research aspect of my project. CRLT aided in funding my conference travel, and UROP aided in funding research assistance. My undergraduate students also benefited greatly from the research experience, and this has helped to inform them of the many aspects related to research and of the benefit of conducing research, from a theoretical as well as a practical perspective.

PRINTER VERSION

SEND BY EMAIL