EDDN 636 Linguistic Structure of the English Language – Sociolinguistic Perspective
Course Description
This course provides an understanding of basic linguistic concepts and their applications for TESOL instruction. Students will be introduced to the essential concepts of language development and modern linguistic components that are relevant to first and second language pedagogy. Specific concepts include: phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, pragmatics, discourse
analysis, and the nature of regional and social variations in English and the relationship between dialects and ethnic identity. Students will explore the origins, diversity, and functions of human languages, in addition to the relationship between language and society. Students will also study key concepts of sociolinguistics in order to gain a solid understanding of the social and cultural dimensions of language. Includes 10 hours of fieldwork. 3 credits
Michele Goldin is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education and TESOL at Touro University Graduate School of Education. She received her Ph.D. in Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition from Rutgers University. Her research broadly focuses on child bilingualism. As a heritage speaker of Spanish herself, she strives to increase our understanding of bilingual development with direct implications for successful academic outcomes, language policy and pedagogy, as well as bilingual and dual-language education.
Valerie Szuster is a 7th and 8th grade World Languages Teacher at Richard R. Sherman Great Neck North Middle School. She is of Argentine and Colombian descent, and speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, French, and Hebrew! She earned her BA in French Secondary Education from New York University and is currently completing her MS in TESOL at Touro University.
Dr. Michele Goldin: “Mrs. Szuster’sfieldwork project, a case study, shows a keen understanding of the foundations of research. For the project, she collected a speech sample from an ELL, analyzed two areas of language in which the student encountered some challenges (phonetics and syntax), designed and implemented an activity to address each of these challenges, and then reflected on the results of the activity.”
From a World Languages teacher’s perspective, I find myself using a lot of games, visuals, and TPR in the classroom, such as battleship, bingo, dominos, and Kahoot, to decrease the sense of fears, triggers to the affective filter, and increase students’ participation.
Touro University, Graduate School of Education
Bilingual Teacher Candidate Valerie Szuster
Dr. J's Education Blog 