Random Quote
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.
---- Kin Hubbard
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork.
---- Edward Abbey
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
---- Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
SLA essay #2
The second assignment for my SLA course is interesting, difficult, and at the same time easier than the first one. It is easier because the assignment is very explicit: you can read all four pages (doc) if you wish. Below is an excerpt.
This assignment involves collecting a small sample of empirical data, and writing a report based on the analysis of this data. The aim of this exercise is for you to get a feel for what is involved in collecting and analysing second language data. Since not all candidates will have previously completed a research methods course, you will not be expected to conduct a carefully controlled experimental study or to use inferential statistics
I have not completed a research methods class, so it is good that I do not have to use statistics. In the fall I am taking that class.
There are two options. I will probably choose to do option one - the relevant part is below:
The data which you analyse should come from one of the following sources.
Transcribe approximately 10-15 minutes of the data in as much detail as you can manage. Ensure that you transcribe all the errors of the second language learner(s). A set of transcription conventions from van Lier (1988) is in your printed Course Readings..
Option 1
A structured interview. Before doing the interview, think about the research question(s) you are asking and the information that you need to obtain to answer this question. If you are setting out to investigate a particular aspect of language learning (eg finding out about someone’s learning strategies or motivation), your interview will be more focused and your questions will tend to be fairly specific. With this type of interview, you can use the research literature to help you to frame your questions.
I have already chosen two students that I think would be good subjects. I haven’t yet contacted them as I have not prepared the questions I need to nor have I finished the reading. These students are from my last job and I have taught them many times so they should be comfortable talking with me while recording.
My focus will be on learner strategies and how they consciously employ them to aid their language acquisition. I’m sure that I will have more data than I need to as both girls are very loquacious and excitable. Interestingly all of my ex-colleagues who have taught these two girls agree that their personalities are also extremely different from the typical Korean university student. I am sure that the personality differences are also a contributing factor to their success - If I can I will try to work that into the essay but as I am envisioning it now, I do not think it will fit.
All transcriptions, and the audio-tape(s) from which they were transcribed, should be included in an appendix as part of the assignment
I do not have a cassette recorder nor access to one. Since I now have to buy something I have written the professor a message asking if I can use a digital recording device and make a CD or preferably leave a copy of the recording on my web site for download. If not I guess I will have to buy a cassette recorder, but it seems like such a waste of money to buy something so archaic to use only once. At least with a digital recorder I can find other uses for it.
Good luck to me.
