Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

FCE/ENG 473/573
Final Project

The final project will be done over a period of the entire semester. Students will conduct
an interview with someone who is learning English as a second language, which will be
audio recorded. Students will create interview questions that will allow them to analyze
this interview according to the five linguistic components that will be covered in the first
part of the term. As the course progresses from topic to topic, students will be required to
maintain a portfolio (BB discussions) of their work showing their progress in order to be
able to be graded on the project in May. The interview should be conducted at the end of
October in order to give time for the audio analysis and the 10-12 page report.

Blackboard Discussion Topics:

Step 1. Phonology. What are we interested in looking for when we think of someone’s
phonology in their 2nd language? What are some sounds that are present in the L1 but not
in English? Would these cause problems?

Step 2. Morphology. What are we interested in looking for when we think of someone’s
morphology in their 2nd language? Are the problems found common among all (most) 2nd
language learners?

Step 3. Syntax. What are we interested in looking for when we think of someone’s
syntax in their 2nd language? What structures could be problematic for someone learning
English as a 2nd language?

Step 4. Semantics. What are we interested in looking for when we think of someone’s
semantics in their 2nd language? How difficult is it to learn? How strong do your L2
language skills have to be semantically in order to do well on the OPI?

Step 5. Sociolinguistics. What are some aspects to consider? How does this affect a
language learner? How difficult is it for someone to learn English in one region and then
communicate in another? What affects your speech?

Step 6. OPI/ACTFL. What are the different rating levels of the OPI? How will
knowledge of the previous 5 steps help with the OPI rating?

Big picture questions to consider: What questions do you ask someone in an interview in
order to be able to look at their syntax or semantics? Would any of these specific aspects
conflict in the conveying of the message when communicating? Can any faults found in
the linguistic components be improved in the classroom? How?

Issues to start thinking about:

Who will you interview? How long will your interview go? How will you record your
speaker? How will you analyze the recording? What questions will you ask?
Final Paper (100 points):
12-12 page report (not essay) describing your results. Your paper must be divided into
the following sections:

I. Introduction. You explain what you are doing and what you expect to find. (10 points)
II. Linguistic analysis. Explain in detail what you will be looking at in your analysis and
the purpose of it. What the linguistic components are that you are analyzing and what
you plan on looking at in detail. Here you include information you included in your
Blackboard discussions. Include real language examples when discussing language. (30
points: 6 per component)
III. Method. How did you collect your data? What was the procedure? (10 points)
IV. Participant. Give detailed background information on your participant. Who is
he/she? How long have they been studying their L2? Have they gone abroad? If so, for
how long? Sociolinguistic analysis. (5 points)
V. Results. Discuss the results for each component. Report on any errors that were made.
Also make sure to report on the positives! What did the speaker do correctly? Do not
analyze the recording here. Make sure to always include examples directly from your
data. Use IPA whenever necessary. If you decide to include a table or chart, please
explain it within the text of your work and label it correctly using APA. (15 points)
VI. Discussion. Discuss your results here. Give an explanation of the results you found.
Provide your OPI rating and explain it. You must give a good reason for your rating. (10
points)
VII. Conclusion. Discuss theories/hypotheses we saw in class and apply them to your
study. Can you use any of them to explain your findings? Is there anything that you
would change about your study if you could? Conclude your work in a concise way. (10
points)

Citation and formatting. Use of APA. Title page, page numbers, spacing, section and
subsection formatting. (10 points)

Please make sure to cite any other resources that you may use. Please follow the APA
format for writing your report – not MLA! Use the library website and their resources to
help you with APA formatting.

***Do not forget that I need to have access to your audio file.