Course Description
This novel “education workshop” course focuses on the creation of materials to support public understanding of the basic science of language. We begin with examining what is “missing” from published language arts curricula, and we envision how principles of language science can be learned across the lifespan, in any language.
Throughout the course we explore the existing Linguistics in Education and Linguistics Outreach literature to find evidence of language experience activities successfully conducted with specific age groups in particular settings. Working in groups, we will design replicated and novel language science activities and test our pedagogy on one another in peer-teaching mini-lessons, trying to discover the most effective prompts, props, sequencing, participant feedback, and follow-up.
Because the course is designed as project-based learning, students will have creative contributions to take with them when the course is over—contributions they can continue to develop by making linguistics education a part of their career profile in and outside of academia. Many avenues of entrepreneurship will be explored for future individual or group product development: articles, books, graphic novels, apps, tv shows, films, podcasts, curricula, etc.
Area Tags: Pedagogy
(Sessions 1 & 2) Monday/Thursday 1:30pm – 2:50pm
Location: ILC S416
Instructor: Rebecca Burns
Rebecca Burns is an experienced classroom teacher with a Ph.D. in linguistics from Colorado University, Boulder. Burns’ area of expertise is in child language development. She has worked as a curriculum coordinator for childcare centers in rural Florida, served on the Board of Directors for an organization serving the needs of hearing families with deaf children, and taught in higher education as an ESOL Teacher Certification Coordinator at the University of South Florida. Now retired from full-time teaching, her primary interest is in Linguistics Education for the Public–promoting Language Science Clubs in afterschool programs, summer camps, libraries, and museums.
