looking for new trends

amasi · Post by **amasi** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:25 pm

Hello everyone!!

I am an English language supervisor in an Arab country and I need some advice for someone who has a high degree in linguistics because I am planning to get a Phd . And please everyone do not hesitate to give any comments if you are familiar with any recent trends in the field.

thanks

CEJ · Post by **CEJ** » Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:49 pm

Trends to which someone might make an original contribution at a PhD level? The trendy topic in SLA seems to be (judging by the umpteenth paper or abstract I've seen calling for more research) grammar-focused tasks. I think ELT, AL and SLA have only tapped a very small percentage of the potential psycholinguistics has to inform what we do. Read some overviews from this field and then get into areas that interest you as they pertain to second/foreign language learning, and you might see what I mean. The current status quo is still largely trapped in structuralist and behaviourist thinking about language and human learning. And much of what is trendy in instruction and material writing comes from other fields, while AL and SLA specialize and narrowly focus on the brink of irrelevance and rigormortis might set in.

Superhal · Post by **Superhal** » Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:44 am

JD Brown has an interesting theory of acqusition that emerged out of the slime that is UG, that has gained quite a bit of credence in the ESL community. The name of the theory escapes me, but you can find his work with an author search.

amasi · Post by **amasi** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:33 am

Thank you guys for all your insightful comments. I really appreciate it.