Language Development Webquest

This webquest is composed of 6 tasks. The Tasks are a set of guiding questions to set the stage for the research you will conduct in the process section.    

Below is a brief overview of the questions guiding this webquest. More details on the information links will be given in the Process section.

Ultimately, you need to be able to answer these  Essential questions using the research determined by the questions listed under the tasks below:  How does studying what language is in greater depth and detail impact my role in a school wide setting? Am I a "provider" of language or Is language and the study of language not my concern? What key pieces of information should others in my profession know and be able to comprehend with respect to first and second language development and acquisition?

Tip for this section: Copy these questions down!! These guiding questions will help with the process section.

Task 1: What is language?

•  Your task is to review Module 3- What connections can you make to this week's information and why? 
•  What is language?  

Task 2: What is first language development?

1. What is first language development?
2. How would you describe these stages of first language development? How would you explain these to someone who does not have your background? 

Task 3: What is Second Language Acquisition and its stages

1. What is second language acquisition?
   
2. What are the stages of second language acquisition?
   
3. How are first and second language development and acquisition the same and different? 
   
4. What does language development look like at the different stages of second language development; i.e what can an ELL be expected to do and perform? Be brief!
   
5. Can these stages be accelerated? If so, how?
6. What do teachers and other school personnel need to know about the "Silent Period" & ELLs?
   
   

Task 4:  What does it mean to be bilingual?

What is bilingualism?

Does being bilingual impact your ability to learn effectively and efficiently in English?

How can being bilingual help a student learn?

Does a classroom teacher or other school personnel need to be bilingual to teach an ELL student in the mainstream classroom?  What does the research say?

Task 5:  What is your theory of human language development?

1. After conducting your research on the topics above, what theory of human language development best fits your ideas of how language is learned, developed, and acquired and why?
   
   

Task 6: Relating all of this information to yourself as well as to others:

1. 
   You will synthesize and summarize what you learned to professionally develop people in your field of study/ concentration area. In other words, take what you have learned and teach someone else!! 
   
2. You will create a Glogster. You should have registered for this Module 1 Week 1 of this course.
   
3. This Glogster poster will be visual, it will be narrated, and it will be a poster presentation that will professionally develop others in your field.

Click on the Process Tab next!