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Department of Applied
Linguistics | College of the Liberal Arts | Center for
Language Acquisition |
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“The only good learning is that which is
ahead of development” – Lev S. Vygotsky |
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Me
teaching "Susan" (a pseudonym) about social distance during my
dissertation study. |
Rémi A. van Compernolle PhD Candidate in
Applied Linguistics (ABD) |
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Research Interests My research
focuses primarily on second language (L2) acquisition and pedagogy. I am
particularly interested in L2 pragmatics and sociolinguistics, classroom
discourse and interaction, and the use of Internet and computer technologies
in language learning and development. I incorporate both quantitative and
qualitative research methods into my work as a means of understanding L2
development as a multifaceted process. Current Projects Dynamic Assessment of Pragmatic Competence in English
as a Second Language This study
explores the use of Dynamic Assessment (DA) as a tool for assessing English
as a Second Language (ESL) learners' pragmatic competence, with specific
focus on the speech act of requests. The study involves adapting established
assessment instruments (e.g., discourse completion tasks) to include
intervention from an assessor (mediator) to support learners during the task,
thereby revealing not only what learners are able to do independently
(current developmental level) but also those abilities that are in the
process of formation. In turn, assistance provided by the mediator has the
potential to support learner development during the assessment itself. Mediated Development of Second Language
Sociopragmatic Capacity through Concept-Based Instruction This study
investigates the development of advanced second language sociopragmatic
capacity among university learners of French. The study focused on teaching
holistic concepts relevant to sociopragmatic meanings, such as social
indexicality, self-presentation, social distance, and power, and then mapping
those meanings onto illustrative features of language (i.e., forms). The
study documents the development of conceptual knowledge (i.e., what learners
understand about the concepts/meanings), learners' emerging orientations to
using language and judgments of social appropriateness and desirability
(i.e., the meanings they assign to language forms), and learners' abilities
to put their knowledge and orientations to language to use during spoken-interactive
tasks (i.e., the ability to use language). Instructional practices and actions created in
classroom talk-in-interaction This
study—conducted under the auspices of the Penn State Conversation Analysis
Research Group—explores how classroom instruction is accomplished through
talk-in-interaction. The Group is particularly involved in data collection
and analysis of classroom discourse which may lead to significant
understandings of teacher talk, student talk, teacher pedagogies and student
learning. Data include videorecordings of naturally
occurring classroom interactions taking place within intact ESL and applied
linguistics courses. Selected Publications (A full list is available
here) van Compernolle, R.
A., & Williams, L. (Eds.). (in preparation). Sociocultural theory and second language
pedagogy [Special issue]. Language
Teaching Research. [Scheduled for July 2013] Williams, L.,
& van Compernolle, R. A. (Eds.). (in preparation). Computer-mediated
discourse and interaction in language learning and language teaching [Special
Issue]. Canadian Modern Language Review. [Scheduled for September
2012] van Compernolle,
R. A., & Williams, L. (forthcoming). Reconceptualizing sociolinguistic
competence as mediated action: Identity, meaning-making, agency. Modern
Language Journal. van Compernolle,
R. A., & Williams, L. (forthcoming). Thinking with your hands:
Speech-gesture activity during an L2 awareness-raising task. Language
Awareness. van Compernolle,
R. A., & Williams, L. (forthcoming). Promoting sociolinguistic competence
in the classroom Zone of Proximal Development. Language Teaching
Research. van Compernolle,
R. A., Williams, L., & McCourt, C. (2011). A corpus-driven study of
second-person pronoun variation in L2 French synchronous computer-mediated
communication. Intercultural Pragmatics, 8(1), 67-91. van Compernolle,
R. A. (2011). Responding to questions and L2 learner interaction competence
during language proficiency interviews: A microanalytic study with
pedagogical implications. In J. K. Hall, J. Hellerman,
& S. Pekarek Doehler (Eds.), L2 interactional competence and
development. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. van Compernolle,
R. A. (2010). Incidental microgenetic development in second language
teacher-learner talk-in-interaction. Classroom Discourse, 1(1). van Compernolle,
R. A., & Williams, L. (2009). Learner versus non-learner patterns of
stylistic variation in synchronous computer-mediated French: Yes/no questions
and nous versus on. Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 31(3), 471-500. van Compernolle,
R. A., & Williams, L. (2009). Variable omission of ne in
real-time French chat: A corpus-driven comparison of educational and
non-educational contexts. Canadian Modern Language Review, 65(3),
413-440. |
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__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Site maintained by Rémi A. van
Compernolle |
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