Guest Lecture: Processability Theory as tool in the second language classroom
24th March 2023
14:00 - 15:00
Location: G-301, Gimli
About:
In my presentation I will discuss an acquisition-based model for second language assessment. Processability Theory (PT; Pienemann 1998, Dyson & Håkansson 2017) is a cognitive theory of language development that describes the acquisition of grammar in stages.
PT has been applied to the second language development of a range of languages, including Arabic, French, Icelandic and Swedish (in total 20 languages as second languages). I will present examples of how teachers in preschools and schools make use of the stages and are able to follow the learners' development over time.
Gisela Håkansson is a professor in general linguistics at Lund University. She has published widely on the acquisition of grammar in different languages. With the stages of Processability Theory as point of departure she has examined language development in Swedish, but also in Arabic, English, German and Norwegian, and she is presently doing work on Icelandic.
