Question:
I am going to the People's Republic of China for two years to teach
English to college students, taking a break from my studies at the
University of Colorado at Denver. I want to work on my Master's paper
while there and am considering keeping a language learning journal as I
learn Mandarin. (My first month is spent in intensive language study.)
Is there a good model for such a journal? Can I intentionally keep track
of certain factors or does that defeat the purpose? I'm particularly
interested in social and psychological distance as factors in SLA and would
like that to be the focus of my paper. I know that keeping such a journal
has certain limitations, but would appreciate any suggestions for published
models or any other help. I will be on SLART until Jul 15th. After that
correspondence can be addressed to: Kate Goodspeed, Nanjing Institute of
Architectural Engineering, Nanjing, Peoples' Republic of China.
Answer:
Re Kate's query on language learning journal. I know that Dr. Greta Little
and Dr. Sara Sanders, both at University of South Carolina, have done
some work on this, and have made some presentations at conferences, although
their focus has not been psycho-cultural distance. Dr. Little's e.mail
address is N270019@UNIVSCVM, and Dr. Sanders's is R201015@UNIVSCVM. YOu might
want to contect either or both of them.
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