815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs,
New York, 12866
SKIDMORE PHONE
518-580-5000
Collaborative Research (continued)
Skidmore students and their professors have worked together
on numerous research projects. This kind of high-level scholarship
does more than enhances a student's understanding in a given
disipline; the practical, hands-on experience and "real-world"
accomplishment also instill a sense of confidence that will
benefit a graduate in any career. Projects from recent years
appear below, arranged by academic area.
Project: Phonological Instruction
to Novice Speakers of a Foreign Language Participants: Associate Professor Joanne Devine and Jeffrey E.
Smith '02 Plan: This project will study the effect of phonetic
instruction to novice speakers (students in their first year
of language study) of Spanish and try to draw a conclusion about
its usefulness in the beginner classroom.
Project: Communication Strategies in Second-Language
Development Participants: Associate Professor Joanne Devine and Benjamin Miller,
'00 Plan: In the area of second-language acquisition, there
is a long history of interest in the source of learners' errors
in communication. Particular attention focuses on those instances
when second-language learners' communicative needs exceed their
linguistic resources and thereby force them to employ "communication
strategies" to remedy the situation. While second-language researchers
have compiled extensive inventories of these strategies, to
date there has been little research on the "teachability" of
communication strategies. The proposed study is a preliminary
investigation into the effectiveness of instruction in these
strategies. It will serve as the basis for continued research
in this area.
Creative Thought Matters.
Skidmore College · 815 North Broadway · Saratoga Springs, NY · 12866
