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Post-doc position in CNRS-affiliated laboratory PARIS FRANCE |
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Mercredi, 23 Mars 2011 00:04 |
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Post-doc position in CNRS-affiliated laboratory PARIS FRANCE
The VILLA project coordinated by the
UMR 7023 CNRS laboratory in Paris,
France invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in language
acquisition (the language of study will be Polish) to begin 1 October
2011.
The VILLA Project has received funding for a three-year period
(2011-2014) from the Open Research Area of the Social Sciences in
Europe, with contributions from the national research agencies in
France, Germany and the Netherlands. Scholars in the UK are also
involved in the project. VILLA, Varieties of Initial Learners in
Language Acquisition: controlled classroom input and elementary forms
of linguistic organisation, will investigate and compare the
acquisition of Polish by native speakers of French, German, Dutch and
English.
Applicants should be linguists of Slavic languages with an expertise in
Polish (not necessarily a Polish native speaker) and should have
knowledge of psycholinguistics and language acquisition. They should be
proficient in English and have good communication skills in French. The
appointment will be for 20 months, and support will be 3700€/month
before taxes and social charges (1900€ net). The post will be based in
Paris (with some travel to partner countries), at the following address:
CNRS & University Paris 8 UMR 7023
59 ruePouchet 75017 Paris
The recipient will advise project members on linguistic aspects of
Polish and coordinate the different operations involved in VILLA data
collection: analyses of instructor input, learner productions, and test
results. The recipient will also maintain relations between those
collecting and analyzing data in the four countries and organize the
communication of results between the four teams. In addition, the
candidate will have the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research in
one or several of the investigation areas (phonology, lexicon,
morphology, syntax, pragmatic utterance organization, L3 acquisition,
individual differences, or the interface between language teaching and
acquisition) according to his/her own scientific interests. S/he will
be affiliated with the French CNRS (Centre national de la recherche
scientifique), in an “Unité mixte de recherche” (UMR) that has been
investigating aspects of language acquisition for over twenty years, in
an international context. (For more information on the research
laboratory, see: http://www.umr7023.cnrs.fr/.)
The candidate must hold a PhD degree at the time of appointment.
Interested candidates should send a letter of application, a detailed
curriculum vitae (including a list of publications and research
experience) and a Doctoral Thesis Defense Report to: Marzena Watorek:
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Deadline for applications: 30 may 2011.
Marzena Watorek Professor
Université de Paris 8 & UMR 7523
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The following provides more information about the VILLA Project:
Varieties of Initial Learners in Language Acquisition: controlled
classroom input and elementary forms of linguistic organisation (VILLA)
The global objective of the project is to provide a precise description
of the input processing of a novel language by adult learners under
controlled conditions. We expect the results of this project to lend
themselves not only to the theorization of current questions concerning
second language (L2) acquisition, but also to a reflection on the
practical implications of this empirical investigation.
With regard to the theorization of our results, we hope to inform the
debate about the available initial state knowledge that learners can
use when processing input upon first contact with a new language. The
L2 initial state is the subject of much debate, in particular in
generative-theory based research. Our study, conducted within a
functional approach, will allow us to engage in this debate from a
different perspective. Studying the acquisition of a new language by
adults, starting from “zero” knowledge, poses a problem in third
language (L3) acquisition. In today’s society, when adult learners come
to the acquisition process, they are generally already familiar with at
least one foreign language, usually English. Our study allows for a
deeper investigation into the role of other L2 knowledge in the
appropriation of an L3.
With regard to the practical impact of our project, our results will
contribute to discussions about the elaboration of methods used for
teaching foreign languages. Currently, the question of the relation
between acquisition research and language pedagogy is often posed: What
can help a learner appropriate a foreign language? What methodological
procedures are most effective for language teaching? These questions
are complex and are the subject of much disagreement. This project
proposes to address such questions from two angles. On one hand, we
wish to know what the learner actually does with the specific content
of a language lesson, that is, the linguistic input of the instruction.
On the other hand, we wish to know what effect the manner in which this
linguistic input is presented has on the learner’s performance. These
observations will include all levels of analysis that learners rely on
to process the foreign language input: phonological, lexical, morpho-
syntactic, and pragmatic.
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