General Topics for the Collaborative Papers
ESL 91 D01B and ESL 91 D03B
Fall, 2000

During the Fall, 2000 semester, students in Dr. Kasper's ESL 91 D01B and students in Prof. Weiss' ESL 91 D03B will be writing collaborative focus discipline group projects. The topics for these collaborative group writing projects are as follows:

Sociology and Environmental Science: The Genie case and its relationship to theories of language acquisition.

Write a group essay in which you describe the Genie case. What was Genie's life like from the age of 20 months to the age of 13 1/2 years? What was Genie's language development like when she was found? In what way(s) was Genie's language development like that of normal children? In what way(s) was her language development different from that of normal children? Explain how Genie's case fits into the critical period hypothesis proposed by Eric Lenneberg. Explain how Genie's case fits into the language acquisition theories of Chomsky and Skinnner.

Psychology: The language acquisition theories of Chomsky versus Skinner.

Write a group essay in which you describe the language acquisition theories of Noam Chomsky and B. F. Skinner. Then compare and contrast these theories. Explain the analogy of the light switch, described on p. 23 of your textbook Interdisciplinary English, and relate it to what Chomsky and Skinner believed about how we acquire language.

Computer Science: Natural language processing and voice recognition

Write a group essay in which you define natural language processing and voice recognition. Describe some of the research that has been done in this area. How are scientists programming computers to process language?

Business: The language of web pages--how users read on the Web; how businesses should write for the Web.

Write a group essay in which you describe how businesses should advertise on the web through web pages. What must businesses remember about how users read on the Web? What principles should businesses use when they write for the Web? What are some important things to remember when designing a good Web page? As a group, you should create an outline for a web page that illustrates the principles you've discussed in your essay. Choose a product and explain how you would construct your web page, including text, graphics, links, etc.

Please note: Students in Prof. Weiss' Diet and Nutrition group may choose which of the four groups they wish to join.


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Posted to the Web on October 31, 2000