Project:    Being gifted in learning a foreign language – adult learning -

Question: What “giftedness” means in the context of second language learning?

Population to be studied: 1st year university students described as true beginners.

Study: experimental testing of progression in learning French. Testing at different levels of the grammar. Testing of language processing mechanisms.

Possible benefits: -identification of variables responsible for “giftedness” in second language learning; -designing of new methods of language teaching; -designing of methods of assessing weakness areas in learners; -taking into account of individual variation; -involving new technologies that take into consideration individual variation.

Ultimate aim: second language learners becoming as proficient as first language learners.

Collaboration: possibly with the Psychology Department, also for the population, between the two campuses, Erindale and St. George.