GRADING PAPERS
Possible total points: 30
Introduction (5 points)
• 1 point: basic personal information (where born and raised)
• 2 points: explicit and relevant description of exposure to first language
• 2 points: explicit and relevant description of exposure to second language (“relevant description” means saying something about contexts where language is/was used and the way the language was taught and learned)
Comparison of Sounds (7 points)
• 3 points: coherence of description (use of articulatory terminology, non-confusion of orthography and pronunciation, internal coherence of description)
• 2 points: quality of exemplification (good examples, relevance of examples)
• 2 points: explicit comparison of the two languages (for example, why a speaker of one might have trouble pronouncing the other)
Comparison of Grammar (7 points)
• 3 points: coherence of description (use of terminology that we used, such as remarks on word orders, types of morphological marking, internal coherence of description)
• 2 points: quality of exemplification (data laid out in a clear way, relevance of examples to the grammar points chosen)
• 2 points: explicit comparison of the two languages
Language and thought (6 points)
• 2 points: coherence of description (does the kind of example make sense? does it really provide a comparison of differences that could be claimed to CAUSE its speakers to think in a certain way?)
• 2 points: quality of exemplification (choice of examples, layout of data to facilitate comparison)
• 2 points: addressing question of “language and thought” (do the student say something questioning the Whorf hypothesis—the concept that a language CAUSES its speakers to take a particular world view? Typically this will be circular reasoning, but the paper must state what circular reasoning is. Other types of arguments are on page 13 of the APS reader.)
Acquisition (5 points)
• 3 points: choice of topic (does the choice of topic mentioned really get at the notion of how different types of exposure may have affected acquisition and hence differentiation in ability to use the two languages?)
• 2 points: quality of exemplification (are examples clear and do they truly exemplify the difference in context of acquisition of the two languages?)
