French/Italian 572 - Basic Methods of Teaching Foreign Languages

Reference resources

Once you start your research, you may encounter concepts and trends in scholarship that you are unfamiliar with. Reference resources can help you orient yourself quickly and discern how your research fits into on-going scholarly conversations.

One thing thing to keep in mind is that some of these reference resources were published more than 10 years ago. Conversation on a particular topic can change dramatically in a decade.

Encyclopedias and dictionaries

Encyclopedias contain detailed information on terms or names that are usually listed alphetically. Consulting an encyclopedia is an effective way to familiarize yourself with key topics at the start of the research process or to clarify an unfamiliar topic that you encounter.

Dictionaries also contain terms or names listed alphabetically; however, their explanations are typically shorter than encyclopedias. Yes! It can seem odd strange, but not all dictionaries are lists of words in a particular language.

Handbooks and guides

These reference resources provide coverage of general themes related to second language acquisition.