LILIA RUIZ-DEBBE
Director of Spanish Language Program
Frank Melville, Jr. Memorial Library N3029, (631) 632-6945

Curriculum Vitae
Recent Courses and Syllabi: Practicum in Teaching of Spanish Language

With a strong foundation in the cognitive epistemology of Piaget at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, Lilia Ruiz-Debbe did her first research on the processes of language structures. At present, her research involves Interlanguage Studies and Second Language Acquisition and its implications for methodology in classroom situations. The theoretical framework of this research is based on generative approaches to language acquisition thought to be constrained by principles of universal grammar. Topics include questions of learnability, markedness, parameterization, and the role of negative evidence. She is particularly interested in examining how these have been extended to Second Language Acquisition. She is Director of the Language Learning Program and is responsible for the training of teaching assistants in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literature.