Bücher der Reihe Second Language Acquisition

This book provides a comprehensive and multidimensional examination of transfer in second language acquisition. It brings theoretical analyses together with work based on empirical observation. Chapters consider lexical, syntactic, phonological and cognitive perspectives on language transfer.

This book brings together linguistic, psycholinguistic and educational perspectives on the phenomenon of cognate vocabulary across languages. It discusses extensive qualitative and quantitative data on Polish-English cognates and their use by learners/users of English to show the importance of cognates in language acquisition and learning.

This collection provides an unprecedented insight into current approaches to the phenomenon of crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in SLA. Chapters investigate a variety of issues, structures and languages from different viewpoints to provide new perspectives on theoretical and empirical issues in CLI.

This book is open access under a CC BY licence. It spans the areas of assessment, SLA and pronunciation and examines topical issues and challenges that relate to formal and informal assessments of second language (L2) speech in classroom, research and real-world contexts. It will be of interest to anyone working on L2 pronunciation and assessment.

This book provides an overview of current thinking and directions for further research in applied linguistics. The range of perspectives, original research agendas, innovative methodological approaches and productive research designs will make it a useful reference and stimulus for students, researchers and professionals.

This book introduces an innovative collection of easy-to-use computer programs that have been developed to measure and model vocabulary knowledge. It aims to help second language acquisition researchers explore some new instruments for L2 vocabulary research, providing examples of how the tools might be used in real research projects.

This book highlights the pivotal role that nonverbal behavior plays in target language communication, affect and cognition. It integrates research tenets and video demonstrations of nonverbal behavior with structured activities that will guide teachers and learners to capitalize on the nonverbal means at their disposal.

This book presents research on the learning of foreign languages by children in primary school settings. It covers issues that have been under-researched within this group of learners such as implicit/explicit learning, interaction, feedback provision, first language use, metalinguistic awareness, noticing and individual variables.

This book examines key issues in theories of what language is and what happens in the mind during second language acquisition. Chapters provide cutting-edge insights and new empirical findings spanning formal and cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and second language development, to understand the role of learner-internal factors in SLA.

This book is one of the few empirical studies to capture an in-depth understanding of the study abroad experiences of newly-arrived international students in higher education. It closely examines their changing learning goals, underlying motivations and strategy uses during both short and long academic programmes in a study abroad context.

This interdisciplinary book brings together a selection of theoretical and empirical approaches to second language (L2) fluency. The volume includes chapters approaching fluency from an SLA perspective and integrates perspectives from related fields, such as psycholinguistics, sign language studies and L2 assessment.

This book presents an array of new research on several current theoretical debates in the field of SLA. The studies address questions relating to ultimate attainment, first language transfer, universal properties of SLA, processing and second language (L2) grammar, and explore a number of grammatical features of the L2.

This book reports on a longitudinal study of the acquisition of pragmatic markers in written discourse in a third language (English) by secondary students living in the bilingual (Spanish and Catalan) Valencian Community in Spain. It examines pragmatic transfer, specifically positive transfer, in multilingual students from a holistic perspective.

The comprehension, retention and production of idiomatic expressions is one of the most difficult areas of the lexicon for second language learners to master. This book investigates this under-researched and interesting aspect of language acquisition, shedding light on conventional uses of idiomatic expressions as well as creative variant forms.

This book takes a critical perspective of research on assessing speaking in second and foreign languages. Chapters focus on the complexity brought about by actual interactional competence in speaking tasks and discuss how testing and assessment models and practices can incorporate recent research on the dynamic and situated nature of language use.

This book takes a critical perspective of research on assessing speaking in second and foreign languages. Chapters focus on the complexity brought about by actual interactional competence in speaking tasks and discuss how testing and assessment models and practices can incorporate recent research on the dynamic and situated nature of language use.

This book is the first in-depth examination of the application of theories of space to issues of second language learning. The author outlines a new conceptual framework for researching SLA that centres on the idea of 'language learning environments' and demonstrates that where people learn languages is equally as important as how they do so.

This book offers new insights into the language gains of adult learners enrolled in an English-medium instruction degree programme. It provides longitudinal evidence of the phonological gains of the learners and investigates whether increased exposure to the target language leads to incidental learning of second language pronunciation.

This book addresses the need for research and guidance on testing multilingual students. The author introduces an integrated approach to testing and assessment; provides guidelines for test-writers, teachers and educators; and demonstrates how to use the integrated approach to testing and assessment in a multilingual educational context.

This book presents the current state of knowledge in the vibrant and diverse field of vocabulary studies, summarising the latest empirical studies and providing a firm indication of the future of the field. The chapters cover the key themes of theorizing and measuring vocabulary knowledge, formulaic language, and learning and teaching vocabulary.

This book explores the motivations of adult second language learners in continuing education settings. It focuses on their learning trajectories and related dynamics of identity development and will be useful to language teachers and researchers interested in the role of affective elements in successful adult language learning.

This book provides an up-to-date examination of technology-supported pedagogy and language acquisition in a variety of Japanese as a foreign or second language contexts. It equips readers with practical pedagogical information and ideas for how technology can be applied to achieve a wide range of learning objectives.

This book examines the evidence relative to the idea that there is an age factor in first and second language acquisition, evidence that has sources ranging from studies of feral children to evaluations of language programmes in primary schools. It goes on to explore the various explanations that have been advanced to account for such evidence. Finally, it looks at the educational ramifications of the age question, with particular regard to formal second language teaching in the early school years and in 'third age' contexts.

Within the complex process of second language acquisition there lies a highly variable component referred to as the silent period, during which some beginning second language learners may not willingly produce the target language. Silence in Second Language Learning claims that the silent period might represent a psychical event, a non-linguistic as well as a linguistic moment in the continuous process of identity formation and re-formation. Colette Granger calls on psychoanalytic concepts of anxiety, ambivalence, conflict and loss, and on language learning narratives, to undertake a theoretical dialogue with the learner as a being engaged in the psychical work of making, and re-making, an identity. Viewed in its entirety, this study takes the form of a kind of triangulation of three elements: the linguistically described phenomenon of the silent period; the psychoanalytically oriented problem of the making of the self; and the real and remembered experiences of individuals who live in the silent space between languages.

This book provides an overview of current research on the age factor in foreign language learning, addressing issues, which are critical for language planning. It presents new research on foreign language learning within bilingual communities in formal instruction settings focussing on syntax, phonology, writing, oral skills and learning strategies.

The book focuses on one aspect of foreign language acquisition that has not received much attention, that of the effect of bilingualism in the oral production of the English language learners. Two research areas have tackled this issue separately. On the one hand, third language acquisition researchers have analysed bilingualism effects in the acquisition of a third language. On the other hand, studies in interlanguage pragmatics have taken into account variables affecting the use of request acts by second language learners of English. The two research areas are connected in this volume, as it deals with bilingualism effects in the pragmatic production and awareness of third language learners of English.The first part of the book includes a theoretical description of research conducted in the areas of third language acquisition and interlanguage pragmatics, and the second part presents a detailed description of the empirical study carried out in a multilingual speech community.

This book contributes to the growth of interest in task-based language learning and teaching that has been seen in recent years. It brings together research that focuses on various aspects and effects of pedagogic task design and presents work that uses tasks to examine oral interaction, written production, vocabulary and reading, lexical innovation and pragmatics in different formal language learning contexts and in different languages (English as a second/foreign language, French/German/Italian/Spanish as foreign languages). It also provides guidelines for task classification, sequencing and design.The book is addressed to both professionals and students interested in second language acquisition research. It will also be of use to professionals involved in language pedagogy and curriculum design.

This book focuses on L2 classroom discourse analysis in the light of Relevance Theory. Input for instructed L2 learners is understood as the language presented by the teacher in order to facilitate the process of L2 learning/acquisition. It will be of interest to L2 teachers, teacher educators, teacher trainees and SLA researchers.

Modern languages are taught to young learners at an increasingly early age, yet few studies focus on what is available to children in different contexts and classrooms. This book examines current research on young language learners and provides key insights into how young learners progress.

This book explores the importance of cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning. While linguists have primarily focussed upon differences between languages, learners strive to make use of any similarities to prior linguistic knowledge they can perceive. The role of positive transfer is emphasized as well as the essential differences between comprehension and production. In comprehension of related languages, cross-linguistic similarities are easily perceived while in comprehension of distant languages they are merely assumed. Production may be based on previous perception of similarities, but frequently similarities are here merely assumed. Initially, effective learning is based on quick establishment of cross-linguistic one-to-one relations between individual items. As learning progresses, the learner learns to modify such oversimplified relations. The book describes the ways in which transfer affects different areas of language, taking account of the differences between learning a language perceived to be similar and a language where few or no cross-linguistic similarities can be established.