CHAPTER PREVIEW

When you were still a very young child, you began acquiring at least one language – what linguists call your L1 – probably without thinking much about it, and with very little conscious effort or awareness. Since that time, you may have acquired an additional language – your L2 – possibly also in the natural course of having the language used around you, but more likely with the same conscious effort needed to acquire other domains of knowledge in the process of becoming an “educated” individual. This book is about the phenomenon of adding languages. In this introductory chapter, I will define a few of the key terms that we will use and present the three basic questions that we will explore throughout the book.

What is SLA?

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) refers both to the study of individuals and groups who are learning a language subsequent to learning their first one as young children, and to the process of learning that language. The additional language is called a second language (L2), even though it may actually be the third, fourth, or tenth to be acquired. It is also commonly called a target language (TL), which refers to any language that is the aim or goal of learning.