Now in its second edition, this handbook is a current overview of second language (L2) research, providing state-of-the-art synopses of recent developments in each subarea of the field and bringing together contributions by emerging scholars and experts in second language acquisition (SLA). Since the first edition, broad sociopolitical movements, alternative views of bilingualism, emergence of global markets, vast expansion of electronic resources, the development of social media and the availability of big data have transformed the discipline, and this edition has been thoroughly updated to address these changes. It is divided into six main parts: Part I situates SLA in terms of research and practice; Part II explores individual cognitive, age-related and neurolinguistic similarities and differences; Part III outlines external, sociocultural and interactive factors; Part IV presents profiles of bilinguals who take differing paths of acquisition; Part V describes interlanguage properties; and Part VI comprises clear models of L2 development.

This chapter gives an overview of theories and empirical studies in the field of instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). After a scoping review of current ISLA research, the chapter proposes two future directions, by broadly defining ISLA as a discipline that investigates theoretical and practical language-related issues with the ultimate goal of improving second language education. First, ISLA research can be more inclusive in terms of research topics and methodologies. Second, ISLA research can be more equitable by r-conceptualizing the research-practice relationship and incorporating practitioners’ experiences, knowledge and voices. Given the ultimate goal of much of ISLA research as well as the complexity of classroom teaching whereby a variety of cognitive, social and psychological issues dynamically influence student learning, the chapter argues for the necessity for widening the current ISLA scope and striving to create equitable relationships among various stakeholders related to ISLA research and classroom teaching.

Beyond Words is a book of big questions about language. What is language? Where did it come from? How do we learn our mother tongue? How do we learn other languages in addition to our mother tongue? How do we use and understand language? How do we lose language? Collectively, these topics fall under the umbrella of psycholinguistics. Psycholinguistics is the marriage of linguistics and psychology. It is a branch of language science that explores the relationship between language and the human mind. This is a book that takes us down many rabbit holes. It is filled with astonishing research and surprising discoveries. It is about fierce debate and contentious topics that have fascinated us since ancient times and continue to do so today. Language is weird, but also wonderful. Language is intricate and innovative, confusing and complex, mysterious and most of all, it is multifaceted. Language is beyond words.

This chapter deals with variation in second language acquisition (SLA), specifically variationist sociolinguistic research approaches, which share a common interest in variability, systematicity in variability, form function relations, language variation and change. The chapter outlines the contributions of variation theory and methodology to SLA research. It describes variation theory, early variationist work on SLA, concepts and models and recent developments. Recent work, instead of focusing on English L2, takes into account a wide range of languages, permitting more universalistic conclusions. It deals with a wider range of speaker populations such as heritage and migrant speakers. Network analysis techniques provide more detail on social context. A move away from essentialist criteria, towards “third wave” variationist L1 research gives a more ethnographic emphasis to L2 variationist studies. Work on language attitudes and L2 involves perception studies, studies of lexical frequency or geographic variety. Variationist L2 research contributes to our understanding of some central themes and topics in SLA research. It avoids prescriptivism and norms, avoids seeing the L2 speaker as a deficient L1 speaker and instead examines language use within its own terms.

An introduction to child language acquisition and adult language learning. Covers the development of phonology, word meaning, and syntax. Treats the conditions for child language acquisition, and discusses the differences between first language acquisition and second language learning.

Now in its second edition, this handbook is a current overview of second language (L2) research, providing state-of-the-art synopses of recent developments in each subarea of the field and bringing together contributions by emerging scholars and experts in second language acquisition (SLA). Since the first edition, broad sociopolitical movements, alternative views of bilingualism, emergence of global markets, vast expansion of electronic resources, the development of social media and the availability of big data have transformed the discipline, and this edition has been thoroughly updated to address these changes. It is divided into six main parts: Part I situates SLA in terms of research and practice; Part II explores individual cognitive, age-related and neurolinguistic similarities and differences; Part III outlines external, sociocultural and interactive factors; Part IV presents profiles of bilinguals who take differing paths of acquisition; Part V describes interlanguage properties; and Part VI comprises clear models of L2 development.

Over the last fifty years, research into the development of second or other grammatical systems has been largely concerned with the stages through which language might evolve in the individual learner or in groups of learners. Explaining exactly how learner grammars undergo transition from one stage to the next has a much shorter history. However, there has in recent years been a rise in interest in the mechanisms that drive grammatical transition, particularly in online processing. Different theoretical approaches to the transition problem will be reviewed and exemplified here, including those in the few years that have elapsed since the first edition. Issues covered will also include (a) alternative definitions of grammar, (b) the acquisition of additional grammars after the second, (c) various other factors in the learner’s mind that help to shape the emergence of new grammatical structures. The chapter will close with an overview of the dominant questions still facing researchers embarking on investigations of grammatical transition.

This chapter centers on theory, research and instructional practices related to input and input processing. It is divided into five main sections. The first addresses how input, or samples of a target language to which a learner is exposed during communication, can be broken down in terms of different modalities (spoken, written and others) and different levels of linguistic analysis (phonology, lexis, morphosyntax and others). The second section underscores the role of input and input processing in the development of form-meaning mapping during language acquisition. The third offers a critical analysis of several models and theories related to input processing. The fourth section then focuses on language instruction, with particular attention to how the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary may be facilitated by instructional approaches grounded in research on input processing. This section, which highlights the use of structured input and input-based incremental vocabulary instruction, also proposes a graded taxonomy for classifying different techniques of input enhancement. The fifth section concludes by delineating current limitations on research in this area and spotlighting ways in which future research can help us to advance our understanding with regard to theory and to increase our options when it comes to evidence-based language instruction.

An introduction to proper names, covering the differences between words and names, peronal (given) names, surnames/family names, naming tribes-peoples-nations, naming places and things, and how words can become names and names can become words.

This chapter problematizes the relationship between linguistic competence and communicative competence, as proposed by Chomsky (1965) and disputed by Hymes (1966), respectively. The contention is that these two types of competence are not in competition but should be regarded as a symbiosis. Current research demonstrates that there is much value in analyzing how linguistic and communicative competence work together. Our emphasis in this chapter is on pragmatic universals and the way languages may express them differently, thereby creating difficulty for second language (L2) learners. Within the area of interpersonal rhetoric, speech acts and (scalar) implicature are examined with a view of highlighting the amalgamation of grammar and communication in learning to compute and produce them. In tackling definiteness and specificity in the L2, we discuss the ways adults learn to refer to objects known or unknown to speaker or hearer. Deixis, or calculating reference based on the here and now, is a relatively underresearched area of pragmatic competence. At the syntax-discourse interface, we examine the acquisition of information structure, or topic and focus marking. The chapter finishes with a call for extending the research enquiry to all context-dependent aspects of meaning encoding and decoding.

Now that we’ve looked at what human language is, and where it comes from, this raises further questions. How do we acquire language? How does a baby develop its mother tongue from scratch? Babies go from burps and babbling through to native fluency in just a few short years. They seem to soak up language like a sponge. The process of learning to talk is so intuitive that it often seems like magic. While a child’s language development is exciting, it can also be frustrating and fraught with anxiety for everyone involved. Children make many mistakes along the way, leading parents and caregivers to ask themselves: Is my child on track or behind? Children, however, learn from their mistakes, and so can we. Let’s look at how language develops in children, what mistakes can teach us about language acquisition, and what happens when things don’t quite go according to plan.

An introduction to the general properties of communication and the differences between language and communcation. Includes discussion of medium of communication, purpose, arbitrariness, discreteness, displacement, etc.

This chapter takes ideas from Vainikka and Young-Scholten’s chapter in the Handbook’s first edition (2013) on stages in the acquisition of L2 morphosyntax. Complementing this second edition chapter is Chapter 16, with its focus on the development of reading and writing by adult migrants with little or no literacy in their home language(s). This chapter applies ideas presented in the 2013 chapter to research on non-/low-literate adults to explore whether literacy influences their acquisition of morphosyntax. It provides an overview of key studies, of the L2 acquisition of migrant adults, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, over the decades that such research was prevalent. The focus of the chapter is application of two stage-based theories of L2 morphosyntax development, Organic Grammar and the Basic Variety. With these theories in mind, we discuss analyses of oral production data from adult migrants acquiring English and Italian, respectively. The results reveal learners’ use of unanalyzed chunks which rather than implicating literacy seems to implicate developmental stage.

This chapter reviews recent research on identity and second language (L2) learning. It begins with an introduction that highlights identity as fluid, complex and intersectional. It then outlines conceptual frameworks commonly adopted in this line of inquiry, including poststructuralism and sociocultural and critical approaches. The chapter then identifies categories in L2 learning, including heritage and multilingual learners, gender and sexual identities, racialized identities and socioeconomic class. In the review of heritage and multilingual learners, we highlight recent research on translanguaging that illustrates linguistic hybridity and complexities, as well as the works that challenge Eurocentric tendencies by focusing on multilingualism in the periphery. The section on gender and sexual identities discusses research on gender nonconformative L2 learners and sexual minorities. The review of the research on racialized identities provides an analysis of racism and coloniality as apparatuses and conditions of L2 learning. Finally, through our overview of the works on social class, we reflect on class not just as an external condition of language learning, but as an identity that shapes and is shaped by language learning. This chapter concludes with a discussion of future research directions for identity and L2 learning.

As SLA diversifies in scope and scale, key questions remain open over the nature, development and use of a second (or third and additional) language. In this chapter, we evaluate the use of specific methods for different paradigms, while making the case for building inclusive and transdisciplinary connections to sustain the strength of the field. The chapter starts with research methodologies for investigating the development of L2 morpho-syntactic knowledge, as the traditional foundation of SLA. We distinguish between internal formal/cognitive questions around L2 linguistic representation and processing, typically focusing on group trends in quantitative findings, and external socially mediated research into L2 use, often focusing on exploratory individual experiences and motivation through qualitative data. We then present research into L2 phonology (L2 speech), complementing L2 morphosyntax in its focus on form, but often neglected in coverage of SLA research methodology. We finish by looking at implications for future SLA research, driven by greater interest in methodological rigor, replicability and open science, and the opportunities provided by the technological and social media revolution of recent years, e.g., using corpora, online/mobile platforms, and big data.

Now in its second edition, this handbook is a current overview of second language (L2) research, providing state-of-the-art synopses of recent developments in each subarea of the field and bringing together contributions by emerging scholars and experts in second language acquisition (SLA). Since the first edition, broad sociopolitical movements, alternative views of bilingualism, emergence of global markets, vast expansion of electronic resources, the development of social media and the availability of big data have transformed the discipline, and this edition has been thoroughly updated to address these changes. It is divided into six main parts: Part I situates SLA in terms of research and practice; Part II explores individual cognitive, age-related and neurolinguistic similarities and differences; Part III outlines external, sociocultural and interactive factors; Part IV presents profiles of bilinguals who take differing paths of acquisition; Part V describes interlanguage properties; and Part VI comprises clear models of L2 development.