Bøger i Second Language Acquisition serien

This book traces and summarizes the author's theoretical insights and empirical findings in the field of foreign language education. The volume explores individual differences in L1 ability and their connection to L2 aptitude and L2 achievement, L2 anxiety as an affective or cognitive variable, and the relationship between L1 and L2 reading.

This collection of empirical studies examines multiple aspects involved in the acquisition, teaching and assessment of pragmatics in second language Chinese. The studies address themes such as the acquisition of key pragmatic features, methodological innovations in pragmatics assessment, individual difference factors and virtual learning contexts.

This book investigates the content of the grammar syllabuses typically employed in mainstream English Language Teaching. Using a mixed-methods approach, the author examines how the syllabuses used in coursebooks are actually constructed, how they evolved and how valid their contents are as a basis for teaching.

This book presents studies from authors at the cutting edge of second language vocabulary research, whose output represents much of the current focus and direction of work in this area. The authors address various aspects of L2 lexical processing and explore different models of acquisition, processing and storage. The studies are linked by the fact that the authors have all belonged to the same dynamic and influential vocabulary acquisition research group led by Paul Meara. Alison Wray provides an overview of how Meara has led this group's research activities in an innovative PhD programme, and John Read and Paul Nation contribute a critical evaluation of Meara's wide-ranging contributions to the field of vocabulary acquisition research. The research studies presented here are relevant and replicable, offering researchers and teachers many valuable and critical insights into lexical processing in second language learners.

This book represents the most comprehensive account to date of foreign language (FL) writing. Its basic aim is to reflect critically on where the field is now and where it needs need to go next in the exploration of FL writing at the levels of theory, research, and pedagogy, hence the two parts of the book: 'Looking back' and 'Looking ahead'. The chapters in Part I offer accounts of both the inquiry process followed and the main insights gained in various long-term research programs. The chapters in Part 2 contribute a retrospective analysis of the available empirical research and of professional experiences in an attempt to move forward. The book invites the reader to step back and rethink seemingly well established knowledge about L2 writing in light of what is known about writing in FL contexts.

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 volume contains a selection of papers analyzing language transfer, a phenomenon which results from language contact in bilingual and multilingual language acquisition and learning contexts. The main focus of the volume is on the lexical aspects of language transfer.

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.

This edited volume focuses on writing Chinese as a second language (L2). It provides readers with cutting-edge empirical research and insightful teaching methods and strategies for effectively developing L2 writing competence in L2 Chinese classroom contexts.

Contributing to emerging research on third language acquisition, this book presents readers with a practical guide to understanding how these languages are processed, learned and taught. With examples from a range of learning contexts, it emphasises the role of teachers as bridges between education and research on multilingualism.

This book explores the importance of cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning. Similarities can be perceived in the form of simplified one-to-one relationships or merely assumed. The book outlines the different roles of L1 transfer on comprehension and on production, and on close and distant target languages.

Examining the overseas experience of language learners in diverse contexts through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, studies in this volume look at the acquisition of language use, socialization processes, learner motivation, identity and learning strategies.

This book brings together a collection of most recent theoretical and empirical studies on fossilization. It covers a wide range of perspectives and issues. The analyses discussed herein address key concerns of many second language researchers and teachers with regard to just how far anyone can go in learning a new language.

The book focuses on the effect of bilingualism in the oral production of the English language learners. This volume deals specifically with bilingualism effects in the pragmatic production and awareness of third language learners of English.

This book claims that the silent period represents a psychical event, a non-linguistic as well as linguistic moment in the continuous process of identity formation and reformation. It calls on psychoanalytic concepts to undertake a dialogue with the learner as a being engaged in the psychical work of making an identity.

This book examines the acquisition of requests in English by a Japanese girl during her residence in Australia. It focuses on the linguistic repertoire available to the child as she makes requests and varies these to suit different goals and addressees. It helps unravel features of pragmatic development in the child's interlanguage.

This book addresses specific learning difficulties in reading and spelling - developmental dyslexia. Set in the cross-linguistic context, it presents issues surrounding dyslexia from the perspective of a foreign language teacher. It is intended to serve as a reference book for those involved in foreign language teaching.

Lexical inferencing is a central process in both reading comprehension and word learning through reading. This volume presents a comprehensive review of second language lexical inferencing and a major new study of first and second language lexical inferencing by speakers of Persian, French and English, focusing on first language transfer effects.