What is language and how can we investigate its acquisition by children or adults? What perspectives exist from which to view acquisition? What internal constraints and external factors shape acquisition? What are the properties of interlanguage systems? This comprehensive 31-chapter handbook is an authoritative survey of second language acquisition (SLA). Its multi-perspective synopsis on recent developments in SLA research provides significant contributions by established experts and widely recognized younger talent.
The second edition of Theories in Second Language Acquisition seeks to build on the strengths of the first edition by surveying the major theories currently used in second language acquisition research. This volume is an ideal introductory text for undergraduate and graduate students in SLA and language teaching. Each chapter focuses on a single theory, written by a leading scholar in the field in an easy-to-follow style – a basic foundational description of the theory, relevant data or research models used with this theory, common misunderstandings, and a sample study from the field to show the theory in practice.
Reading Comprehension Through Speaking and Listening
Reading “floats on a sea of talk” (Britton, 1970, p. 164). Learning depends on the use of language knowledge for the purpose of acquiring more language, concepts, and information (Merritt & Culatta, 1998). Recent research shows that students’ oral language proficiency plays a crucial role in the acquisition of reading fluency and comprehension.
Interactionist and Input Theories of Second Language Acquisition
This paper discusses social interaction theory and the interaction hypothesis and how they deal with the significance of interaction in a learning environment which contrasts with the nativist theories of language acquisition like the input hypothesis espoused by Krashen. According to interaction theorists such as Long and Vygotsky, environmental factors play a critical role in second language acquisition.
The contributions in this volume are based on an analysis of data from bilingual children acquiring French and German simultaneously. The longitudinal studies started at approximately age one year and six months and continued till age six. The papers focus on the development of specific grammatical phenomena; explanations are given within the framework of the Principle and Parameter approach. The study is primarily concerned with the acquisition of so-called 'functional categories' and the consequences of their acquisition for the development of grammar.
