Understanding Second Language Acquisition

Understanding Second Language Acquisition PDF Author: Lourdes Ortega
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 144411705X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages during our early years of life, many of us will learn a second, foreign, or heritage language in later years. The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language --in the case of monolinguals-- or languages --in the case of bilinguals-- have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading. Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Supporting resources for tutors are available free at www.routledge.com/ortega.

Understanding Second Language Acquisition

Understanding Second Language Acquisition PDF Author: Lourdes Ortega
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 144411705X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages during our early years of life, many of us will learn a second, foreign, or heritage language in later years. The field of Second language acquisition (SLA, for short) investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages in late childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, after the first language --in the case of monolinguals-- or languages --in the case of bilinguals-- have already been acquired. Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading. Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education, it is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. Supporting resources for tutors are available free at www.routledge.com/ortega.

Understanding Second Language Learning Difficulties

Understanding Second Language Learning Difficulties PDF Author: Madeline E. Ehrman
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 0761901914
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Ehrman presents the insights, techniques and skills needed to understand why some adult students have difficulties with learning a second language, emphasising the importance of careful investigation and correct diagnosis of the cause.

Working Collaboratively in Second/Foreign Language Learning

Working Collaboratively in Second/Foreign Language Learning PDF Author: María del Pilar García Mayo
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501511246
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Since the introduction of communicative language teaching, collaborative learning has played an important role in the second language (L2) classroom. Drawing from sociocultural theory, which states that human cognitive development is a socially situated activity mediated by language, studies in L2 pedagogy advocate the use of tasks that require learners to work together. Collaborative dialogue encourages language learning, and research shows that the solutions reached by students in this process are more often correct with a lasting influence on their language comprehension. This volume includes ten chapters that illustrate the benefits of collaborative dialogue in second foreign language classrooms. The volume considers key issues dealing with collaborative tasks and implications for language teaching.

Learning a Foreign Language

Learning a Foreign Language PDF Author: Alex Poole
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1475854196
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
This text helps monolinguals achieve their dream of learning another language. Each chapter explains and exemplifies issues inherent in the language learning process that readers need to understand. These include maintaining motivation, dealing with errors, being strategic, and assessing progress. Readers receive advice on the practical steps they can take to make learning more effective and enjoyable. They also gain exposure to the methods and techniques used to research language learning. While doing so, they become aware of child language development, the evolution of language, language’s relationship to culture, and other fundamental areas of linguistics. Readers also confront limitations related to age and learn about the necessity of having realistic expectations concerning pronunciation, grammar production, word usage, and cultural knowledge. Questions following the end of every chapter encourage readers to reflect on the information presented and how they can use it. The text’s focus on first-time language learners and straightforward style make it accessible for high school students, college language majors, and those independently pursuing a language.

Why You Need a Foreign Language & how to Learn One

Why You Need a Foreign Language & how to Learn One PDF Author: Edward Trimnell
Publisher: Beechmont Crest Pub
ISBN: 9780974833019
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
"The first half of this book examines the commercial, social, and political implications of American monolingualism. The second half of the book explores the techniques and tools that a working professional can use to acqure functional skills in a new language."--Back cover.

Second and Foreign Language Learning Through Classroom Interaction

Second and Foreign Language Learning Through Classroom Interaction PDF Author: Joan Kelly Hall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135660751
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
This volume brings together the current theoretical interest in reconceptualizing second and foreign language learning from a sociocultural perspective on language and learning, with practical concerns about second and foreign language pedagogy. It presents a set of studies whose focus is on the empirical description of particular practices constructed in classroom interaction that promote the learning of a second or foreign language. The authors examine in detail the processes by which the learning of additional languages is accomplished in the interaction of a variety of classrooms and in a variety of languages. Not only will the findings from the studies reported in this volume help to lay a foundation for the development of a more expansive, sociocultural model of second and foreign language learning, but on a more practical level they will help language educators in creating a set of principles for identifying and sustaining classroom interactional practices that foster additional language development. The volume is distinguished in three ways: * Following a Vygotskyan perspective on development, the studies assume that language learning is a fundamentally pragmatic enterprise, intrinsically linked to language use. This breaks from a more traditional understanding of second and foreign language learning, which has viewed learning and use as two distinct phenomena. The importance of classroom interaction to additional language development is foregrounded. * The investigations reported in this book are distinguished by their methodological approach. Because language learning is assumed to be a situated, context-sensitive, and dynamic process, the studies do not rely on traditional experimental methods for collecting and analyzing data, but rather, they involve primarily the use of ethnographic and discourse analytic methods. * The studies focus on interactional practices that promote second and foreign language learning. Although a great deal of research has examined first language learning in classrooms from a sociocultural perspective, little has looked at second and foreign language classrooms from such a perspective. Thus there is a strong need for this volume of studies addressing this area of research. Researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students across the fields of second and foreign language learning, applied linguistics, and language education will find this book informative and relevant. Because of the programmatic implications arising from the studies, it will also appeal to teacher educators and teachers of second and foreign languages from the elementary to the university levels.

Understanding Second & Foreign Language Learning

Understanding Second & Foreign Language Learning PDF Author: Jack C. Richards
Publisher: Newbury House
ISBN:
Category : Language and languages
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description


Becoming Fluent

Becoming Fluent PDF Author: Richard Roberts
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262529807
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Forget everything you’ve heard about adult language learning: evidence from cognitive science and psychology prove we can learn foreign languages just as easily as children. An eye-opening study on how adult learners can master a foreign lanugage by drawing on skills and knowledge honed over a lifetime. Adults who want to learn a foreign language are often discouraged because they believe they cannot acquire a language as easily as children. Once they begin to learn a language, adults may be further discouraged when they find the methods used to teach children don't seem to work for them. What is an adult language learner to do? In this book, Richard Roberts and Roger Kreuz draw on insights from psychology and cognitive science to show that adults can master a foreign language if they bring to bear the skills and knowledge they have honed over a lifetime. Adults shouldn't try to learn as children do; they should learn like adults. Roberts and Kreuz report evidence that adults can learn new languages even more easily than children. Children appear to have only two advantages over adults in learning a language: they acquire a native accent more easily, and they do not suffer from self-defeating anxiety about learning a language. Adults, on the other hand, have the greater advantages—gained from experience—of an understanding of their own mental processes and knowing how to use language to do things. Adults have an especially advantageous grasp of pragmatics, the social use of language, and Roberts and Kreuz show how to leverage this metalinguistic ability in learning a new language. Learning a language takes effort. But if adult learners apply the tools acquired over a lifetime, it can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Advances in Second/Foreign Language Acquisition

Advances in Second/Foreign Language Acquisition PDF Author: Georgios P. Georgiou
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031385225
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
This book includes studies that employ a variety of research techniques from diverse fields targeting a better understanding of the second language (L2)/foreign language (FL) acquisition process including issues of heritage language (HL) learning. Specifically, the chapters discuss matters such as speech perception and production patterns in a second/foreign language, factors that facilitate second language acquisition, acquisition of heritage languages, teaching of a second/foreign language, and acquisition of second/foreign language grammatical and other structures, among others. The investigation of L2/FL and HLs is of paramount importance for updating the existing theories in the field and maximizing learning outcomes for the sake of effective communication, cultivation of intercultural understanding, career advancement, and personal development. The book is of interest to a wide range of disciplinary audiences, including linguists, psychologists, educators, and social scientists.

Understanding Second Language Acquisition 2nd Edition

Understanding Second Language Acquisition 2nd Edition PDF Author: Rod Ellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0194422011
Category : Study Aids
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
In the 30 years since Rod Ellis first published the award-winning Understanding Second Language Acquisition, it has become a classic text. This new, fully updated edition continues to provide an authoritative and highly readable introduction to key areas of theory and research in second language acquisition. Ellis presents a comprehensive overview of the different theories in this field and examines critical reactions to them. The book reflects recent trends in looking at cognitive and social aspects of second language acquisition, as well as examining the roles played by implicit and explicit instruction in language learning. “An excellent and much-needed, in-depth review of the research on how children and literate adults learn a second language. Ellis provides a sound knowledge base for language teachers and beginning graduate students in applied linguistics, focusing on relevant findings of research on second-language learning by children and literate adults in both naturalistic and instructed contexts.” Elaine Tarone, Director of the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota Additional online resources are available at www.oup.com/elt/teacher/understandingsla Rod Ellis is the Distinguished Professor of Applied Language Studies in the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics in the University of Auckland. Oxford Applied Linguistics Series Advisers: Anne Burns and Diane Larsen-Freeman.