Agendas for Language Learning Research

by Ortega, Lourdes; Cumming, Alister; Ellis, Nick C.

• ISBN13: 9781118590706
• ISBN10: 1118590708
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-03-18
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Currents in Language Learning provides programmatic state-of-the-art overviews of current issues in the language sciences and their applications in first, second, and bi/multilingual language acquisition in naturalistic and tutored contexts. It brings together disciplinary perspectives from linguistics, psychology, education, anthropology, sociology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. In this first issue of Currents in Language Learning, leading applied linguists review their particular specialisms so to develop the research agendas in areas including: progress and relevance in second language acquisition (Ortega), Usage-Based Linguistics (Ellis, O'Donnell, and Römer), age effects in language learning (DeKeyser), second language pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig), vocabulary knowledge (Jarvis), transfer of learning in second language instruction (Larsen-Freeman), language, literacy, and culture (Cumming), academic language development in schools (Schleppegrell), Practice Theory (Young and Astarita), and evolutionary perspectives on language (Schumann).

Author Biography

Lourdes Ortega is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She investigates additional language development in instructed contexts from cognitive-interactionist and usage based perspectives and has long-standing interests in second language writing, foreign language education, and research methods. She serves as Journal Editor of Language Learning.

Alister Cumming is Professor and Head of the Centre for Educational Research on Languages and Literacies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.  His research and teaching focus on writing in second languages, language assessment, language program evaluation and policies, and research methods. He serves as Executive Director of Language Learning.

Nick C. Ellis is Professor of Psychology, Professor of Linguistics, and Research Scientist in the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan. His research interests include language acquisition, cognition, emergentism, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, applied linguistics, and psycholinguistics He serves a General Editor of Language Learning.

Table of Contents

Foreword v

SLA for the 21st Century Disciplinary Progress, Transdisciplinary Relevance, and the Bi/multilingual Turn Lourdes Orteg 1

Usage-Based Language: Investigating the Latent Structures That Underpin Acquisition Nick C. Ellis Matthew Brook O'Donnell Ute Römer 25

Age Effects in Second Language Learning: Stepping Stones Toward Better Understanding Robert M. DeKeyser 52

Developing L2 Pragmatics Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig 68

Capturing the Diversity in Lexical Diversity Scott Jarvis 87

Transfer of Learning Transformed Diane Larsen-Freeman 107

Multiple Dimensions of Academic Language and Literacy Development Alister Cumming 130

The Role of Metalanguage in Supporting Academic Language Development Mary J. Schleppegrell 153

Practice Theory in Language Learning Richard F. Young Alice C. Astarita 171

Societal Responses to Adult Difficulties in L2 Acquisition: Toward an Evolutionary Perspective on Language Acquisition John H. Schumann 190

Subject Index 210