Pages: 10

The first edition of this volume (Atkinson, 2011a) attempted to carve out a territory—a way or ways of studying second language acquisition (hereafter SLA) that did not rely on a cognitivist mind-as-computer model, empirically supported by idealized theory-testing research methods, as conceptualized by philosophers rather than scientists. The difficult history of the field was then fresh in the editor’s mind, and no doubt in some of the contributors’ minds as well: In the 1990s, SLA theorists and researchers had engaged in “the SLA Theory Wars,” 1 an acrimonious dispute over what one protagonist, David Block, called “the heart and soul of SLA” (1996). The spark igniting that war had been an attempt to cleanse the field of what, in the concluding chapter of their pioneering Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (Doughty & Long, 2003), Long and Doughty (2003) identified as groups of scholars—socioculturalists, conversation analysts, and action theorists, for example—who persist in seeing external learner behavior, even group behavior, not mental states, as the proper domain of inquiry. More generally (and more vaguely) there are “critical theorists” and an often overlapping group of self-professed epistemological relativists, who express general angst with SLA’s cognitive orientation and/or its growing accountability to one or more theories and to empirical findings while offering no alternative but the abyss. (Long & Doughty 2003, p. 866)

Pages: 27

In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of core theoretical concepts of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) and the specific ways its principles apply to language development and language use. The chapter also presents supporting empirical evidence for specific developmental processes that language learners experience and surveys compatible methods used in second language development research. Finally, the chapter highlights commonalities and differences with other approaches in this volume and points to future directions that will help extend existing insights from CDST to better understand key processes of language development.

Pages: 27

This chapter addresses the sociocultural theory (SCT) of psychology, proposed by L. S. Vygotsky, to account for the development of the human psyche resulting from the dialectical intra-action between biologically evolved brains and historically produced culture. It explains the four core theoretical principles: sociogenesis, mediation, internalization and developmental phases, along with the concept of historical dialectics, the primary methodological orientation of the theory. The chapter discusses the experimental-developmental research method proposed by Vygotsky to study mental development. However, Vygotsky also argued that the true test of the theory is its ability to promote development in everyday life, including educational settings, the primary focus of the chapter. An educational model, Concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) grounded in the core theoretical principles, is described along with an illustration drawn from a study on L2 Chinese word order. The findings of two studies that challenge cognitivist theories of L2 development and that support the primacy of sociogenesis are summarized. The theory is then compared to other theories included in the volume, most especially complex dynamic systems theory. Areas of potential future research are suggested, including studies comparing the claims of SCT and cognitive theories of L2 development.

Pages: 24

This chapter makes the case for a comprehensive theory of identity in second language acquisition (SLA) that places the individual learner in the social world, as well as addresses how social relations of power and inequality affect the language learning process. The poststructuralist theorising of language, subjectivity, and investment which underpins an identity approach is outlined as well as approaches to researching identity and SLA. Both earlier foundational and more recent research taking an identity approach are reviewed, and the implications for pedagogy are considered. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions focusing on identity and translanguaging as well as identity and new materialism.

Pages: 30

Conversation analytic research on second language acquisition (CA-SLA) has arguably played a key role in the recent shift within the field of SLA toward a view of second language learning as a fundamentally socio-cognitive process. It has substantiated an understanding of second language (L2) learning as rooted in speakers’ language use in social interaction as the primary site of human sociality, and has offered an empirically grounded account of second language interactional competence and its development. This chapter first discusses the theoretical and conceptual principles that underlie CA-SLA and details its research methods. It then examines and illustrates existing findings on the functioning of L2 interaction and on the development of L2 interactional competence, including L2 grammar-for-interaction. Based on these findings and the related methods, the chapter outlines similarities and differences with other approaches presented in this volume under the label of “alternative approaches.” It closes by identifying pedagogical implications of CA-SLA research and avenues for future investigations.

Pages: 27

This chapter examines language socialization (LS) approaches to second language acquisition with a focus on social, cultural, and linguistic development in a variety of multilingual contexts. After briefly noting their own histories with LS research, the authors discuss the interdisciplinary theoretical foundations of LS and discuss the range of research methods currently being used, such as ethnographic case studies, interviews, and discourse analysis. They then present several studies that illustrate trends in LS research and its contributions to the field of second language acquisition and teaching. Next, the chapter suggests future directions for research in this area, underscoring the roles of multimodality, social networks, distributed agency, emerging technologies including Generative AI, the complexities and multidirectionality of concurrent socialization within and across communities, the importance of scalar perspectives (macro-meso-micro; past-present) on phenomena being researched, and possibilities for examining both the processes and linguistic outcomes of socialization. Some similarities and differences between LS approaches and others in this volume are then discussed before the chapter concludes.

Pages: 25

Drawing on decolonial, Indigenous, and Southern insights into the inequities of language learning, this chapter proposes a radical-critical approach, in which second language acquisition (SLA) communities commit to making space for the investigation of key axes of human oppression (e.g., race, gender/sexuality, language ideologies) as shapers of language learning, and to doing so with full consciousness and use of the history of colonialism and coloniality as their explanation. It offers some principles that may support this approach, and points to felicitous, if isolated, research practices and findings that SLA researchers can build on to imagine decolonial futures for the field and for the multilinguals it investigates.

Pages: 25

This chapter introduces the corpus linguistics approach to second language acquisition (SLA), i.e., the use of native and learner corpora as data sources, automated and semi-automated tools for corpus annotation, as well as the range of methods, measures, and tools for analyzing language data in various ways applicable to basic and applied SLA research. Specifically, it systematically reviews how corpus linguistics may inform four key areas of SLA research: (1) variation in L2 use as affected by learner- and task-related variables, (2) L2 processing and production as influenced by different input factors, (3) group-level longitudinal developmental trajectories of L2 learners, and (4) individual variability in L2 development. Particular attention is devoted to the composition of corpora used or compiled as well as the tools and methods utilized for corpus annotation or language analysis, including their underlying rationales, in such research. In so doing, the chapter aims to highlight the methodological appropriateness and contributions of corpus linguistics for unraveling various SLA phenomena and issues.

Pages: 30

This chapter presents the notion of “assemblage” approaches to second language development and teaching, which in this case emphasizes the dynamics of cooperative action and learning in semiotically rich environments. While we draw on and have benefited from multiple established theories, approaches, and methodologies, our empirical work has evolved to require adaptation and engagement with a broad range of linguistic, cognitive, learning, and social theories. We begin by outlining a set of five theoretical and empirical principles, namely: (1) humans as open systems, (2) the primacy of process ontology, (3) cooperative action, the enchronic frame, and emergent, usage-based approaches, (4) sociomaterialism and mediated action, and (5) research for innovation and intervention. We then provide an illustration of multimodal methods and processes of analysis that elaborate on these principles, discuss pedagogical implications through the lens of rewilding language education, and conclude with a comparison to other approaches and a discussion of future directions.

Pages: 29

This chapter introduces the sociocognitive approach to second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T), an ecological perspective on SLA/T. We begin by introducing five theoretical principles of this approach: 1) the mindbodyworld principle—humans are a part of not apart from their physical and social environments; 2) the alignment principle—learning equates with durable adaptive response to one’s environment; 3) the affective learning principle—learning and teaching are highly affective, with success generally associated with positive cooperative affect; 4) the teaching-learning principle—both learning and teaching are innate human dispositions on which our species’ survival depends; and 5) the learning action principle—that learning is an ongoing process of negotiation of and approximation to communicative norms. Next, the main methodological approach used in the sociocognitive approach—multimodal interaction analysis—is introduced and historically contextualized in the form of scientific inquiry known as natural history. This is followed by a review of key studies and findings emanating from sociocognitive SLA/T research. Pedagogical/practical implications of a sociocognitive approach are then discussed, including using multimodal interaction analysis in teacher education. Lastly, future directions for the sociocognitive approach are offered.