The present volume provides a cross-linguistic perspective on the development of tense-aspect in L2 acquisition. Data-based studies included in this volume deal with the analysis of a wide range of target languages: Chinese, English, Italian, French, Japanese, and Spanish. Theoretical frameworks used to evaluate the nature of the empirical evidence range from generative grammar to functional-typological linguistics. Several studies focus on the development of past tense markers, but other issues such as the acquisition of a future marker are also addressed. An introductory chapter outlines some theoretical and methodological issues that serves as relevant preliminary reading for most of the chapters included in this volume. Additionally, a preliminary chapter offers a substantive review of first language acquisition of tense-aspect morphology. The analysis of the various languages included in this volume significantly advances our understanding of this phenomenon, and will serve as an important basis for future research.

Second language acquisition has an identity problem. It is a young field struggling to emerge from the parent fields of education and applied linguistics. In his new book, Problems in Second Language Acquisition, Mike Long proposes a way to help second language acquisition develop a systematic and coherent focus using the philosophy of science as the lens. The volume is neatly organized into three parts--theory, research, and practice. This structure allows a focus on areas of SLA of interest to many in the field. These include theory proliferation and comparative theory evaluation; the Critical Period Hypothesis and negative feedback; and the practice of “synthetic” language teaching. The controversial volume will be of interest to researchers, educators, and graduate students in second language acquisition, applied linguistics, TESOL, and linguistics programs. It may be recommended as additional reading for an introductory SLA course in order to stimulate class discussions.

The Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics is a unique reference work for students and teachers of linguistics. The highly regarded second edition of the Lexikon der Sprachwissenschaft by Hadumod Bussmann has been specifically adapted by a team of over thirty specialist linguists to form the most comprehensive and up-to-date work of its kind in the English language. In over 2,500 entries, the Dictionary provides an exhaustive survey of the key terminology and languages of more than 30 subdisciplines of linguistics. With its term-based approach and emphasis on clear analysis, it complements perfectly Routledge's established range of reference material in the field of linguistics.

Second Language Acquisition : introduces the key areas in the field, including: multilingualism, the role of teaching, the mental processing of multiple languages, and patterns of growth and decline explores the key theories and debates and elucidates areas of controversy gathers together influential readings from key names in the discipline, including: Vivian Cook, William E. Dunn and James P. Lantolf, S.P. Corder, and Nina Spada and Patsy Lightbown. Written by experienced teachers and researchers in the field, Second Language Acquisition is an essential resource for students and researchers of applied linguistics.

This book presents an extended analysis of the development of L2 Spanish past tense morphology among L1 English-speaking learners. The study addresses three major questions: (1) what is the developmental pattern of acquisition of past tense verbal morphology among tutored learners? (2) what are the relevant factors that may account for the particular distribution of morphological endings (especially at the beginning stages)?, and (3) how does instruction affect the movement from one stage to the next? The analysis provides a reassessment of the general claim of Andersen’s lexical aspect hypothesis and proposes minor changes that may render the hypothesis more appropriate for, especially, L2 classroom learning. The study includes an overview of theoretical positions on the notion of lexical versus grammatical aspect, and a comparison of the findings from previous empirical studies on the development of past tense verbal morphology among both classroom and naturalistic learners.

This work identifies developmental stages in the acquisition of object pronouns by instructed second language learners of Spanish. It examines learners ranging from beginner to advanced, where the most advanced are themselves teachers of Spanish language courses. Study abroad experience is also a variable in the data. The book explores language production from a functionalist perspective, examining form-to-function and function-to-form mappings. It provides insights into related developments in production, placement and processing of object pronouns. Detailed analysis reveals that the most powerful predictor of performance across levels and within levels for each of these is the level of the learner.Formal instruction and the study abroad experience is examined, both the specific instruction on object pronouns and overall exposure to instruction.

This new volume of work highlights the distinctiveness of child SLA through a collection of different types of empirical research specific to younger learners. Characteristics of children's cognitive, emotional, and social development distinguish their experiences from those of adult L2 learners, creating intriguing issues for SLA research, and also raising important practical questions regarding effective pedagogical techniques for learners of different ages. While child SLA is often typically thought of as simple (and often enjoyable and universally effortless), in other words, as “child's play”, the complex portraits of young second language learners which emerge in the 16 papers collected in this book invite the reader to reconsider the reality for many younger learners. Chapters by internationally renowned authors together with reports by emerging researchers describe second and foreign language learning by children ranging from pre-schoolers to young adolescents, in home and school contexts, with caregivers, peers, and teachers as interlocutors.

There are several issues in English teaching on which applied linguists take very different positions: e.g. linguistic imperialism, the validity of critical discourse analysis, the pedagogic relevance of corpus descriptions of language, the theoretical bases of second language acquisition research, the nature of applied linguistics itself. This book presents exchanges between scholars arguing different positions, and directs attention to the key points at issue.

Written by a team of leading experts working in different SLA specialisms, this fourth edition is a clear and concise introduction to the main theories of second language acquisition (SLA) from multiple perspectives, comprehensively updated to reflect the very latest developments SLA research in recent years. The book covers all the main theoretical perspectives currently active in SLA and sets each chapter within a broader framework. Each chapter examines the claims and scope of each theory and how each views language, the learner and the acquisition process, supplemented by summaries of key studies and data examples from a variety of languages. Chapters end with an evaluative summary of the theories discussed. Key features to this fourth edition include updated accounts of developments in cognitive approaches to second language (L2) learning, the implications of advances in generative linguistics and the "social turn" in L2 research, with re-worked chapters on functional, sociocultural and sociolinguistic perspectives, and an entirely new chapter on theory integration, in addition to updated examples using new studies. Second Language Learning Theories continues to be an essential resource for graduate students in second language acquisition.