Contemporary approaches to second language acquisition (original) (raw)

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is 'more like a many-sided prism than a neat picture with clearly identifiable objects' (Ellis, 1994, p. 65). Different SLA approaches, be they descriptive or explanatory, focus on 'the S, the L, and the A of SLA' (Rothman and VanPatten, p. 252, in this volume being reviewed), with the purpose of solving the SLA puzzle piece by piece. SLA is a relatively young yet evolving field. It draws on several other disciplinesincluding linguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and other social sciences -and is comprised of different, promising paradigms. This is exactly what this book offers. This volume, taking a pluralistic position, provides a compendium of different approaches to SLA, covering not only some well-established approaches but also more contemporary ones, some of which are borrowed from other sister disciplines. The book is organized into a foreword, an introduction, 11 chapters, and an afterword. In the brief foreword, Myles outlines the format of the book and the content of each chapter. The first two chapters address two well-established linguistic theories. In Chapter 1, Slabakova argues that functional morphology, contrary to semantics and syntax, is the main source of difficulty for second language learners. She also presents an overview of research that provides support for her argument that functional morphology is the bottleneck of acquisition. In Chapter 2, Llinares explores in detail the application of the systematic-functional linguistic approach to classrooms. Llinares applies this approach to both foreign language and CLIL (content-and-language integrated) contexts at lower educational levels, focusing on spoken and written performances. The next five chapters, which comprise the bulk of the volume, deal with some major, well-known SLA theories. In Chapter 3, Pica provides an overview of numerous second language (L2) interaction-related constructs, such as negotiation, attention and evidence. She concludes that more interaction research is needed in different second language learning contexts, particularly in computer-based communication environments. In Chapter 4, Lyster and Sato examine the proceduralization of knowledge in L2 learning. They take a skill acquisition theory perspective and argue that through practice and feedback in meaningful contexts, L2 learners can have chances to restructure and proceduralize their L2 knowledge. Further, they discuss how interaction between declarative and procedural knowledge is not necessarily unidirectional; declarative knowledge might be 547073L T R 0010.1177/1362168814547073Language Teaching ResearchBook review book-review2015