Language Acquisition and Language Socialization: Ecological Perspectives

Advances in Applied Linguistics

by Claire Kramsch (Editor)

'This is an outstanding collection of papers by top scholars in a range of disciplines who shed stimulating, complementary insights into the social, cognitive and semiotic frameworks that shape both the acquisition of language, and the constitution of social actors through that process. The intentionally loose ecological framing of the volume provides an arena within which a range of perspectives, all united by their opposition to a mechanistic view of language acquisition, can enter into dialogue with each other. This is a most stimulating collection, with a range of insightful investigations of settings as diverse as an autistic child learning to interact with others on the playing field, professional gate-keeping encounters, and foreign language classrooms.'
Professor Charles Goodwin, University of California at Los Angeles

The book brings together well-known scholars in two relatively distinct fields, language acquisition and language socialization, and from a variety of orientations within applied linguistics to describe language development from a relational perspective.

The papers in this volume are a response to three main 1) What conceptual models best capture the ecological nature of language learning? 2) What research approaches are best likely to illuminate the relationship between language and social structure? 3) How is educational success defined for language acquisition and language socialization?

Genres: Linguistics

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Claire J. Kramsch has been Professor of German and Foreign Language Acquisition at the University of Berkeley since 1989. She is also director of the Berkeley Language Centre and teaches in the School of Education. Her fields of interest are second language acquisition, applied linguistics, discourse analysis and social and cultural theory.

Claire Kramsch is co-editor of Applied Linguistics, author of Language and Culture and the award-winning Context and Culture in Language Teaching published by Oxford University Press.

In 1998, the President of Germany awarded Claire Kramsch the coveted Goethe Medal of the Goethe Institute for her achievements in promoting intercultural understanding between Germany and the U.S.A.

Reviews

[Americaussie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's one of those books I'll return to over the years to inform my pedagogy.