Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

by Dwight Atkinson (Editor)

This volume presents six alternative approaches to studying second language acquisition – 'alternative' in the sense that they contrast with and/or complement the cognitivism pervading the field. All six approaches – sociocultural, complexity theory, conversation-analytic, identity, language socialization, and sociocognitive – are described according to the same set of six headings, allowing for direct comparison across approaches. Each chapter is authored by leading advocates for the approach James Lantolf for the sociocultural approach; Diane Larsen-Freeman for the complexity theory approach; Gabriele Kasper and Johannes Wagner for the conversation-analytic approach; Bonny Norton and Carolyn McKinney for the identity approach; Patricia Duff and Steven Talmy for the language socialization approach and Dwight Atkinson for the sociocognitive approach. Introductory and commentary chapters round out this volume. The editor’s introduction describes the significance of alternative approaches to SLA studies given its strongly cognitivist orientation. Lourdes Ortega’s commentary considers the six approaches from an 'enlightened traditional' perspective on SLA studies – a viewpoint which is cognitivist in orientation but broad enough to give serious and balanced consideration to alternative approaches. This volume is essential reading in the field of second language acquisition.

Genres: Linguistics, Education

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2010

Reviews

[Maud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, I'm so glad to be done with this one. If there is one thing that I hate it is authors who decide to write simple sentences in the most difficult way ever (aka tons of synonyms, a comma or three per sentence, repeat the same thing over and over but with a slight twist here and there so that your reader has to figure out what is different, and a dash of French as a finishing touch).

It's a real shame that the writing style is so terrible because there is a ton of information in here, stuff that is really interesting and that I would have loved to learn about if only the reading experience had been better. I will toss this one in some dark corner and hopefully never have to look at it again.