AILA Applied Linguistics Series

Second language acquisition (SLA) is a field of inquiry that has increased in importance since the 1960s. Currently, researchers adopt multiple perspectives in the analysis of learner language, all of them providing different but complementary answers to the understanding of oral and written data produced by young and older learners in different settings. The main goal of this volume is to provide the reader with updated reviews of the major contemporary approaches to SLA, the research carried out within them and, wherever appropriate, the implications and/or applications for theory, research and pedagogy that might derive from the available empirical evidence. The book is intended for SLA researchers as well as for graduate (MA, Ph.D.) students in SLA research, applied linguistics and linguistics, as the different chapters will be a guide in their research within the approaches presented. The volume will also be of interest to professionals from other fields interested in the SLA process and the different explanations that have been put forward to account for it.

Recipient of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics 2014 Book Award.

This volume discusses several facets of English in today's multilingual Europe. It emphasizes the interdependence between cultures, languages and situations that influence its use. This interdependence is particularly relevant to European settings where English is being learned as a second language. Such learning situations constitute the core focus of the book. The volume is unique in bringing together empirical studies examining factors that promote the learning of English in Europe. Rather than assuming that English is a threat to linguistic diversity and cultural independence, these studies discuss psycholinguistic factors such as the input, and sociolinguistic factors such as the type of English that is targeted in learning. The contributing authors are well-established specialists who have worked on multilingualism, English as a Lingua Franca and second language acquisition.

The book will be of interest to applied linguists, sociolinguists and teachers of English as a foreign language.

The Bologna Reform has been implemented in a large part of the European Union and it is time to take a short pause to reflect over some of the lessons learned up to now. The aim of this book is to share experiences and reflections on English for Specific Purposes pedagogy in Western European higher education. Taking as a starting point the development of the EU policies during the past couple of decades and their national implementations, the chapters in this book provide various perspectives, both theoretical and practical, on the ways in which the reform has been implemented and its effects on the teaching of ESP. Experiences of developing programmes and courses incorporating Content and Language Integrated Learning and Autonomous and Lifelong Learning are described, as well as Problem-Based Learning and Process-Genre Pedagogies. The book also includes chapters on the crucial, but often neglected issue of teacher support in meeting the challenges of teaching content through the medium of English.

This volume offers an ontogenetic perspective on research on L3, multilingualism and multiple languages acquisition and a conceptually updated picture of multilingualism studies and third/multiple language acquisition studies. The contributions by prominent scholars of multilingualism present state-of-the-art accounts of the significant aspects in this field. This unique collection of articles adopts a broad-spectrum and synthesized view on the topic. The volume, largely theoretical and classificatory, features main theories, prominent researchers and important research trends. The articles also contain factual and historical material from previous and current decades of research and offer practical information on research resources. For lecturers, students, educators, researchers, and social workers operating in multilingual contexts, The Exploration of Multilingualism is manifestly relevant.

This volume offers a fresh intercultural perspective on the discursive and rhetorical challenges non-Anglophone scholars face while writing and publishing in English for an international readership. The volume presents a wide spectrum of text-based intercultural analyses of academic texts written in L2 English. Placed in the context of a rapidly increasing role of English as the universal language of scientific and scholarly communication, the contributions attempt to explore native language influence on L2 English academic texts or, conversely, the influence of rhetorical or discursive features of English on L2 texts. Covering texts from Chinese to Lithuanian authors, the chapters in this volume offer a rich selection of lexico-grammatical, discursive and rhetorical elements analysed and compared across genres, disciplines and languages both within synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This volume will be of interest to both experienced and novice researchers in such fields as English for Academic Purposes, Intercultural Rhetoric, Genre Theory, Corpus Linguistics, and English as a Lingua Franca.

This publication constitutes essential reading for academics, teachers and language policy makers wanting to understand, plan, and implement an educational language program involving learner mobility.

The book provides data and analyses from a long-term program of research on study abroad (the SALA Project), which looked into the short and long-term effects of instructional and mobility contexts on language and cultural development from two perspectives: the participants’ language acquisition development over 2,5 years, and the practitioners’ perspective in relation to the design and implementation of a mobility program. The book is innovative in the longitudinal data it offers, the light it sheds on (i) an array of language skills, both productive and receptive, oral and written, tapping into phonology, lexis, grammar and discourse, (ii) the role of individual differences (including attitudes, motivation, beliefs, and intercultural awareness), and (iii) the insights on the effects of length of stay. In sum, this book represents a welcome addition to previous research on the outcomes of mobility policies to promote L2 learners’ linguistic development and the individual and educational conditions that appear to facilitate success in study abroad programs.

This edited volume offers a cohesive account of recent developments across the world in the field of learner and teacher autonomy in languages education. Drawing on the work of eminent researchers of language learning and teaching, it explores at both conceptual and practical levels issues related to current pedagogical developments in a wide range of contexts. Global shifts have led to an increase in autonomous and independent learning both in policy and practice (including self-access and distance learning).

The book’s scope and focus will therefore be beneficial to language teachers as well as to students and researchers in applied linguistics and those involved in pre- and in-service teacher education. The book concludes with an overview of the state of research in this field, focusing on the (inter)relationships between the concepts of learner and teacher autonomy.

The Linguistics of Newswriting focuses on text production in journalistic media as both a socially relevant field of language use and as a strategic field of applied linguistics. The book discusses and paves the way for scientific projects in the emerg­ing field of linguistics of newswriting. From empirical micro and theoretical macro perspectives, strategies and practices of research development and knowledge transformation are discussed. Thus, the book is addressed to researchers, teachers and coaches interested in the linguistics of professional writing in general and news­writing in particular. Together with the training materials provided on the internet www.news-writing.net, the book will also be useful to anyone who wants to become a more “discerning consumer" (Perry, 2005) or a more reflective producer of language in the media.

Information and communication technology is transforming our notion of literacy. In the study of second language learning, there is an acute need to understand how learners collaborate in mediating discourse online. This edited volume offers essays and research studies that lead us to question the borders between speech and writing, to redefine narrative, to speculate on the consequences of many-to-many communication, and to ponder the ethics of researching online interaction. Using diverse technologies (bulletin boards, course management systems, chats, instant messaging, online gaming) and situated in different cultural environments, the studies explore intercultural notions of identity, voice, and collaboration. Although the studies come from varying theoretical perspectives, they point, as a whole, to insights to be gained from an ecological approach to studying how people make discourse online. The volume will especially benefit researchers in the digital arena and instructors who must consider how online interaction affects language learning and use.

For millions of individuals all over the world, speaking in a second language is a daily activity. It is therefore important that research in applied linguistics should contribute empirically to the study of second language spoken interaction. The aim of this volume is to make such a contribution by providing research-based insights into current approaches to the teaching and learning of this skill. Two key dimensions define the papers included here−their novelty and scope. First, the book provides a novel approach to the study of speaking in a second language by combining recent findings in usage-based linguistics with current issues in teaching. Second, the chapters cover a range of theoretical perspectives, including sociolinguistic and interactional competence, gestures, dynamic systems theory and code-switching. The volume offers a contemporary analysis of research in second language speaking that will be of interest to researchers, graduate students, teachers and other professionals working in the fields of communication and applied linguistics.