Inquiring into the Nature of Beliefs: Implications for Learner Autonomy Reflection and Practice

10.47908/9/3 ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 53-74
Author(s):  
Stephen Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Brains

Human brains are prolific producers of thoughts about the world. One category of such thoughts, known as beliefs, is seen to play a key role in guiding human behavior. There is much current debate, however, about what beliefs actually are, i.e., their ontological status, and how second language acquisition researchers should go about conceptualizing and studying them. This article is an attempt to address this debate and ask what its implications could be for teachers interested in learner autonomy.

Introduction: Supporting learners and educators in developing language learner autonomy

10.47908/8/i ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Michelle Tamala
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Autonomy Development ◽  
The Social

This introduction sets the scene for the volume that explores some of the theoretical, empirical, and practical considerations when supporting educators and learners in promoting language learner autonomy. The author gives an overview of the chapters and notes that the findings pay special attention to the ‘social turn’ in researching language learner autonomy development and second language acquisition, and focus on the social, interactive and co-dependent nature of the concept.

English or Englishes?

2022 ◽  
pp. 1560-1574
Author(s):  
Aicha Rahal
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Debate

The discipline of World Englishes has been one of the most thriving branches of English linguistics. This branch has become the focal focus of considerable debate. The chapter mainly aims to show the multilingual reality of English. It is an attempt to answer the question “Do we have English or Englishes?” The chapter tries to study the recent situation of English as a lingua franca. It first gives an overview of the spread of English and the emergence of new Englishes. Then, it presents the principals of traditional applied linguistics and second language acquisition. It also discusses the concepts of World Englishes, multilingualism, and pluralism. After that, the chapter presents the World Englishes debate to show the gap between monocentrists and pluralists. Finally, the study sheds light on the fact that Englishes reflect the multilingual reality of English.

Spanish as a second language when L1 is Quechua: Endangered languages and the SLA researcher

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-279
Author(s):  
Susan E. Kalt
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
First Language ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Language Family ◽  
The World ◽  
Sheer Number

Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Quechua is the largest indigenous language family to constitute the first language (L1) of second language (L2) Spanish speakers. Despite sheer number of speakers and typologically interesting contrasts, Quechua–Spanish second language acquisition is a nearly untapped research area, due to the marginalization of Quechua-speaking people. This review considers contributions to the field of second language acquisition gleaned from studying the grammars of Quechua speakers who learn Spanish as well as monolingual Quechua and Spanish speakers in the contact area. Contribution to the documentation and revitalization of the Quechua languages is discussed as an ethical and scientific imperative.

scholarly journals Cognitive Foundations of Second Language Acquisition: Introduction

1994 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-132
Author(s):  
Russell S. Tomlin ◽  
Morton A. Gernsbacher
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Scientific Consensus ◽  
Descriptive Term ◽  
Research Institution ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Foundations

The growth of cognitive science as a field, or at least as a descriptive term, indicates an emerging scientific consensus that many fundamental human capacities require collaborative and interdisciplinary research to make further fundamental headway. Language, as central to our essential humanity as anything is, represents one area in which massive amounts of interdisciplinary research is underway at virtually every research institution in the world.

Structural Minimality, CP and the initial state in second language acquisition

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh M. Bhatt ◽  
Barbara Hancin-Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Initial State ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Partial Transfer ◽  
Entire Array

This article considers the current debate on the initial state of second language acquisition (L2) and presents critical empirical evidence from Hindi learners of English as an L2 that supports the claim that the CP (complementizer phase) is initially absent from the grammar of L2 learners. Contrary to the predictions of Full Transfer (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994; 1996), the data we present suggest that L2 learners start out without a CP and then graduate to a stage where overt expressions of CP (complementizer phase) are in fact manifest. Although the lack of evidence of CP appears to support the Minimal Trees/Partial Transfer (MT/PT) hypothesis (Vainikka and Young-Scholten, 1996a; 1996b), we show that the MT/PT hypothesis also fails to honour all the empirical facts.To account for the patterns in our data, we propose Structural Minimality - that clausal projections are IPs - as a hypothesis on the initial state of L2 acquisition. We argue that the Structural Minimality hypothesis accounts for the entire array CP-acquisition facts in Hindi-speaking learners of English as an L2.

scholarly journals The Role of Theory in Empirical Second Language Acquisition Research: An Introduction

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley Beccia ◽  
Paige Yi
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Karl Popper ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Critical Rationalism ◽  
The World

Theory plays a central role in the development of human knowledge. In essence, theory solves puzzles, or questions about observable phenomena that need to be answered, (Kuhn, 1996). Theorizing about solutions to these puzzles requires working at the edge of uncertainty, making bold postulations, and engaging in what renowned philosopher of science Karl Popper terms critical rationalism; it is through the development of theories that are falsifiable and the subsequent empirical testing of those theories that our knowledge about the world (i.e., of natural phenomena) will progress (Popper, 1968).

Does Bilingualism Expand the Cognitive Experience of the Students?

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
María Bobadilla-Pérez ◽  
Suellen Pereira-Balado
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Experience ◽  
The One

This chapter shows the results of a study carried out in an immersion early education classroom in Galicia (Spain). The study focuses on how children in a bilingual context develop their perception of the world according to the concepts they are able to build around things in their environment, using the language as a reference. A brief theoretical framework precedes the presentation of the study. On the one hand, attention is paid to the pedagogical implications of second language acquisition in early childhood. Secondly, and most importantly, the nature of the bilingual brain is discussed through the consideration of the works of relevant authors in the field. Later, the case study is explained. For the purpose of the qualitative research, participants were presented with different images to be described in English and Spanish, and an observation table was designed in order to classify the utterances produced by the students. As will be discussed, results showed that students in immersion educational contexts increase their sense of the world when using both languages.

English or Englishes?

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-102
Author(s):  
Aicha Rahal
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
The World ◽  
Considerable Debate

The discipline of World Englishes has been one of the most thriving branches of English linguistics. This branch has become the focal focus of considerable debate. The chapter mainly aims to show the multilingual reality of English. It is an attempt to answer the question “Do we have English or Englishes?” The chapter tries to study the recent situation of English as a lingua franca. It first gives an overview of the spread of English and the emergence of new Englishes. Then, it presents the principals of traditional applied linguistics and second language acquisition. It also discusses the concepts of World Englishes, multilingualism, and pluralism. After that, the chapter presents the World Englishes debate to show the gap between monocentrists and pluralists. Finally, the study sheds light on the fact that Englishes reflect the multilingual reality of English.

Does Bilingualism Expand the Cognitive Experience of the Students?

2022 ◽  
pp. 290-303
Author(s):  
María Bobadilla-Pérez ◽  
Suellen Pereira-Balado
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The World ◽  
Cognitive Experience ◽  
The One

This chapter shows the results of a study carried out in an immersion early education classroom in Galicia (Spain). The study focuses on how children in a bilingual context develop their perception of the world according to the concepts they are able to build around things in their environment, using the language as a reference. A brief theoretical framework precedes the presentation of the study. On the one hand, attention is paid to the pedagogical implications of second language acquisition in early childhood. Secondly, and most importantly, the nature of the bilingual brain is discussed through the consideration of the works of relevant authors in the field. Later, the case study is explained. For the purpose of the qualitative research, participants were presented with different images to be described in English and Spanish, and an observation table was designed in order to classify the utterances produced by the students. As will be discussed, results showed that students in immersion educational contexts increase their sense of the world when using both languages.

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