Richard L. Sparks is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Graduate Education at Mount St. Joseph University, USA. His research interests include L2 aptitude, language and learning disabilities, reading disability (dyslexia), and foreign language anxiety, and he has published extensively in second (foreign) language and learning disability journals.

Simultaneously intuitive and revolutionary, this book throws into question some of our most basic assumptions about the factors that influence L2 development. Might we be overlooking one of the greatest and most obvious variables, namely, L1 knowledge? Sparks brings together a tower of evidence on this question, drawn from water-tight theory and the most rigorous of empiricism.

• AcknowledgementsForewordRichard L. Sparks: Introduction and OverviewPart 1: Theoretical Insights into L1-L2 Relationships: IDs in L1 Attainment and the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis (LCDH)1. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: Searching for the Cognitive Locus of Foreign Language Learning Difficulties: Linking First and Second Language Learning2. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: The Impact of Native Language Learning Problems on Foreign Language Learning: Case Study Illustrations of the Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis3. Richard L. Sparks: Examining the Linguistic Coding Differences Hypothesis to Explain Individual Differences in Foreign Language LearningPart 2: Empirical Support for L1–L2 Relationships and Cross-linguistic Transfer4. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton, Leonore Ganschow, Nancy Humbach and James Javorsky: Long-term Cross-linguistic Transfer of Skills from L1 to L25. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton and Julie Luebbers: Individual Differences in L2 Achievement Mirror Individual Differences in L1 Skills and L2 Aptitude: Cross-linguistic Transfer of L1 Skills to L26. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton, Leonore Ganschow and Nancy Humbach: Do L1 Reading Achievement and L1 Print Exposure Contribute to the Prediction of L2 Proficiency?Part 3: Relationships Among IDs in L1 Attainment, L2 Aptitude, and L2 Proficiency7. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton and Leonore Ganschow: Profiles of More and Less Successful L2 Learners: A Cluster Analysis Study8. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton, Leonore Ganschow and Nancy Humbach: Long-term Relationships among Early First Language Skills, Second Language Aptitude, Second Language Affect and Later Second Language Proficiency9. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton, Leonore Ganschow and Nancy Humbach: Subcomponents of Second Language Aptitude and Second Language ProficiencyPart 4: L2 Anxiety: Affective Variable or Cognitive Variable?10. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: Foreign Language Learning Difficulties: Affective or Native Language Aptitude Differences? 11. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: Is the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Measuring Anxiety or Language Skills?12. Richard L. Sparks and Jon Patton: Relationship of L1 Skills and L2 Aptitude to L2 Anxiety on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ScalePart 5: Relationships between L1 and L2 Reading Ability13. Richard L. Sparks: Language Deficits in Poor L2 Comprehenders: The Simple View14. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton and Julie Luebbers: L2 Reading Comprehension is Hard Because L2 Listening Comprehension is Hard, Too15. Richard L. Sparks: Identification and Characteristics of Strong, Average and Weak Foreign Language Readers: The Simple View of Reading ModelPart 6: Individual Differences in L1 Achievement, L2 Aptitude and L2 Achievement16. Richard L. Sparks: Explaining Individual Differences in L1 Ability and their Relationship to IDs in L2 Aptitude and L2 AchievementPart 7: Epilogue and Future Directions17. Richard L. Sparks: Conclusion: Toward a Model of Language AptitudeAppendicesReferencesIndex