Best of Language Learning Series – serie

The main focus of this timely volume is phonological acquisition or the process of mastering a second language facilitated by guidance and direction. This thematic volume of recent research in the field comes at a time when phonology - always one of the liveliest areas of theoretical linguistic inquiry - is starting to enjoy a much-deserved resurgence of interest and writings within the realm of second-language acquisition. The scope of coverage in this volume includes phonological acquisition as well as requirements of language education where phonology refers not only to linguistically relevant dimensions of speech but related concerns of psychology as well.

How does classroom language learning take place? How does an understanding of second language acquisition contribute to language teaching? In answering these questions, Rod Ellis reviews a wide range of research on classroom learning, developing a theory of instructed second language acquisition that has significant implications for language teaching. The early chapters of this book trace the attempts to explain classroom language learning in terms of general theory of learning (behaviorism) and the study of naturalistic language learning. The middle chapters document the attempts of researchers to enter the "black box" of the classroom in order to describe the teaching-learning behaviors that take place there and to investigate to what extent and in what ways instruction results in acquisition. The book concludes with a theory of classroom language learning. This theory advances an explanation of the relationship between explicit and implicit linguistic knowledge and in so doing accounts for how both form-focused and meaning-focused instruction contribute to second language acquisition in the classroom.

Motivation is one of the key learner characteristics that determine the rate and success of language learning. This volume addresses motivation in language learning - motives associated with certain features of the language, the language learner, and the learning situation. Discusses and dissects the intriguingly complex characteristic of motivation in the process of language learning.Explores recent developments and the most important research directions in the field, including a selection of data-based studies by some of the best-known motivation researchers.

Why is learning the grammar of a second language difficult?The present volume brings together insights from leading researchers, published in the past five years of the journal Language Learning, to identify the multiple factors that combine to challenge learners in attaining full proficiency in a second language. An innovative synthesis of recent research on grammar and second language acquisition.Highlights the importance of transparency in form-meaning relations as well as learners' aptitudes and previous language learning experiences.Shows how diminutives facilitate gender acquisition in Russian.Demonstrates how learners make semantic distinctions in acquiring gender distinction in French.Evaluates the role of phonological short-term memory in the acquisition of gender in a semi-artificial linguistic system.A useful collection for a graduate seminar on psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition.

Reading and language learning are interdependent.While reading necessitates linguistic knowledge, reading ability enhances linguistic knowledge expansion. This volume explores the reciprocal relationship between reading and language learning. Explores how reading and language learning are interrelated, bringing new insights to discussions on the unique nature of reading development in a second languageCovers topics including cross-linguistic constraints on second-language reading development, bilingualism and literacy, linguistic resources and reading strategies, incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading, local language processing and global text comprehension, and cross-linguistic effects on word identificationViews second-language reading as a multi-faceted and multi-lingual constructExamines a variety of reading sub-skills, ranging from word identification to discourse comprehension.