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Research papers on Second language acquisition

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  1. Pragmatic Development in a Second Language

    Gabriele Kasper, Kenneth R. Rose · 2003 · Medical Entomology and Zoology · 1,008 citations

    1. Introduction: Interlanguage Pragmatics in Developmental Perspective. 2. Theories of Second Language. Pragmatic Development. Descriptive Studies. Theories and Constructs. Explaining Pragmatic Development. Chapter Summary. 3. Methods in Pragmatics Research. Approaches to Pragmatics across the Social Sciences. Spoken Interaction. Questionnaires. Oral and Narrative Self-reports. Chapter Summary. 4. Patterns of Second Language Pragmatic Development. Pragmatic Comprehension. Pragmatic and Discourse Ability. Speech Acts. Pragmatic Transfer and Development. Chapter Summary. 5. The Development of Pragmatics and Grammar. Re-opening the Research Agenda. Pragmatics Precedes Grammar. Grammar Precedes

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  2. Group Work, Interlanguage Talk, and Second Language Acquisition

    Michael H. Long, Patricia A. Porter · 1985 · TESOL Quarterly · 901 citations

    The use of group work in classroom second language learning has long been supported by sound pedagogical arguments. Recently, however, a psycholinguistic rationale for group work has emerged from second language acquisition research on nonnative speaker/non-native speaker conversation, or interlanguage talk. Provided careful attention is paid to the structure of tasks students work on together, the negotiation work possible in group work makes it an attractive alternative to the teacher-led, "lockstep" mode, and a viable classroom substitute for individual conversations with native speakers.

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  3. Input, Interaction, and Second Language Production

    Susan M. Gass, Evangeline Marlos Varonis · 1994 · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · 639 citations

    The role of conversational interactions in the development of a second language has been central in the recent second language acquisition literature. While a great deal is now known about the way in which nonnative speakers interact with native speakers and other nonnative speakers, little is known about the lasting effects of these interactions on a nonnative's linguistic development. This paper specifically investigates the relationship among input, interaction, and second language production. Through data from native–nonnative speaker interactions in a direction-giving task, we show that both modified input and interaction affect task performance. However, only interaction has an effect

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  4. Interaction and instructed second language acquisition

    Shawn Loewen, Masatoshi Sato · 2018 · Language Teaching · 375 citations

    Interaction is an indispensable component in second language acquisition (SLA). This review surveys the instructed SLA research, both classroom and laboratory-based, that has been conducted primarily within the interactionist approach, beginning with the core constructs of interaction, namely input, negotiation for meaning, and output. The review continues with an overview of specific areas of interaction research. The first investigates interlocutor characteristics, including (a) first language (L1) status, (b) peer interaction, (c) participation structure, (d) second language (L2) proficiency, and (e) individual differences. The second topic is task characteristics, such as task conditions

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  6. Plasticity, Variability and Age in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism

    David P. Birdsong · 2018 · Frontiers in Psychology · 205 citations

    Much of what is known about the outcome of second language acquisition and bilingualism can be summarized in terms of inter-individual variability, plasticity and age. The present review looks at variability and plasticity with respect to their underlying sources, and at age as a modulating factor in variability and plasticity. In this context we consider critical period effects versus bilingualism effects, early and late bilingualism, nativelike and non-nativelike L2 attainment, cognitive aging, individual differences in learning, and linguistic dominance in bilingualism. Non-uniformity is an inherent characteristic of both early and late bilingualism. This review shows how plasticity and a

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  7. Perceived foreign accent in first language attrition and second language acquisition: The impact of age of acquisition and bilingualism

    Holger Hopp, Monika S. Schmid · 2011 · Applied Psycholinguistics · 165 citations

    ABSTRACT This study investigates constraints on ultimate attainment in second language (L2) pronunciation in a direct comparison of perceived foreign accent of 40 late L2 learners and 40 late first language (L1) attriters of German. Both groups were compared with 20 predominantly monolingual controls. Contrasting participants who acquired the target language from birth (monolinguals, L1 attriters) with late L2 learners, on the one hand, and bilinguals (L1 attriters, L2ers) with monolinguals, on the other hand, allowed us to disentangle the impacts of age of onset and bilingualism in speech production. At the group level, the attriters performed indistinguishably from controls, and both diffe

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  8. The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition: A Statistical Critique and a Reanalysis

    Jan Vanhove · 2013 · PLoS ONE · 158 citations

    In second language acquisition research, the critical period hypothesis (cph) holds that the function between learners' age and their susceptibility to second language input is non-linear. This paper revisits the indistinctness found in the literature with regard to this hypothesis's scope and predictions. Even when its scope is clearly delineated and its predictions are spelt out, however, empirical studies-with few exceptions-use analytical (statistical) tools that are irrelevant with respect to the predictions made. This paper discusses statistical fallacies common in cph research and illustrates an alternative analytical method (piecewise regression) by means of a reanalysis of two datas

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  9. FREQUENCY EFFECTS AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

    Susan M. Gass, Alison Mackey · 2002 · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · 142 citations

    In this response to Ellis's target article on frequency in language processing, language use, and language acquisition, we argue in favor of a role for frequency in several areas of second language acquisition, including interactional input and output and speech processing. We also discuss areas where second language acquisition appears to proceed along its own route and at its own pace regardless of the frequency of the input, as well as areas where input is infrequent but acquisition appears to be unimpeded. Our response is intended to highlight the complexity of the task of deciphering the role and importance of frequency.

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  10. Comprehensible Input and Second Language Acquisition: What is the Relationship?

    Lester Loschky · 1994 · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · 103 citations

    This study attempts to test aspects of the input hypothesis (Krashen, 1980, 1983, 1985) and Long's modification of it (Long, 1980, 1983a, 1985). Specifically, it experimentally tests the hypothesis that both input and interactional modifications facilitate second language acquisition, using Japanese as the target language. Three experimental groups were differentiated in terms of input and interaction conditions: (1) unmodified input with no interaction, (2) premodified input with no interaction, and (3) unmodified input with the chance for negotiated interaction. The groups were compared in terms of (a) their degree of comprehension of the input and (b) their subsequent retention of vocabul

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  11. Acculturation in relation to the acquisition of a second language

    Jiang Mei, Raymond J. Green, Tracy B. Henley, et al. · 2009 · Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development · 92 citations

    Learners who begin to acquire a second language (L2) in a naturalistic environment after puberty are thought to be constrained by biological age factors and to have greater difficulty obtaining native-like L2. However, the extant literature suggests that L2 acquisition may be positively affected by post-maturational factors, such as acculturation. This exploratory study examined the relationship between acculturation and L2 acquisition on Chinese–English late learners. Chinese students who arrived in the USA after puberty were examined to see whether the acculturation process towards US society was associated with higher speaking proficiency levels and more native-like pronunciation of Engli

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  13. Age and input in the acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch

    Sharon Unsworth · 2008 · Second Language Research · 54 citations

    This article investigates the effect of age of first exposure and the quantity and quality of input to which non-native acquirers (L2ers) are exposed in their acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch. Data from 103 English-speaking children, preteens and adults were analysed for gender agreement on definite determiners. It was observed that although most learners regularly overgeneralized the common gender definite determiner de to neuter nouns, there also existed child and adult L2ers who consistently produced the target neuter determiner het with these nouns ( contra Carroll, 1989; Hawkins and Franceschina, 2004; Franceschina, 2005). Participants in all three groups produced het equally

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  14. Praxeology, humanism, equity, and mixed methods: Four pillars for advancing second language acquisition and teaching

    Yong-Yan Zheng, Lourdes Ortega, S. Pekarek Doehler, et al. · 2025 · The Modern Language Journal · 44 citations

    In this article, we present our vision of a transformed second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T) disciplinary community that approaches second language (L2) education through four pillars. The first pillar is praxeology (i.e., the study of human action) to highlight the sociocontextually emergent nature of L2 competence. It locates the emergence of L2 grammar and interactional competence in humans acting conjointly with others with and through their L2 across a large variety of social situations and transnational, transcultural, and translingual spaces. The second pillar, humanism, calls for a complex dynamic systems theory–informed understanding of individual differences, with learn

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  15. Home language environment and children's second language acquisition: the special status of input from older siblings.

    Tamara Sorenson Duncan, J. Paradis · 2020 · Journal of child language · 42 citations

    Previous research suggests that increased second language (L2) input at home may not support L2 acquisition in children from migrant backgrounds. In drawing this conclusion, existing work has largely aggregated across family members. This study contrasts the effect of L2 input from older siblings with that from mothers. Participants were 113 child L2 learners of English (mean age = 5;10 [range 4;10-7;2]; mean exposure to L2 in school = 16.7 months [range 2-48 months]). All children had at least one older sibling. Using hierarchical linear regression modelling with controls for age, non-verbal reasoning and phonological short-term memory, we found that greater L2 input from siblings - but not

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  16. The Continuum Companion to Second Language Acquisition

    Ernesto Macaro · 2010 · 33 citations

    Part 1: The Second Language Acquisition Landscape 1. Second Language Acquisition: the landscape, the scholarship and the reader, Ernesto Macaro (University of Oxford, UK) 2. A compendium of key concepts in second language acquisition, Ernesto Macaro, Robert Vanderplank and Victoria Murphy (Oxford University Language Centre and University of Oxford, UK) 3. Research methods in second language acquisition, Andrew D. Cohen and Ernesto Macaro (University of Minnesota, USA and University of Oxford, UK) Part 2: Issues and Relationships in Second Language Acquisition 4. The relationship between first and second language acquisition revisited, Vivian Cook (Newcastle University, UK) 5. The relationshi

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  17. INPUT, NEGOTIATION, AND AGE DIFFERENCES IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION1

    Robin C. Scarcella, Corrine Higa · 1981 · Language Learning · 33 citations

    This paper examines input and negotiation in child and adolescent second language acquisition. Two hypotheses are tested: first that adult native speakers provide more simplified input to younger learners than to older learners; and second. that older learners use more conversational negotiation devices and techniques than younger learners. To test these hypotheses fourteen Spanish speakers oust beginning to acquire English). seven children and seven adolescents were paired with fourteen adult native English speakers in such a way that fourteen conversational dyads were formed lo provide baseline data an additional fourteen native English speakers were matched with each other. Each dyad was

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  18. THE ROLE OF INPUT VARIABILITY AND LEARNER AGE IN SECOND LANGUAGE VOCABULARY LEARNING

    Ruta Sinkeviciute, Helen Brown, Gwen Brekelmans, et al. · 2019 · Studies in Second Language Acquisition · 24 citations

    Input variability is key in many aspects of linguistic learning, yet variability increases input complexity, which may cause difficulty in some learning contexts. The current work investigates this trade-off by comparing speaker variability effects on L2 vocabulary learning in different age groups. Existing literature suggests that speaker variability benefits L2 vocabulary learning in adults, but this may not be the case for younger learners. In this study native English-speaking adults, 7- to 8-year-olds, and 10- to 11-year-olds learned six novel Lithuanian words from a single speaker, and six from eight speakers. In line with previous research, adults showed better production of the multi

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  19. Language acquisition in the digital age: L2 English input effects on children’s L1 Icelandic

    Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, Iris Nowenstein · 2021 · Second Language Research · 24 citations

    This article reviews prominent research on non-English-speaking children’s extramural acquisition of English through digital media, and examines the understudied scenario of possible effects of such second language (L2) English input on domestically dominant but globally small first languages (L1s), with Icelandic as the test case. We outline the main results of the children’s part of the Modeling the Linguistic Consequences of Digital Language Contact (MoLiCoDiLaCo) research project, which targeted 724 3–12-year-old Icelandic-speaking children. The focus is on English input and its relationship to the children’s Icelandic/English vocabulary and Icelandic grammar. Although a causal relations

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  21. Eye-tracking research in instructed second language acquisition

    Aline Godfroid, Bronson Hui · 2025 · Language Teaching · 9 citations

    This was the first study to use the visual world eye-tracking paradigm as a pretest and posttest measure to gauge the effects of an instructional intervention. In two experiments, the researcher showed that intermediate L2 German learners can be trained to engage in gender-based predictions (through lexical training on gender assignment), whereas L1 German learners can be trained not to make predictions based on gender if the gender cue in the input is made unreliable. Together, the results show that robust knowledge of lexical gender assignment is a prerequisite for predictive processing of gender agreement.

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  24. Informal Language Learning

    · 2024 · 3 citations

    This insightful book explores the impact of internet-based technologies on second language acquisition, focusing on informal learning. It traces the evolution of informal learning, emphasizing the crucial role of input, interaction, and output in acquiring English as a second language. The book analyzes diverse out-of-school practices, such as watching TV, gaming, and social media engagement, and their impact on L2 development. Additionally, it delves into various intervening variables—age, gender, proficiency, engagement, and affective variables—highlighting the personalized nature of L2 acquisition. It also addresses the challenges encountered by L2 teachers, advocating innovative teaching

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