Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) research over the past several decades, and to highlight the ways in which it has retained its original applied and linguistic interests, and enhanced them by addressing questions about acquisition processes. As the paper will illustrate, SLA research has become increasingly bi-directional and multi-faceted in its applications. These many applications to and from the study of SLA reflect the robustness and vitality of the field. Disciplines Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Comments Postprint version. Published in Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning, edited by Eli Hinkel (Mahway, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2005), pages 263-280. This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/gse_pubs/34 Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics Teresa Pica Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) research over the past several decades, and to highlight the ways in which it has retained its original applied and linguistic interests, and enhanced them by addressing questions about acquisition processes. As the paper will illustrate, SLA research has become increasingly bi-directional and multifaceted in its applications. These many applications to and from the study of SLA reflect the robustness and vitality of the field.The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of second language acquisition (SLA) research over the past several decades, and to highlight the ways in which it has retained its original applied and linguistic interests, and enhanced them by addressing questions about acquisition processes. As the paper will illustrate, SLA research has become increasingly bi-directional and multifaceted in its applications. These many applications to and from the study of SLA reflect the robustness and vitality of the field. INTRODUCTION Research on second language acquisition (SLA) has expanded enormously since its inception. Studies of SLA have increased in quantity as researchers have addressed a wider range of topics, asked new questions and worked within multiple methodologies. At the same time, the field has become increasingly bidirectional and multi-faceted in its applications. As new theories and research have emerged on language, and even more so, on learning, their application to the study of SLA has been fruitful. It has led to long needed explanations about developmental regularities and persistent difficulties, and has opened up new lines of research on the processes and sequences of second language (L2) development. The application of newer findings from the study of SLA to educational concerns has both informed and sustained long standing debates about the role of the learner's consciousness in the SLA process, and about the nature of the learner's input needs and requirements. A modest, but increasing number of SLA research findings has had direct application to instructional decisions. Most other findings have served as a resource to inform teaching practice. The many applications to and from the study of SLA. are therefore the focus of this paper.