An interdisciplinary endeavour: Introducing Second Language Acquisition
Venue: English Today
Year: 2015

Forming part of the series Cambridge Introductions to Language and Linguistics, this book is intended as a 'brief but comprehensive' introduction to the study of second language acquisition (SLA) primarily for undergraduate students. Taking a broad, interdisciplinary approach, it investigates the light that linguistic, psychological and social perspectives have thrown on three questions which recur throughout the text: What does the learner need to know? How does the learner acquire this knowledge? Why are some learners more successful than others? Each of the seven chapters is framed by a preview and a summary. Chapters 1 to 6 include activities for readers to check their understanding and/or for class discussion, and Chapters 2 to 6 include annotated suggestions for further reading. Key terms are listed at the beginning of chapters and highlighted with explanations and examples in the text. As well as a list of references and an index, the end matter includes an answer guide to the self study questions and a very useful glossary of around 220 terms. A rather endearing feature of the book is the inclusion, at various points in the text, of short biographies of some of the key figures mentioned, with photos. Additional downloadable resources include further questions to stimulate critical thinking, a further reading list for advanced students, and listings of relevant professional organisations, journals and institutes. The main change from the first edition of the book is the addition of material on simultaneous bilingualism in early childhood, non verbal aspects of language, linguistic interfaces in the Chomskyan tradition, complexity theory and computer mediated communication, which is redefining the concept of a 'speech community' The author considers that the last three of these fields are likely to make a substantial contribution to the study of SLA in the foreseeable future. Chapter 1 'Introducing Second Language Acquisition' presents basic concepts such as SLA, first and second language (L1 and L2) formal and informal learning, competence and performance. It also introduces the book's three central questions (see above) and some of the different aspects focused on by researchers from different fields (linguistics, applied linguistics, psychology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, social psychology) and positions the book as an attempt to integrate these perspectives. Finally, it outlines some of the variables which may impinge on the process of acquiring a second language. Chapter 2 'Foundations of Second Language Acquisition' begins by pointing out the prevalence of multilingualism in the world and describing similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning, including the roles of natural ability, social experience, interlanguage, language transfer and facilitating conditions such as feedback, aptitude, motivation and instruction. It goes on to outline linguistic, psychological and social perspectives on SLA and some of the theories and emphases which have been important for each, and which are to be developed in subsequent chapters. Chapter 3 'The linguistics of Second Language Acquisition' considers what knowledge and skills are required for fluent language use, and then surveys the history of linguistic approaches to SLA. It begins with contrastive analysis and the associated concepts of positive and negative transfer, which were studied with the primary aim of making language teaching more effective. The focus then turned to learner internal processes and an interest in creative construction, interlanguage, error analysis, morpheme order studies, the