Alternative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition

203 Pages·2012·0.98 MB·English

by  Atkinson, Dwight.

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ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
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6 TO SECOND LANGUAGE
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ACQUISITION
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8111 This volume presents six alternative approaches to studying second language
9 acquisition—“alternative” in the sense that they contrast with and/or complement
20111 the cognitivism pervading the field. All six approaches—sociocultural, complexity
1 theory, conversation-analytic, identity, language socialization, and sociocognitive—
2 are described according to the same set of six headings, allowing for direct
3 comparison across approaches.
4 Each chapter is authored by leading advocates for the approach described: James
5 Lantolf for the sociocultural approach; Diane Larsen-Freeman for the complexity
6 theory approach; Bonny Norton and Carolyn McKinney for the identity approach;
7 Patricia Duff and Steven Talmy for the language socialization approach; Gabriele
8 Kasper and Johannes Wagner for the conversation-analytic approach; and Dwight
9 Atkinson for the sociocognitive approach.
30111 Introductory and commentary chapters round out this volume. The editor’s
1 introduction describes the nature of the cognitivism pervading the field, setting
2 the stage for discussion of alternative approaches. Lourdes Ortega’s commentary
3 considers the six approaches from an “enlightened traditional” perspective on SLA
4 studies—a viewpoint that is cognitivist in orientation but broad enough to give
35 serious and balanced consideration to alternative approaches.
6 This volume is essential reading in the field of second language acquisition.
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8 Dwight Atkinson is Associate Professor at Purdue University, specializing in
9 second language acquisition, second language writing, and qualitative research
40111 approaches. He is author of Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context: The Philo -
1 sophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1675–1975 (1999) and co-editor
2 of Directions in Applied Linguistics (2005).
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APPROACHES
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LANGUAGE
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4 ACQUISITION
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5 Edited by Dwight Atkinson
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First edition published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Selection and editorial matter, Dwight Atkinson;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Dwight Atkinson to be identified as author of the
editorial material and the authors for their individual chapters
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Alternative approaches to second language acquisition/edited by
Dwight Atkinson.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Second language acquisition—Study and teaching. 2. Language
and languages—Study and teaching. I. Atkinson, Dwight.
P118.2.A48 2011
418.0071—dc22 2010034569
ISBN 0-203-83093-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978–0–415–54924–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–54925–7 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–83093–2 (ebk)
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CONTENTS
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List of contributors vii
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Preface xi
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1 Introduction: Cognitivism and second language acquisition 1
2 Dwight Atkinson
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4 1 The Sociocultural Approach to Second Language Acquisition:
5 Sociocultural theory, second language acquisition, and
6 artificial L2 development 24
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James P. Lantolf
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2 A Complexity Theory Approach to Second Language
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Development/Acquisition 48
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Diane Larsen-Freeman
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3 An Identity Approach to Second Language Acquisition 73
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Bonny Norton and Carolyn McKinney
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4 Language Socialization Approaches to Second Language
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Acquisition: Social, cultural, and linguistic development
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in additional languages 95
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40111 Patricia A. Duff and Steven Talmy
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2 5 A Conversation-analytic Approach to Second Language
3 Acquisition 117
41111 Gabriele Kasper and Johannes Wagner
vi Contents
6 A Sociocognitive Approach to Second Language Acquisition:
How mind, body, and world work together in learning
additional languages 143
Dwight Atkinson
7 SLA after the Social Turn: Where cognitivism and its
alternatives stand 167
Lourdes Ortega
Index 181
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CONTRIBUTORS
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6 Dwight Atkinson Department of English, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
7 Indiana, USA.
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9 Patricia A. Duff Department of Language & Literacy Education, University of
20111 British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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2 Gabriele Kasper Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i,
3 Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA.
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5 James P. Lantolf Department of Applied Linguistics, The Pennsylvania State
6 University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA.
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8 Diane Larsen-Freeman School of Education, Department of Linguistics & English
9 Language Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
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1 Carolyn McKinney School of Education, University of Cape Town, Cape Town,
2 South Africa.
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4 Bonny Norton Department of Language & Literacy Education, University of British
35 Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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7 Lourdes Ortega Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawai‘i,
8 Honolulu, Hawai‘i, USA.
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40111 Steven Talmy Department of Language & Literacy Education, University of
1 British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
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3 Johannes Wagner Department of Communication and Information Science,
41111 University of Southern Denmark, Kolding, Denmark

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5111 Since the appearance of the Firth and Wagner [1997] article, a variety of
6 alternative perspectives have blossomed, extending the boundaries of SLA
7 theory, adding to and enriching its constructs and methodologies.
8 (Swain & Deters, “‘New’ Mainstream SLA Theory, Expanded
9 and Enriched,” Modern Language Journal, 2007, p. 821)
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1 L2 acquisition is an enormously complex phenomenon and will benefit from
2 a multiplicity of perspectives, theories, and research methodologies. Like other
3111 areas of the social sciences, it should and undoubtedly will remain open to
4 a multiplicity of lines of enquiry and, as a result, will continue to be
5 characterized by controversy and debate. Thus, whereas in the 1994 edition
6 [of this volume] I expressed concern over whether SLA would survive as a
7 coherent field of study, today I am more prepared to acknowledge that this
8111 may not be important and that diversity of approach and controversy
9 constitute signs of the field’s vigour and an inevitable consequence of the
20111 attempt to understand a complex phenomenon.
1 (Ellis, The study of second language acquisition, 2008,
2 pp. xxii–xxiii)
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4 Let all the flowers bloom . . . You never know which ones will catch the
5 eye to become tomorrow’s realities.
6 (Lantolf, “SLA theory building: ‘Letting all the flowers
7 bloom!’” Language Learning, 1996, p. 739)
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9 One person is always wrong, but with two truth begins.
30111 (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1887/1974, p. 218)
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