Since it was first established in the 1970s the Applied Linguistics and Language Study series has become a major force in the study of practical problems in human communication and language education. Drawing extensively on empirical research and theoretical work in linguistics, sociology, psychology and education, the series explores key issues in language acquisition and language use. What the learner contributes is central to the language learning process. Learner Contributions to Language Learning provides a uniquely comprehensive account of learners' personal attributes, their thinking, their feelings, and their actions that have been shown to have an impact upon language learning. Containing specific chapters from leading names in the field, this book provides both a review of what has been discovered from previous research and identifies important future directions for research on learner contributions. It is a landmark volume setting the agenda for language learning research in the 21st century and it provides invaluable information for all those engaged in language teaching. The contributors to the volume are- Michael P. Breen Bonny Norton Anna Chamot Rebecca Oxford Rod Ellis Anna Pavlenko James P. Lantolf Anita Wenden Diane Larsen-Freeman

This book explores potential new directions in the growing field of language learning psychology. The individual chapters cover theoretical and conceptual developments and innovative methodological designs, while also exploring practical implications. Language learning psychology is a vibrant field of research that typically involves constructs from social and educational psychology, which it considers in terms of their relevance for the domain of language learning. The diverse theoretical and empirical chapters examine a range of familiar and lesser-known constructs, highlighting the importance of taking into account both learner and teacher psychologies, and recognising the complexity, dynamism and situatedness of psychological constructs, as well as the value of employing diverse research methodologies. It is hoped that these ‘new directions’ concerning populations, constructs and theoretical and methodological frameworks will pave the way for innovative future developments in this vibrant field.

This volume presents sixteen new articles on the acquisition of Romance languages by both well-established researchers and vital new contributors to the field. Under a generative umbrella, the articles in this collection investigate the acquisition of French, Romanian, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Portuguese across different contexts including first language acquisition, bilingual acquisition, specifically impaired first language acquisition, child L2 acquisition, second language acquisition, as well as first language attrition. This volume advances our understanding of how languages are acquired and how the study of Romance languages contributes to clarifying challenging open questions on the acquisition of key functional categories and other related phenomena. In particular, the articles included assess complexity as a relevant factor shaping children’s acquisition of syntactic and phonological structures, they refine crucial theoretical constructs such as parameter setting and language transfer, and propose language change as another crucial factor affecting the process of language acquisition and attrition.

New Directions for Research in Foreign Language Education brings together contributions by reputed scholars that examine the challenges, opportunities, and benefits of teaching and learning foreign languages. With a particular focus on languages other than English, the book looks at the socio-political dimension of language learning and teaching and the need to re-theorize multilingualism for our age. The volume includes a range of perspectives, from language teaching as an act of reconciliation to language learning across the lifespan, from innovations in assessment and curriculum to critical appraisals of pedagogy and textbook materials. Each chapter presents a clear case study drawn from diverse contexts to illustrate the different concerns of the contributors. The book is a valuable resource for all students, teachers, teacher educators and researchers who share an interest in researching multilingualism and the different facets of teaching and learning foreign languages.

New Directions in Second Language Pragmatics brings together varying perspectives in second language (L2) pragmatics to show both historical developments in the field, while also looking towards the future, including theoretical, empirical, and implementation perspectives. This volume is divided in four sections: teaching and learning speech acts, assessing pragmatic competence, analyzing discourses in digital contexts, and current issues in L2 pragmatics. The chapters focus on various aspects related to the learning, teaching, and assessing of L2 pragmatics and cover a range of learning environments. The authors address current topics in L2 pragmatics such as: speech acts from a discursive perspective; pragmatics instruction in the foreign language classroom and during study abroad; assessment of pragmatic competence; research methods used to collect pragmatics data; pragmatics in computer-mediated contexts; the role of implicit and explicit knowledge; discourse markers as a resource for interaction; and the framework of translingual practice. Taken together, the chapters in this volume foreground innovations and new directions in the field of L2 pragmatics while, at the same time, ground their work in the existing literature. Consequently, this volume both highlights where the field of L2 pragmatics has been and offers cutting-edge insights into where it is going in the future.

New Directions in English Language Teaching: Issues,Practices, Challenges attempts to create a comprehensive vision of critical and culturally relevant English teaching methodologies at the cusp of the 21st century. The present book is multi-voiced. It includes perspectives from classroom teachers, teacher educators and researchers in language and literacy, positioned to respond to recent changes in national conversations about literacy, learning and assessment. These vividly situated authors also recognise the rapidly changing demographics in colleges, the changing nature of teaching English in the digital age, and increasing demands for teaching pedagogies. This book is critically placed at the juncture of numerous directions in novel techniques. At all times, education is a political act, and colleges are embedded with a socio-culture reality that benefits some at the expense of others. Therefore the approach advocated through many of the chapters is one of critical literacy where English students gain reading and writing skills and proficiency with digital technologies that allow them to become more able, discerning, and empowered consumers and producers of texts.

This book puts together a selection of papers presented at The Romance Turn V Workshop, held in Lisbon in 2012. The papers presented at the workshop discussed general problems in the field of Language Acquisition, with a special focus on data from several Romance varieties. The papers in the volume cover a wide array of topics and subfields of acquisition studies, including L1 and L2 acquisition, typical and atypical development, acquisition of syntax, semantics, and phonology.