Over the past decade, the focus of inquiry into the psychology of SLA has shifted from the analysis of various characteristics within individuals towards a greater consideration of individuals’ dynamic interactions with diverse contexts. This revisit of the bestselling The Psychology of the Language Learner reflects on these developments by challenging some of the assumptions upon which the original text was based, maintaining the familiar structure of the original, while situating the discussion within a very different theoretical framework. Written in a lively, accessible style, the book considers how the field has evolved and maintains a keen eye on the future, suggesting exciting new directions for the psychology of SLA. The Psychology of the Language Learner Revisited will appeal to students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines, including applied linguistics, second language acquisition, modern languages, and psychology.

Over the past decade, the focus of inquiry into the psychology of SLA has shifted from the analysis of various characteristics within individuals towards a greater consideration of individuals’ dynamic interactions with diverse contexts. This revisit of the bestselling The Psychology of the Language Learner reflects on these developments by challenging some of the assumptions upon which the original text was based, maintaining the familiar structure of the original, while situating the discussion within a very different theoretical framework. Written in a lively, accessible style, the book considers how the field has evolved and maintains a keen eye on the future, suggesting exciting new directions for the psychology of SLA. The Psychology of the Language Learner Revisited will appeal to students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines, including applied linguistics, second language acquisition, modern languages, and psychology.

Over the past decade, the focus of inquiry into the psychology of SLA has shifted from the analysis of various characteristics within individuals towards a greater consideration of individuals' dynamic interactions with diverse contexts. This revisit of the bestselling The Psychology of the Language Learner reflects on these developments by challenging some of the assumptions upon which the original text was based, maintaining the familiar structure of the original, while situating the discussion within a very different theoretical framework. Written in a lively, accessible style, the book considers how the field has evolved and maintains a keen eye on the future, suggesting exciting new directions for the psychology of SLA. The Psychology of the Language Learner Revisited will appeal to students and researchers in a wide range of disciplines, including applied linguistics, second language acquisition, modern languages, and psychology.

The scope of individual learner differences is broad, yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now.

An accessible introduction to language development aimed at a wide audience of students from different disciplines such as psychology, behavioural science, linguistics, cognitive science, and speech pathology. It requires only minimal knowledge of psychology, and is intended for undergraduates from the second year of studies onwards. The wide accessibility to undergraduates is achieved by avoiding technical terminology when possible and explaining all crucial concepts in the text. From the first moment of life, language development occurs in the context of social activities. This book emphasises how language development interacts with social and cognitive development, and shows how these abilities work together to turn children into sophisticated language users—a process that continues well beyond the early years. Covering the breadth of contemporary research on language development, Brooks and Kempe illustrate the methodological variety and multi-disciplinary character of the field, presenting recent findings with reference to major theoretical discussions. Through their clear and accessible style, readers are given an authentic flavour of the complexities of language development research. With such research advancing at a rapid pace, Language Development uncovers new insights into a variety of areas such as the neurophysiological underpinnings of language, the language processing capabilities of newborns, and the role of genes in regulating this amazing human ability.

This edited book brings together ten empirical papers reporting original studies investigating different facets of individual variation second language learning and teaching. The individual difference factors covered include, among others, motivation, self, anxiety, emotions, willingness to communicate, beliefs, age, and language learning strategies. What is especially important, some of the contributions to the volume offer insights into intricate interplays of these factors while others attempt to relate them to learning specific target language subsystems or concrete instructional options. All the chapters also include tangible implications for language pedagogy. The book is of interest to both researchers examining the role of individual variation in second language learning and teaching, teacher trainers, graduate and doctoral students in foreign languages departments, as well as practitioners wishing to enhance the effectiveness of second language instruction in their classrooms.

This edited volume brings together both established and emerging researcher voices from around the world to illustrate how complexity perspectives might contribute to new ways of researching and understanding the psychology of language learners and teachers in situated educational contexts. Chapter authors discuss their own perspectives on researching within a complexity paradigm, exemplified by concrete and original examples from their research histories. Moreover, chapters explore research approaches to a variety of learner and teacher psychological foci of interest in SLA. Examples include: anxiety, classroom group dynamics and group-level motivation, cognition and metacognition, emotions and emotion regulation strategies, learner reticence and silence, motivation, self-concept and willingness to communicate.