Mind and Context in Adult Second Language Acquisition

This book presents an overview of contemporary information-processing approaches to second language acquisition. This theoretical approach proposes that people learn languages by applying the brain's general information-processing abilities to language input. This contrasts with generative (Chomskian) theory, which sees the brain as having a dedicated language-processing faculty, not a multipurpose one. This volume brings together in one place an integrated picture of ideas about processing approaches today and applications for language instruction. Designed to be a textbook for graduate-level courses in language learning, second language acquisition, (it grew out of one Sanz herself offered), cognitive/psycholinguistic, and possibly language teacher preparation, it will also be of use to scholars and researchers in second language acquistion and cognitive psychology.

Cristina Sanz and her colleagues have edited a comprehensive introduction to second language acquisition that will be informative to researchers from a variety of disciplines and accessible to students who are new to the field. For all readers, the book provides a broad and balanced overview of the key theoretical debates in SLA, gives a real feeling for themethodological commitments associated with different approaches, and provides detailed examples to illustrate how each of the central approaches varies in what it takes to be the core data of second language acquisition. At a moment in time when the need to apply the tools and findings of basic research on learning processes to language instruction is crucial, the introduction provided by Mind and Context in Adult Second Language Acquisition will generate the sort of cross-disciplinary enthusiasm that will lead the field of applied linguistics into the next stage of scholarship.

--Judith F. Kroll, liberal arts research professor of psychology and linguistics, The Pennsylvania State University

Equally valuable as a handbook or as a course text, this volume should be owned by any serious student or researcher in second language acquisition. The timely collection covers an impressive amount of intellectual terrain in a remarkably authoritative yet even-handed manner.

--David Birdsong, University of Texas, Austin

This text is a broad-ranging treatment of SLA, drawing out the research methodological, psycholinguistic, social-interactive, and pedagogical ramifications of a principled cognitive view of the field. The strengths and rigorous approaches of the Georgetown faculty and students' research in this area are revealed, while an informatively current and diverse set of topics and theories are addressed and analyzed. A valuable addition to the library of both the new student and experienced professionals.

--Craig Chaudron, professor of second language studies and chair of graduate programs, University of Hawai'i

A comprehensive introductory textbook . . . This book deserves the special attention of anyone who is interested in adult SLA.

--Language and Education

I learned a great deal as I read this volume, and I was also reminded of issues I had studied in the past but had not thought about for some time. Reading these chapters made me see several old issues in a new light, and they updated my awareness and understanding of some recent studies that I had not yet read. I found the authors' rational arguments and thematic analyses convincing, and their syntheses of the complex body of SLA research on adult learners was truly impressive.

--Modern Language Journal

Unparalleled in its class--skillfully planned, cleverly organized and exceptionally well written.

--International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism