Second Language Acquisition and the Younger Learner
Child's play?
Editors
This new volume of work highlights the distinctiveness of child SLA through a collection of different types of empirical research specific to younger learners. Characteristics of children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development distinguish their experiences from those of adult L2 learners, creating intriguing issues for SLA research, and also raising important practical questions regarding effective pedagogical techniques for learners of different ages. While child SLA is often typically thought of as simple (and often enjoyable and universally effortless), in other words, as “child’s play”, the complex portraits of young second language learners which emerge in the 16 papers collected in this book invite the reader to reconsider the reality for many younger learners. Chapters by internationally renowned authors together with reports by emerging researchers describe second and foreign language learning by children ranging from pre-schoolers to young adolescents, in home and school contexts, with caregivers, peers, and teachers as interlocutors.
[Language Learning & Language Teaching, 23] 2008. viii, 334 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of contributors | p. vii
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Introduction
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Child's play? Second language acquisition and the younger learner in contextJenefer Philp, Alison Mackey and Rhonda Oliver | pp. 3–23
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Section 1. Characteristics of child SLA
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Defining child second language acquisition, defining roles for L2 instructionHoward Nicholas and Patsy M. Lightbown | pp. 27–51
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Perspectives on second language acquisition at different agesChristine Dimroth | pp. 53–79
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Section 2. Instructed language learning in the early years of education
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When the gate opens: The interaction between social and linguistic goals in child second language developmentJenefer Philp and Susan Duchesne | pp. 83–103
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Developing conversational skills in a second language: Language learning affordances in a multiparty classroom settingAsta Cekaite | pp. 105–129
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The impact of teacher input, guidance and feedback on ESL children's task-based interactionsRhonda Oliver, Jenefer Philp and Alison Mackey | pp. 131–147
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Negotiation of meaning in the classroom: Does it enhance reading comprehension?Kris Van den Branden | pp. 149–169
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Section 3. Instructed language learning in later years of education
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Incidental focus on form and learning outcomes with young foreign language classroom learnersEva Alcón-Soler and María del Pilar García Mayo | pp. 173–192
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Speeding up acquisition of his and her: Explicit L1/L2 contrasts helpJoanna White | pp. 193–228
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Section 4. Child SLA at home and in the community
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Acquiring Japanese as a second language (JSL) in a naturalistic context: A longitudinal study of a young child from a Processability Theory (PT) perspectiveJunko Iwasaki | pp. 231–253
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Learning a second language in the familyRosamond Mitchell and Chong Nim Lee | pp. 255–277
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Home-school connections for international adoptees: Repetition in parent-child interactionsLyn Wright | pp. 279–301
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Language transfer in child SLA: A longitudinal case study of a sequential bilingualEun-Young Kwon and ZhaoHong Han | pp. 303–331
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Index | pp. 333–334
“This is a highly valuable and timely collection of studies examining various aspects of child SLA. It especially directs our attention to the crucial role of the learning context in the acquisition process.”
Ellen Simon, Ghent University, The Journal of Child Language 37: 945-950
“This outstanding collection of articles should forever silence those who still cling to the notion, repeated ad nauseam, that child first and second language acquisition are 'child's play', simple, enjoyable and effortless. It's primary aim is, as the editors state, 'to stimulate reflection about the unique nature of child SLA , as well as consideration of differences between younger children, older children and adolescents' (p.4). In this, they and their fellow authors succeed brilliantly. [...] The value of this collection lies in bringing together research, some of it previously published, in a number of areas to provide support for a thesis involving differential second language development in early, middle and older childhood, which has increasing relevance in terms of language learning policy and practice. Not only should this book be read by all those involved in SLA teaching and research, but also by teachers of foreign languages and those who decide on foreign and second language learning in our schools.”
Robert Vanderplank, Oxford University Language Centre, in System 37: 741-752, 2009
Cited by (34)
Cited by 34 other publications
Yan, Jing & Christine C. M. Goh
Bushati, Bora, Gayannée Kedia, Daniela Rotter, Alexander P. Christensen, Georg Krammer, Katja Corcoran & Sabine Schmölzer-Eibinger
Ha, Xuan Van & Jill C. Murray
Yin, Chia-Hsin
Carmel, Rivi
Le Bouthillier, Josée, Renée Bourgoin & Joseph Dicks
Martínez, Dunia & Christine Appel
Pinter, Annamaria
2022. Child-centred ethics in second language education. Language Teaching for Young Learners 4:1 ► pp. 4 ff.
SÜER, Sedef
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian & Michael H. Long
Mayo, María del Pilar García
Routarinne, Sara & Maria Ahlholm
Azkarai, Agurtzane, María del Pilar García Mayo & Rhonda Oliver
2020. The effect of task repetition on the patterns of interaction of ESL children. ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics 171:1 ► pp. 90 ff.
Costa, Francesca & Elisabet Pladevall-Ballester
Waldmann, Christian & Kirk P. H. Sullivan
Dalle, Teresa & Gabriela Kleckova
Cekaite, Asta
DeKeyser, Robert M.
Oliver, Rhonda & Agurtzane Azkarai
Philp, Jenefer, Margaret Borowczyk & Alison Mackey
García Mayo, Maria del Pilar & Ainara Imaz Agirre
Butler, Yuko Goto
Butler, Yuko Goto
2022. Learning through digital technologies among pre-primary school children. Language Teaching for Young Learners 4:1 ► pp. 30 ff.
Guo, Karen & Noella Mackenzie
MURPHY, VICTORIA A., ERNESTO MACARO, SONIA ALBA & CLAUDIA CIPOLLA
Englezou, Eliana & Elpiniki Fragkouli
Kultti, Anne
Kultti, Anne
Trube, Mary Barbara, Rong Yan & Lei Zhang
Brumen, Mihaela
[no author supplied]
[no author supplied]
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFDM: Bilingualism & multilingualism
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General