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Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic perspectives
Edited by Robert Bayley, Dennis R. Preston and Xiaoshi Li
[Studies in Language Variation 28] 2022
► pp. 1–14

Chapter 1
Variation and second language acquisition

Recent developments and future directions

ORCID logo | University of Kentucky
ORCID logo | University of California, Davis
ORCID logo | University of Wyoming

In addition to introducing the main themes of this volume, the chapter provides a brief overview of recent developments in variationist studies of second language acquisition (SLA), including work on perception. We suggest that the type of work included in this volume, which focuses on a range of features in diverse target languages in a wide variety of social contexts, contributes to broadening the scope of both SLA research and sociolinguistics more generally. While the importance of the social context for SLA has sometimes been dismissed, the studies included here offer abundant evidence that such contexts must be considered if we are to fully understand how learners may achieve not only the ability to use language correctly, but also appropriately.

Keywords: variation, social context, second languages, heritage languages, sociolinguistic competence
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • 1.More (and more) languages and more (and more) varieties
    • 2.Perception
    • 3.New ways to count things up
  • Broadening the scope of second language acquisition
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 14 July 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.28.01pre
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