sla

The instability and interdisciplinarity of applied linguistics have led to the divergence of themes explored in research articles, resulting in many studies on applied linguistics research themes. However, there are still gaps, including selecting unrepresentative corpora and analyzing research articles published years ago. This diachronic corpus-based study attempted to randomly select 3000 original research articles published from 2012 to 2022 in 20 top-tier journals and analyze them using Glaser and Strauss’ (1967) grounded theory to ensure trustworthiness and rigor. The findings demonstrated that well-established areas within the field, such as Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Language Testing, and sociolinguistics, were predominant, whereas critical- and technological-oriented areas received limited attention. Novel interdisciplinary themes, such as neurolinguistics, also emerged. It was also found that each main theme included various sub-themes; for example, SLA embodied sub-themes such as Learner Identity and Learner Motivation, and these sub-themes themselves included sub-categories. The findings illuminate the need for educational policymakers to widen the scope of applied linguistics research. Likewise, in order to cater for the students’ needs and foster a more inclusive educational environment, teachers and materials developers need to incorporate a wide variety of diverse, critical, and neglected themes in their instructional resources, materials, and lesson plans.

This study investigates the way psychological problems affect unique LAD while acquiring a second language. A qualitative study and semi-structured interview, ranging from 50 to 70 minutes were employed. To meet the findings of the study, twelve professional L2 teachers have been interviewed. Participants' quotes help the researchers find that psychological problems include four main properties, namely OCD, lack of concentration, stress, and other unique psychological problems affecting the process of SLA. During the interview, the researchers found that these properties affect learners' rate of learning, interest, acquisition progress, concentration, self-confidence, interaction in the TL, motivation, and learning potential. During the interview, the researchers found that these properties affect learners' rate of learning, interest, acquisition progress, concentration, self-confidence, interaction in the TL, motivation, and learning potential. During the interview, the researchers found that these properties affect learners' rate of learning, interest, acquisition progress, concentration, self-confidence, interaction in the TL, motivation, and learning potential.

This study investigates the way psychological problems affect unique LAD while acquiring a second language. A qualitative study and semi-structured interview, ranging from 50 to 70 minutes were employed. Twelve professional L2 teachers have been interviewed to meet the study's findings. Participants' quotes help the researchers find that psychological problems include four main properties, namely OCD, lack of concentration, stress, and other unique psychological problems affecting the process of SLA. During the interview, the researchers found that these properties affect learners' rate of learning, interest, acquisition progress, concentration, self-confidence, interaction in the TL, motivation, and learning potential.

Corrective feedback (CF) is an inseparable part of second language acquisition (SLA) and has been the focus of numerous studies since the concept of CF was introduced in the field of SLA. This study focused on investigating the differences between two modes of providing CF, namely, online and traditional modes, which would affect Iranian EFL learners’ writing ability. To serve this purpose, 317 EFL learners from four language schools in Tabriz took the TOEFL: 271 participants scored between 477 and 510, the scores of 164 of them fell between ±1SD, and 66 of them agreed to participate in the study who were asked to deliver a 200-word composition. Their compositions were analyzed based on CAF (complexity, accuracy, and fluency). They were then divided into two groups; one group underwent a treatment of 10 sessions of online chatting (1 hour each session), and the other group was asked to deliver 10 writing tasks. Afterward, all participants were asked to deliver another 200-word writing task. These tasks were analyzed based on the CAF criteria. The obtained results proved a significant difference between the writing ability of the participants receiving CF through online sessions and that of those receiving CF in traditional mode. The findings implicate that EFL teachers could be encouraged and allowed to use up-to-date ways of providing CF if more development in the teaching and learning of English as a second language is anticipated.

During my doctoral viva voce, my external examiner, Professor Phil Benson, asked if I could clarify my admittedly nebulous application of the term “learning environment,” and the ambiguously synonymous usage of others like “setting,” “context”, “atmosphere”, “learning space(s)”, and “classroom.” To simplify this entanglement for the purpose of passing my oral examination, I asserted that I just meant “classroom.” However, in the months that followed, I reflected more deeply on this question. I first began to think about language itself as being a type of “environment” with its own inextricable qualities of space and structure, and with language use (spoken and written) giving breath to these dimensional attributes. As this metaphor seemed decidedly structuralist, I turned my attention to what I felt was a more interesting extrapolation of a spatial theme embedded in the concept of environments: the complex interactions in specific spaces and how such interactions relate to learning. It is on this first point (the spatial aspects of language) that Benson’s book begins and on the second (language learning environments) that it concludes.

Grammar has always been considered by language learners as well as by those engaged in language education as an essential component of language, and their expectations from and planning for any language education programs have been conditioned accordingly. The definitions of the term grammar and its categories in all languages go back to traditional Latin and Greek grammarians irrespective of their possibly obvious differences and have persisted even now long after the emergence of the scientific study of language which recognizes the unique system of every single language (cf. Saussure, 1916/ 1956). What is grammar and how much is it effective in ‘learning’ an L2, if at all? This paper will examine the commonsensical understanding of the term grammar, i.e. ‘the code-system’ as opposed to ‘grammar’ as ‘a theory of human experience’: an agency construing human experience into meaning (cf. Halliday & Matthissen,2004), i.e. ‘grammaticality’ as opposed to ‘textuality’, arguing that if any recourse to grammar is advocated, as done in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) literature in the form of ‘focus-on-form’ mediation, this ‘form’, rather than being defined in terms of ‘grammaticality’, should be ‘textuality-oriented’ due to the reality that the knowledge accumulated by the learner about the grammaticality is of declarative nature and as such it will not convert into procedural communicative competence. Expanding upon the work done earlier on the topic (cf. Lotfipoursaedi, 2015, 2016, & 2019), the concept of textuality and how its perception by the recipients of a text enables them to handle it will be further discussed and examples of textuality-oriented L2 education pedagogic moves, as the SLA classroom mediation strategies will be examined.

The writer capitalizes on the notion of a transdisciplinary approach to SLA. In chapter one, Introduction, the writer elaborates on eight themes on which the entire book rests. The book comes into nine chapters, each chapter corresponding to a theme save chapter one. Where possible, the writer has made an endeavor to embellish different concepts with examples, often real life ones. Furthermore, the book is embroidered with a ‘pedagogical activities’ section which I think is the linchpin of the book.

Due to the special (procedural) nature of the language (verbal communication) ‘knowledge’, the dominant trends in applied linguistics research in the last few decades have been advocating ‘acquisition’ rather than ‘learning’ activities where the main focus in SL & FL education should be on ‘meaning’ while some ‘focus-on-form’ being justified. But the ‘form’ to be ‘focused-on’ is mostly misconceived to be ‘grammaticality’ of sentences. This misconception is driven by the traditional outlook on language which considers it as a set of sentences carrying THE meaning deposited upon them, disregarding the true nature of verbal transactions where meanings are discursively constructed by the participants in interaction , and the text (enabled by its textuality) rather than sentences (supported by their grammatical accuracy) mediates this discursive process. The present paper argues that textuality representing an underlying discourse should be the ‘form’ to be focused on in SLA facilitation tasks. It is the textuality and its ‘impulse-creating and impulse-reiterating agencies which, upon their perception, help the receiver to grasp the hierarchical integrity of the linearly organized text. Each text can be seen as containing a set of units which are psycho-socio-linguistically determined packages facilitating the linear presentation of the textual hierarchy. These units, labeled as T-units in written text, can be defined as stretches of text occurring between two full-stops. These T-units are the epicenters for ‘impulse-creation’ while carrying some ‘impulse-reiterating’ elements as well. Variations in the overall configuration of the T-units including what is chosen as their main verb (epicenter), the number of impulse-reiterating elements revolving around it and their mode of realization will be discussed. It will be argued that the SLA ‘focus-on-form’ activities designed to raise the language learners’ consciousness should be along these textuality dimensions; and examples of such activities (mainly oriented towards reading/writing skills) will be discussed.

Due to the fact that all language learners and teachers are aware of the fact that acquiring a second language involves a learning of the large number of vocabulary items, investigating how vocabulary is learned and what the best ways are to enhance effective acquisition have been important lines of investigation in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The present study intended to compare the effect of enhancing the quality of vocabulary acquisition by reading, writing, and translation tasks with different degrees of involvement load. To this end, 60 intermediate third grade junior high school students were randomly assigned to four groups. In each group a task with a different level of involvement, including two different reading tasks, a writing task, and a translation task was instructed over a six-month period. The results of the descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA revealed that the group with the highest involvement load task outperformed the other groups in terms of vocabulary acquisition, but the translation task even led to a greater performance in the post-test. These unique findings shed some light on the importance and the practicality of translation tasks in ESL contexts.

Microgenetic method is a specific method for studying change in abilities, knowledge, and understanding during short time spans, through dense observations, and over a relatively long period of time. In this paper I will attempt to provide a brief overview of microgenetic method and will point out its potential advantages and disadvantages in the context of second language acquisition. To illustrate the utility of microgenetic method in SLA research, I will then discuss a SLA-related issue which could be addressed via this research method, namely the effects of written corrective feedback on L2 acquisition.

Intake is a concept that has long fascinated second language researchers as it provides a window onto the crucial intermediary stage between input and acquisition. A better understanding of this intermediary stage can help us to distinguish between input that is used for immediate (e. g. communicative) purposes only and input that is drawn on for learning. This article traces the different components from which intake can occur، reviews existing definitions of intake and suggests alternatives for its operationalisation.

To communicate effectively, learners have to become proficient in both the language and the culture of the target language. Being aware of socio-cultural frameworks does not mean that as an outcome of instruction learners have to become «native-like,» but an awareness of L2 cultural norms can allow learners to make their own informed choices of how to become competent and astute language users. This paper provides an overview of practical approaches and techniques to teaching culture in the classroom in conjunction with instruction in the essential language skills. It is important to keep in mind, however, that this brief review of strategies and tactics for cross-cultural teaching and learning is minimalist, and a number of additional sources of pedagogical techniques are currently available.