Sociocultural Theory And Thegenesis of Second Language Development

This book brings together the current theory, research and practical perspectives from different parts of the world on language teacher identity in an attempt to better understand the nature of identities teachers in different contexts develop. By linking theory to pedagogy, the book examines how second language teacher identities are shaped and explores the various links between teacher identities and variables that affect the formation of identities.

This book brings together the current theory, research and practical perspectives from different parts of the world on language teacher identity in an attempt to better understand the nature of identities teachers in different contexts develop. By linking theory to pedagogy, the book examines how second language teacher identities are shaped and explores the various links between teacher identities and variables that affect the formation of identities.

Although a person's ability to learn a second language declines continuously with age, recent research summarized in this survey suggests that adults are more capable of second-language acquisition than most people assume. In an academic treatise that will appeal primarily to theorists, linguists, psychologists and educators, the authors, both professors of psychology (Bialystok at England's York University, Hakuta at Stanford), stress that learning a second language fosters new ways of organizing concepts and of thinking. Language proficiency, they note, defies easy explanation, since research has found no systematic correlation among personality, motivation, cognitive style, intelligence and the ability to learn a second language. They conclude with suggestions on ways to make language teaching culturally sensitive and responsive to a student's specific situation.

Questions related to language acquisition have been of interest for many centuries, as children seem to acquire a sophisticated capacity for processing language with apparent ease, in the face of ambiguity, noise and uncertainty. However, with recent advances in technology and cognitive-related research it is now possible to conduct large-scale computational investigations of these issues

This volume will aim to present the process of learning an additional language apart from one’s native language. This book intends to provide readers with language acquisition, language comprehension, language development, language processing, and psychological and social variables, which have been largely excluded by purely language approaches.