This textbook was written to present essential understandings of second language acquisition specifically to L2 teachers. The understandings are organized around a transdisciplinary framework, which, while acknowledging the value of the distinct disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of SLA, recognizes that a broader and more grounded perspective of SLA is needed to capture the multifaceted dimensions of SLA. The framework provides such a view by integrating findings on L2 learning arising from various research efforts over three levels of social activity and across time spans.
The framework was developed by a group of 15 scholars, each of whom identifies with a particular approach to SLA. The group’s extensive collaborations over an extended period of time resulted in the development of the framework and a publication on the framework for a special issue celebrating 100 years of The Modern Language Journal (Douglas Fir Group, 2016, A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world, The Modern Language Journal, 100, 19–47). In this text, I expand on the foundational work of the Douglas Fir Group by drawing connections between current understandings of the many dimensions of L2 learning and understandings of L2 teaching.
The text is organized around eight themes that cover the micro, meso, and macro levels of social activity. Chapter 1 introduces the framework and each subsequent chapter presents one of the themes. Every chapter includes a chapter abstract, an overview of the material covered in the chapter, a summary of main points, a discussion of implications for understanding L2 teaching derived from the material presented in the chapter, and a set of pedagogical activities that can be undertaken in class, individually, in pairs or small groups, or outside of class, on the reader’s own time.
The text is written specifically for upper-level undergraduate students and MA students pursuing a degree in second or foreign language teaching in institutions around the world. Students who are pursuing degrees in applied linguistics or other related fields or are new to the field of SLA may also find the book valuable. It is not meant to be a comprehensive anthology of research undertaken by the entire field of SLA. Rather, it is offered as a beginning field guide to SLA; it presents a basic introduction to current understandings of language and language learning, which includes concepts that are fundamental to these understandings, and offers considerations on how they inform understandings of L2 teaching.
The goal is to move readers to make connections to their real-life experiences as learners and teachers of languages, to transform their understandings about L2 learning and teaching, and ultimately, to facilitate their development of innovative and sustainable teaching practices that expand their L2 learners’ diverse multilingual repertoires of meaning making resources.