Second language acquisition (SLA) research offers valuable insight on how languages are learned and how they coexist and influence each other. Sign language learners offer unique perspectives on SLA, allowing researchers to test theories that are otherwise constrained by access to only one modality. Current literature on sign language learning…

This paper introduces the Lang-Track-App, a smartphone application and backend system to aid second language acquisition researchers in implementing the experience sampling method (ESM). Surveying research participants with the Lang-Track-App multiple times per day can yield exceptionally rich data that can be analyzed in multiple ways. This…

In this Methods Showcase Article, we highlight a qualitative research methodology called "netnography," an adaptation of ethnography and ethnographic methods applied to researching digital/online communities. We briefly discuss how netnography has evolved from its origins in the fields of consumer research and marketing to its more…

Multisite research (MSR) offers the key advantages of greater statistical power and external validity via larger and more diverse participant pools. In second language acquisition (SLA) research, recent developments in meta-analysis have created a robust foundation for MSR. Although logistical and financial obstacles can complicate expansion…

This study employed a targeted phonetic instruction to explore the mechanisms that underpin second language (L2) phonetic acquisition. Broadly, two general approaches to phonetic acquisition have been previously proposed. A segmental approach suggests that learners acquire a series of individual, discrete phonemes (e.g., Flege, 1995), while a…

Researchers have linked vivid mental imagery, particularly of the self in future states, to many desirable motivational outcomes for language learning. We report a preregistered conceptual replication and extension of You, Dörnyei, and Csizér (2016), who found a central motivational role for vision. We review essential considerations in structural…

The present study analyzes morphological productivity for complex verbs in second language acquisition by analyzing a corpus of German as a Foreign Language (GFL). It shows that advanced learners of GFL use prefix and particle verbs relatively frequently and productively but less so than native speakers do and discusses these findings in the light…

This study investigated order-of-learning effects on the acquisition of classifier-noun associations in Chinese in two experiments modeled after Arnon and Ramscar's (2012) study of artificial language learning. In Experiment 1, learners with no prior exposure to Chinese showed better learning of classifier-noun associations when exposed to larger…

Idealization plays a fundamental role in scientific inquiry. This article examines the case for maintaining the claim that the second language acquisition (SLA) of grammatical structures such as negation manifests identifiable stages of acquisition. It proposes that, while research has demonstrated the need for de-idealization, there is no need to…

This study applied systematic meta-analytic procedures to summarize findings from experimental and quasi-experimental investigations into the effectiveness of using the tools and techniques of corpus linguistics for second language learning or use, here referred to as data-driven learning (DDL). Analysis of 64 separate studies representing 88…

The last three decades have witnessed a notable growth in research on affect. Among the various affective variables, foreign language anxiety has been heavily studied. This interest in foreign language anxiety is consistent with increased attention to emotions in the neurosciences, cognitive psychology, and the social sciences. Instead of…

Taking a psycholinguistic orientation within task-based language teaching scholarship, this study investigated the effects of mode (oral vs. written) and task complexity on second language (L2) performance. The participants were 78 Catalan/Spanish learners of English as a foreign language. Half of the participants performed the simple and complex…

The present study implemented a sign-repetition task at two points in time to hearing adult learners of British Sign Language and explored how each phonological parameter, sign complexity, and iconicity affected sign production over an 11-week (22-hour) instructional period. The results show that training improves articulation accuracy and that…

The goals of this article are to appraise second language acquisition's (SLA) disciplinary progress over the last 15 years and to reflect on transdisciplinary relevance as the field has completed 40 years of existence and moves forward into the 21st century. I first identify four trends that demonstrate vibrant disciplinary progress in SLA. I then…

Although the significance of age in second language acquisition is one of the most hotly debated issues in the field, very few studies have directly addressed age differences in the language learning process. The present study investigated learning in a foreign-word repetition task. Young Finnish adults and 8-year-olds repeated back Korean words.…