The majority of recent research on language learning motivation has reportedly focused on English as a target language, typically in relatively homogeneous, secondary and postsecondary "foreign language" settings. How applicable, then, are the theories and findings undergirding that research to our understanding of the contemporary…

This introductory paper highlights the promising potential of learner corpora to facilitate investigations of the developmental processes underlying L2 learning. It offers a critical discussion of the aspects in which the disciplines of learner corpus (LC) research and SLA would benefit from closer interdisciplinary engagement and introduces the…

In this study we explore a student's affective responses to classroom foreign language learning. In 2 meetings each week throughout an 8-week Portuguese course for beginners, the first author described her language learning experiences to the second author. Sessions were transcribed and then coded and analyzed. A theoretical model grounded in the…

In this article, we begin by delineating the background to and motivations behind Firth and Wagner (1997), wherein we called for a reconceptualization of second language acquisition (SLA) research. We then outline and comment upon some of our critics' reactions to the article. Next we review and discuss the conceptual, theoretical, and…

This article argues that Firth and Wagner's 1997 contribution gained influence in second/foreign language teaching partly owing to a loose group of conceptual and ideological preconditions that drew on classroom methodologies, debates over educating second language teachers, and new views of how teachers could document and analyze their own…

During a study designed to examine the processes of learning English as an additional language as manifest in the interactive behaviour of small groups of bilingual school children playing specially designed board games, several instances of "private speech" were captured. Private speech is commonly described as speech addressed to the self for…

Presents an abbreviated version of a large scale investigation of second language attrition covering 50 years. Results yield benefits to teachers and students of foreign languages by leading to an understanding of how various procedures of acquisition affect the rate of loss and ultimately minimize the potential for later attrition. (SL)

Addresses one aspect of individual differences and how socially learned cues may radically influence the verbal learning tasks performed by university students taking a foreign language. The nonuniversity studies reviewed provide the backdrop for a more in-depth study on four memorization modes and how these strategies are largely dependent on…

Examines the effects of aptitude, field independence, attitude, and strategy use upon four areas of language achievement: formal/oral, formal/written, functional/oral, and functional/written. Test results indicated that aptitude and field independence are related, as are strategy use and attitude; only aptitude and strategy use, however, affect…