The International Commission on Second Language Acquisition

"The goal of SLA is to explain the processes underlying non-native language acquisition"

Email List Websites: Linguist  L3 Acquisition  See also here

 

Endorsements of ICoSLA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is ICoSLA?

FILLING A GAP

This Scientific Commission has been set up to fill a gap. That is, there exists no single, official, worldwide association that deals exclusively with second language acquisition (SLA) as an independent field of research (see below for description). There are only organisations that either

a)  have an applied focus of interest connected with language learning and language teaching

or

b) do indeed focus on SLA but are associated with a particular country or continent.

There being no world association, ICoSLA is designed to act as a single point of reference for all major international SLA activities and to provide various useful internet links for SLA researchers and people and institutions wishing to find out more about this field for whatever reason. 

 

THE FORUM

The commission acts a forum and currently includes representatives from:

1) the major relevant scientific associations 

2) past and forthcoming international conference committees

3) editorial boards of major SLA journals

Points for ongoing discussion will include a range of issues from raising the awareness of  SLA as a discipline worldwide to the accreditation of academic courses. Views, especially from fellow SLA researchers, on the role and composition of ICoSLA are very welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is SLA?

The ICoSLA DEFINITION (as endorsed by the ICoSLA Forum)

SLA is a theoretical and experimental field of study which, like first language acquisition studies, looks at, and seeks to understand  the phenomenon of language development, in this case the acquisition of second languages. 

The term, "second" includes "foreign" and "third", "fourth" (etc.). Since the early nineteen seventies, SLA researchers have been attempting to describe and explain the behavior and developing systems of children and adults learning a new language. 

The dominant aim behind this research is to extend our understanding of the complex processes and mechanisms that drive language acquisition. 

 

N.B. It may help to establish what SLA as a research field normally excludes. It is not:

personal experience : It is not the activity of language learning itself'
 
education : it is not the activity of language teaching (see ' applying' below).

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Applying SLA 

1. Understanding : Investigating SLA Phenomena

Investigators in the field of SLA are trying to unravel the mysteries of language acquisition, in this case, the acquisition of non-native languages. 

SLA investigators, like their colleagues in first language acquisition research, base their investigations on previous theoretical and experimental studies. These studies may be carried out within their own field (SLA) as well as outside SLA, in various branches of  theoretical and experimental psychology, theoretical linguistics and sociolinguistics.  By virtue of the fact that language itself is complex, SLA has become a broadly-based field and it now involves, for instance:

 

studying the complex pragmatic interactions between learners, and between learners and native speakers 
examining how non-native language ability develops, stabilizes and undergoes attrition (forgetting, loss) 
carrying out a highly technical analysis and interpretation of  all aspects of learner language with the help of, amongst other things, current linguistic theory. 
developing theories that are specific to the field of SLA and which aim to account for the many facets of non-native behaviour. 
testing hypotheses to explain second language behavior using standard experimental techniques as well as also techniques specially developed for SLA purposes.

 

  2. Helping : Applications of SLA Research

As indicated above, the goal of SLA is to understand how learners learn, i.e. the processes underlying non-native language acquisition.. It is, therefore, not the same as research into language teaching. However, despite the fact that SLA is focused on second language development as a phenomenon in its own right  (and not on how it is deliberately facilitated, the firm hope is often voiced by people, even from within the SLA research community, that SLA findings will contribute towards the construction of a much more scientific basis for language instruction.  Helping learners to learn does not require an understanding of  SLA phenomena. However, applied research based on such understanding should be much more efficient and effective. Applied linguists whose particular interest is in facilitating the language learning process should find ways of interpreting relevant SLA research in wa ys that will benefit the language teacher.

SLA, in this light, should become an essential point of reference for:

 

those involved in educational activities 
researchers looking at how to facilitate the learning process
official bodies, e.g. boards of education and ministries responsible for influencing 1 and 2.

 

 

Email ICoSLA Convener (with suggestions and comments)
ICoSLA Convener's Home Page