Mind Matters in SLA

Clare Wright is Lecturer in Linguistics and Language Teaching at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research investigates the interfaces between linguistic, cognitive and pedagogic factors in second language acquisition, with particular focus on teaching and learning Chinese as a second language.Thorsten Piske is Professor of Foreign Language Learning and Teaching at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. His research focuses on first and second language acquisition and on bilingual education.Martha Young-Scholten is Professor of Second Language Acquisition at Newcastle University, UK. Her research currently focuses on the reading development of migrant adults with little or no home language literacy.

• Chapter 1. Clare Wright, Thorsten Piske and Martha Young-Scholten: IntroductionSection 1: Language and MindChapter 2. Andrew Caink: What is Grammar? A Universal Grammar ApproachChapter 3. William O’Grady: Syntax and Acquisition: The Emergentist StoryChapter 4. Kook-Hee Gil, Heather Marsden and George Tsoulas: Poverty of the Stimulus and Language Acquisition: From Ancient Philosophy to NeuroscienceChapter 5. Andrew Feeney: Language Evolution and the Nature of the Human Faculty for LanguageSection 2: Properties of Interlanguage GrammarsChapter 6. Walid Kahoul, Anne Vainikka and Martha Young-Scholten: The Mystery of the Missing InflectionsChapter 7. Vivienne Rogers, David Playfoot and James Milton: The L2 LexiconChapter 8. Joan Carles Mora and Elena Safronova: Foreign Accent in a Second Language: Individual Differences In PerceptionChapter 9. Esther De Leeuw, Aurela Tusha, Hui Zhao, Kyle Helke and Alice Greenfield: A Case Study of Extreme L1 AttritionSection 3: Transitions in AcquisitionChapter 10. Theo Marinis and Ian Cunnings: Using Psycholinguistic Techniques in a Second Language Teaching SettingChapter 11. Clare Wright: Research in Memory and Processing in SLAChapter 12. Jörg-U. Kessler, Anke Lenzing and Anja Plesser: Processability Theory: Architecture and Application

This book provides an accessible background on linguistics, language acquisition and experimental methodologies. Each chapter presents new empirical data and the volume will appeal to second language specialists, as well as a general audience. Its fine writing and broad range of topics – from language evolution to psycholinguistics – make it a welcome contribution to the field.