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Applied Generative SLA: The Need for an Agenda and a Methodology

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Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics ((EDUL,volume 16))

Abstract

This chapter brings together some of the core themes that emerge from the chapters in the volume and builds on them to suggest a way forward for SLA as a field, suggesting avenues for initiating dialogue and collaboration between GenSLA and instructed SLA. Appeals are made to GenSLA researchers to consider their research in relation to questions of pedagogy, by articulating their findings for practitioners in order to raise their levels of expertise. The need to better articulate the distinction between acquisition and learning is also explored, and the question of the relationship between this and concepts of explicit/implicit language development is identified as an area in need of engagement with SLA researchers working within other linguistic paradigms. Within GenSLA, it is argued that now is the time for the field to develop a subfield of Applied Generative Second Language Acquisition.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter, I abstract away from questions of bilingualism and multilingualism, using the term ‘second’ language to refer generally to language learning which is not a product of exposure and development from infancy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK

    Melinda Whong

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  1. Melinda Whong
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Correspondence to Melinda Whong .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept. of Linguistics & Phonetics, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

    Melinda Whong

  2. , School of English Lit, Lang & Ling, University of Sheffield, Jessop West, 1 Upper Hanover St.,, Sheffield, S3 7RA, United Kingdom

    Kook-Hee Gil

  3. , Dept. of Lang & Ling Science, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom

    Heather Marsden

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Whong, M. (2013). Applied Generative SLA: The Need for an Agenda and a Methodology. In: Whong, M., Gil, KH., Marsden, H. (eds) Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom. Educational Linguistics, vol 16. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6362-3_12

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