Lourdes Ortega - The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (Second Language Acquisition Research: Theoretical and Methodological Issues)

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The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities

The present edited volume explores the connection between longitudinal study and advanced language capacities, two under-researched areas in investigations of language learning and teaching, and proposes an agenda for future research. Five chapters probe theoretical and methodological reflections about the longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities, followed by eight chapters that report on empirical longitudinal investigations spanning descriptive, quasi-experimental, qualitative, and quantitative longitudinal methodologies. In addition, the co-editors offer a detailed introduction to the volume and a coda chapter in which they explore what it would take to design systematic research programs for the longitudinal investigation of advanced L2 capacities. Acknowledging that advancedness is increasingly important in our multicultural societies and globalized world, the diverse contributions revolve around two central questions: How does learning over time evolve toward advanced capacities in a second language? What tools and constructs can enable researchers to illuminate change toward advancedness longitudinally?

The volume will be of great interest to scholars and students in the field of applied linguistics and in the related fields of foreign language education, second language acquisition, and educational linguistics.

Lourdes Ortega is Associate Professor of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa. Her research interests include second language acquisition, second language writing, and research methods. Recent publications are Synthesizing Research on Language Learning and Teaching (co-edited with John Norris, Benjamins) and Understanding Second Language Acquisition (Arnold).

Heidi Byrnes is George M. Roth Distinguished Professor of German at Georgetown University. Her research focus is the acquisition of L2 academic literacy by adult instructed learners. Recent publications include Educating for Advanced Foreign Language Capacities: Constructs, Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment (co-edited with Heather Weger-Guntharp and Katherine A. Sprang, Georgetown University Press); and Advanced Language Learning: The Contribution of Halliday and Vygotsky (Continuum).

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Edited by Susan M. Gass and Alison Mackey

Monographs on Theoretical Issues

Schachter/GassSecond Language Classroom Research: Issues and Opportunities (1996)

BirdsongSecond Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis (1999)

OhtaSecond Language Acquisition Processes in the Classroom: Learning Japanese (2001)

MajorForeign Accent: Ontogeny and Phylogeny of Second Language Phonology (2001)

VanPattenProcessing Instruction: Theory, Research, and Commentary (2003)

VanPatten/Williams/Rott/OverstreetFormMeaning Connections in Second Language Acquisition (2004)

Bardovi-Harlig/HartfordInterlanguage Pragmatics: Exploring Institutional Talk (2005)

DrnyeiThe Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition (2005)

LongProblems in SLA (2007)

VanPatten/WilliamsTheories in Second Language Acquisition (2007)

Ortega/ByrnesThe Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (2008)

Liceras/Zobl/GoodluckThe Role of Formal Features in Second Language Acquisition (2008)

Monographs on Research Methodology

Tarone/Gass/CohenResearch Methodology in Second Language Acquisition (1994)

YuleReferential Communication Tasks (1997)

Gass/MackeyStimulated Recall Methodology in Second Language Research (2000)

MarkeeConversation Analysis (2000)

DrnyeiQuestionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing (2002)

Gass/Mackey, Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research (2007)

DuffCase Study Research in Applied Linguistics (2008)

Of Related Interest

GassInput, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner (1997)

Gass/Sorace/SelinkerSecond Language Learning Data Analysis, Second Edition (1998)

Gass/SelinkerSecond Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, Third Edition (2008)

Mackey/GassSecond Language Research: Methodology and Design (2005)

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Edited by

Lourdes Ortega and Heidi Byrnes

NEW YORK AND LONDON

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First published 2008
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the UK
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