Philp Jenefer, Oliver Rhonda, Mackey Alison (eds.). Second Language Acquisition and the Younger Learner: Child's Play?

John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2008. — 335 p. — (Language Learning & Language Teaching 23). — ISBN13 9789027219855.This new volume of work highlights the distinctiveness of child SLA through a collection of different types of empirical research specific to younger learners.Characteristics of children's cognitive, emotional, and social development distinguish their experiences from those of adult L2 learners, creating intriguing issues for SLA research, and also raising important practical questions regarding effective pedagogical techniques for learners of different ages.While child SLA is often typically thought of as simple (and often enjoyable and universally effortless), in other words, as “child's play”, the complex portraits of young second language learners which emerge in the 16 papers collected in this book invite the reader to reconsider the reality for many younger learners.Chapters by internationally renowned authors together with reports by emerging researchers describe second and foreign language learning by children ranging from pre-schoolers to young adolescents, in home and school contexts, with caregivers, peers, and teachers as interlocutors.Child’s play? Second language acquisition and the younger learner in context.
Jenefer Philp, Alison Mackey, and Rhonda OliverCharacteristics of child SLA
Defining child second language acquisition, defining roles for L2 instruction.
Howard Nicholas and Patsy M. LightbownPerspectives on second language acquisition at different ages.
Christine DimrothInstructed language learning in the early years of education
When the gate opens: The interaction between social and linguistic goals in child second language development.
Jenefer Philp and Susan DuchesneDeveloping conversational skills in a second language: Language learning affordances in a multiparty classroom setting.
Asta CekaiteThe impact of teacher input, guidance and feedback on ESL children’s task-based interactions.
Rhonda Oliver, Jenefer Philp and Alison MackeyNegotiation of meaning in the classroom: Does it enhance reading comprehension?
Kris Van den BrandenInstructed language learning in the later years of education
Incidental focus on form and learning outcomes with young foreign language classroom learners.
Eva Alcón Soler and María del Pilar García MayoSpeeding up acquisition of his and her: Explicit L1/L2 contrasts help.
Joanna WhiteChild SLA at home and in the community
Acquiring Japanese as a second language (JSL) in a naturalistic context:
a longitudinal study of a young child from
a Processability Theory (PT) perspective
Junko IwasakiLearning a second language in the family.
Rosamond Mitchell and Chong Nim LeeHome-school connections for international adoptees: Repetition in parent-child interaction.
Lyn Wright FogleLanguage transfer in child SLA: A longitudinal case study of a sequential bilingual.
Eun-Young Kwon and ZhaoHong Han