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Social aspects of second language acquisition (SLA) and the contexts in which people attempt to learn and use languages and seek to become integrated within new and changing cultures have been examined for decades from various theoretical perspectives. In this article, I present some of the ways in which 'social' experience is being theorized in SLA and in broader fields that intersect with SLA, such as linguistic anthropology. I then discuss how the Douglas Fir Group (DFG, 2016) originally portrayed the many interlinking factors affecting SLA in our multilingual world on several analytic levels and suggest ways of perhaps reconceptualizing the model while retaining its powerful heuristic value. Next, I describe language socialization research as 1 productive social approach and provide examples of research in 2 transnational domains—study abroad and heritage language learning—that demonstrate a multiscalar approach to examining social dimensions of language development and use. The article ends with a discussion of transdisciplinarity in SLA research. I suggest possibilities for team‐based research projects that aim to understand cases from multiple, integrated perspectives on different scales of analysis, and then provide a brief reflection on some of the troubling political ideologies that SLA researchers who embrace multilingualism must now confront on a daily basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing themes from the Douglas Fir Group's (2016) transdisciplinary framework, this paper bridges boundaries between cognitive and social disciplines by showing how social contextual factors can affect the psycholinguistic development of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in learner language. Sociolinguistic and sociocultural frameworks are blended with use of a multidimensional psycholinguistic frame, CAF, to analyze speech samples produced by 10 adult learners of English across different developmental levels as they all produced narratives containing constructed dialogue. Learners enacted imagined 'voices' that were significantly more accurate and fluent compared to their narrative baseline voices. Our findings suggest that emerging L2 proficiency consists of many distinct voices that can significantly differ in accuracy of grammatical forms and fluency; related studies show they also differ in suprasegmentals, nonverbals, discourse style, and expressed social stance. Learners' ability to produce such voices in constructed dialogue supports a view of their proficiency as heteroglossic, complex, dynamic, and holistic, and of language play as facilitative of SLA. Theoretical and practical implications for L2 learning, instruction, and assessment are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article summarizes and responds to each of the main articles in the current issue, a special issue on transdisciplinary approaches to understanding second language acquisition (SLA), which the author notes grew out of a group of SLA researchers known as the Douglas Fir Group. Topics include the relationship between cognitive and social approaches to SLA, how political changes such as rising xenophobia intersect with SLA, and the usage-based approach to language.

The article looks at transdisciplinary approaches to analyzing second language acquisition (SLA) which prioritize multilingualism and social aspects of language acquisition. The author discusses the article "SLA and the Study of Equitable Multilingualism" by Lourdes Ortega, in the current issue. Topics include the relationship between language, social action, and meaning.

An introduction is presented which discusses the theme of the current issue, a special issue on transdisciplinary approaches and multilingualism in the study of second language acquisition (SLA). They cite specific articles in the issue on topics including social aspects of SLA, the concept of agency in SLA, and sociocultural narrative activity.

Language learning is inextricably linked to a social context, and this implies that context-related social variables, such as ethnicity or attitudes, can influence how language learning unfolds. Among the many group-engendered social factors, ethnic identity appears to have interesting consequences for language teaching and learning (Pavlenko & Blackledge 2004). Indeed, issues of personal and group identity often become important when individuals or groups come in contact with one another to learn a language. Briefly, ethnic identity refers to a person's subjective experience of being a part of an ethnic group (Ashmore, Deaux & McLaughlin-Volpe 2004). For second language (L2) learners, the two relevant groups are usually their primary (home) ethnic group and the L2 community. We report here on the research that we have been conducting at Concordia University in Montreal, as part of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, with the goal of investigating the role of ethnic group identity in L2 learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates the beliefs of second language learners regarding peer interaction and peer corrective feedback (CF) as well as the feasibility of a second language intervention, aimed at changing those beliefs. The classroom intervention was designed to promote collaborative learning and to train learners to provide CF to each other. Participants were university-level learners in 4 required English classes in Japan ( N = 167), each assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions. While all experimental classes were given peer interaction instruction, 2 classes were given CF training (prompts or recasts). Another class served as the control group. Questionnaires were administered before and after the intervention and selected learners ( n = 36) were interviewed. The quantitative (factor-analysis and matched-samples t-tests) and qualitative (grounded theory methodology) analyses revealed that, while learners held positive beliefs about peer interaction and peer CF from the onset, the intervention facilitated trust in their classmates as learning resources, and those who were given CF training displayed an increased willingness to and confidence in providing CF. Also, 2 classroom-specific variables emerged for the intervention to be effective on language development: a collaborative classroom environment and positive social relationships between learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a conceptual replication of Leeser and DeMil (in press) and examines the effectiveness of Processing Instruction, Traditional Instruction, and no instruction for primary and secondary effects with a primary target form (Spanish accusative clitics) and a secondary form (Spanish dative clitics) (N = 134). Leeser and DeMil (in press) failed to find gains in production similar to previous research. The present study differs in design from the original study in terms of the production measures (type and number of opportunities for production) and more closely resemble those used in previous secondary effects research. In part, the findings show that significant gains for PI were found for primary and secondary form interpretation, whereas the gains for TI were less robust. As such, we discuss the theoretical and methodological ramifications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay discusses methods to increase student interest in French language by a graduate teacher of French, particularly focusing on empowering students of French with career options outside academia. It addresses the increasing necessity of bilingualism due to globalization, the psychological and social benefits from acquiring a second language, and the need to foster scholarship among students.

The article discusses results of second language acquisition study for pre-service teachers through cultural immersion, a teaching literacy project in Costa Rica. Topics include analysis of participants on complexities of learning second language, impact of the immersion study on the participants, and assumptions on teaching English Language Learner (ELL) children.