Michael P. Breen is Professor of Language Education in the Centre for English Language Teaching, University of Stirling.
Since it was first established in the 1970s the Applied Linguistics and Language Study series has become a major force in the study of practical problems in human communication and language education. Drawing extensively on empirical research and theoretical work in linguistics, sociology, psychology and education, the series explores key issues in language acquisition and language use.
What the learner contributes is central to the language learning process. Learner Contributions to Language Learning provides a uniquely comprehensive account of learners' personal attributes, their thinking, their feelings, and their actions that have been shown to have an impact upon language learning.
Containing specific chapters from leading names in the field, this book provides both a review of what has been discovered from previous research and identifies important future directions for research on learner contributions. It is a landmark volume setting the agenda for language learning research in the 21st century and it provides invaluable information for all those engaged in language teaching.
The contributors to the volume are-
Michael P. Breen Bonny Norton
Anna Chamot Rebecca Oxford
Rod Ellis Anna Pavlenko
James P. Lantolf Anita Wenden
Diane Larsen-Freeman
Introduction: Conceptualisation, affect, and action in context
- Individual cognitive/ affective learner contributions and differential success in second langugae acquisition Diana Larsen-Freeman
- The role of learning strategies in second language acquisition Anna Uhli Chamot
- Metacognitive knowledge in SLA: the neglected variable Anita L. Wenden
- The metaphorical constructions of second language learners Rod Ellis
- 'The bleached bones of a story': learners' constructions of language teachers Rebecca L. Oxford
- Overt participation and covert acquisition in the language classroom Micahel P. Breen
- (S)econd (L)anguage (A)ctivity theory: understanding second language learners as people James P. Lantolf and Aneta Pavlenko
- Non-participation, imagined communities and the language classroom Bonny Norton
Postillegalscript: New directions for reasearch on learner contributions
An active area of study and debate in Second Language Acquisition is 'learner contribution' which is what a learner can bring to the learning process e.g. his or her experience of prior (language) learning, expectancies about the learning process, knowledge of language and of learning and expectations of effectiveness of instruction. Plus their own personal and social characteristics i.e. age, gender, status, role, group membership, affiliations etc - all these factors are presumed to impact favourably or unfavourably on language learning in particular environments. What the learner contributes is therefore central to the language learning process. This book presents a uniquely comprehensive account of learners' personal attributes, their thinking, their feelings, and their actions that have been shown to have an impact upon language learning.
An active area of study and debate in Second Language Acquisition is 'learner contribution' which is what a learner can bring to the learning process e.g. his or her experience of prior (language) learning, expectancies about the learning process, knowledge of language and of learning and expectations of effectiveness of instruction. Plus their own personal and social characteristics i.e. age, gender, status, role, group membership, affiliations etc - all these factors are presumed to impact favourably or unfavourably on language learning in particular environments. What the learner contributes is therefore central to the language learning process. This book presents a uniquely comprehensive account of learners' personal attributes, their thinking, their feelings, and their actions that have been shown to have an impact upon language learning.
