Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-289) and indexes

Age -- Crosslinguistic influences -- The linguistic environment -- Cognition -- Development of learner language -- Foreign language aptitude -- Motivation -- Affect and other individual differences -- Social dimensions of L2 learning

"Understanding Second Language Acquisition offers a wide-encompassing survey of this burgeoning field, its accumulated findings and proposed theories, its developed research paradigms, and its pending questions for the future. The book zooms in and out of universal, individual, and social forces, in each case evaluating the theories and research findings that have been generated across diverse naturalistic and formal contexts for second language acquisition. It assumes no background in SLA and provides helpful chapter-by-chapter summaries and suggestions for further reading. Ideal as a textbook for students of applied linguistics, foreign language education, TESOL, and education. It is also recommended for students of linguistics, developmental psycholinguistics, psychology, and cognitive science."--Jacket