Grammatical Development in Language Learning: The Best of Language Learning Series - Softcover

Dekeyser, Robert

 
9781405135818: Grammatical Development in Language Learning: The Best of Language Learning Series
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1405135816 ISBN 13: 9781405135818
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005

Synopsis

Why is learning the grammar of a second language difficult?

The present volume brings together insights from leading researchers, published in the past five years of the journal Language Learning, to identify the multiple factors that combine to challenge learners in attaining full proficiency in a second language.

  • An innovative synthesis of recent research on grammar and second language acquisition.
  • Highlights the importance of transparency in form-meaning relations as well as learners' aptitudes and previous language learning experiences.
  • Shows how diminutives facilitate gender acquisition in Russian.
  • Demonstrates how learners make semantic distinctions in acquiring gender distinction in French.
  • Evaluates the role of phonological short-term memory in the acquisition of gender in a semi-artificial linguistic system.
  • A useful collection for a graduate seminar on psycholinguistic aspects of second language acquisition.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert DeKeyser is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh. He has a Ph.D. in Education with a minor in Linguistics from Stanford University. His research is on second language acquisition, particularly cognitive-psychological aspects. Some of his favorite topics are interlanguage variability, monitoring processes, automatization of second language grammar, the effect of age of learning and other individual differences, and the relationship between implicit and explicit learning and knowledge. He has published in a variety of journals, including Language Learning, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Testing, The Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, and AILA Review.

From the Back Cover

Why is learning the grammar of a second language difficult? The present volume brings together recent insights from leading researchers in the U.S. and Europe to identify the multiple factors that challenge learners in attaining full proficiency in a second language. DeKeyser’s introductory review synthesizes recent research and theories, illuminating the concept of difficulty in second language acquisition, emphasizing the relations between meaning and forms of a first and second language and their interactions with learners’ personal characteristics. A meta-analysis of past research by Goldschneider and DeKeyser highlights the importance of transparency in form-meaning relations as well as learners’ aptitudes and previous language learning experiences. Kempe and Brooks show how diminutives facilitate gender acquisition in Russian. Carroll demonstrates how learners make semantic distinctions in acquiring gender distinctions in French. Williams and Lovatt evaluate the role of phonological short-term memory in the acquisition of gender in a semi-artificial linguistic system.

From the Inside Flap

Why is learning the grammar of a second language difficult? The present volume brings together recent insights from leading researchers in the U.S. and Europe to identify the multiple factors that challenge learners in attaining full proficiency in a second language. DeKeyser’s introductory review synthesizes recent research and theories, illuminating the concept of difficulty in second language acquisition, emphasizing the relations between meaning and forms of a first and second language and their interactions with learners’ personal characteristics. A meta-analysis of past research by Goldschneider and DeKeyser highlights the importance of transparency in form-meaning relations as well as learners’ aptitudes and previous language learning experiences. Kempe and Brooks show how diminutives facilitate gender acquisition in Russian. Carroll demonstrates how learners make semantic distinctions in acquiring gender distinctions in French. Williams and Lovatt evaluate the role of phonological short-term memory in the acquisition of gender in a semi-artificial linguistic system.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Publication date
2005
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1405135816
ISBN 13 
9781405135818
Binding
Paperback
Edition number
1
Number of pages
246