Special issue of ISLA – Stefano Rastelli & Kook-Hee Gil (Eds.)
Instructed Second Language Acquisition invites papers that seek to address the link between second language teaching and Generative Linguistics for a special, guest edited issue.
Recent research on first language acquisition suggests that what has long been held as the dichotomy between input-driven vs. knowledge-basedlanguage acquisition is not necessary and they are not mutually exclusive (Yang 2010; Lidz and Gagliardi 2015, a.o.). While this line of research has been active for first language acquisition in the last decade, the same question still awaits to be addressed in the context of second languageacquisition. Moreover, much of the generative view on second languageacquisition still relies on strict segregation of acquired vs learned knowledge (Krashen 1982; Schwartz 1993). However, can we still maintain that types of knowledge are mutually exclusive? To approach this question, one has to consider the special status of input that second language learners are largely exposed to – classroom input. Natural input has a special place in the heart of many generativists. However, most research findings in generative secondlanguage acquisition are based on the performance of second languagelearners whose main source of input lies in the classroom. Classroom input may be characterized by the presence of focused attention, scaffolding and interaction, selective feedback, repeated practice and explicit teaching of grammar rules. Recent psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic experiments found that some of these teaching-related factors may shape an adult’s brain and may create the conditions for novel implicit/proceduralized knowledge to occur (see special issue on Neurolinguistics and SLA, Second LanguageResearch)
Therefore, while some core ideas of generative grammar cannot be reduced or minimized, the relationship between generative theory and secondlanguage teaching research needs to be revisited. While doing so, one also has to address if the current classroom input best represents the use oflanguage that matches natural input, and further, to what extent classroom input provides a privileged environment for implicit learning and acquisition. Along these lines, the special issue aims to create a unique dialogue to open up a Pandora’s Box of links between Generative Linguistics and the secondlanguage classroom.
The current special invites manuscripts that address the above or related questions and that are either conceptually or empirically oriented. The key dates are as follows:
Deadline of abstract: 15 September 2017.
Notification of abstract acceptance: 13 October 2017
Deadline of full manuscripts for possible selection: 15 December 2017
Abstracts (max 1 page length, pdf format) should be sent to the guest editors:
Dr. Stefano Rastelli, Università di Pavia, stefano.rastelli@unipv.it
Dr. Kook-Hee Gil, University of Sheffield, k.gil@sheffield.ac.uk