Understanding Second Language Process

Fourteen international academics contribute 11 analytical and empirical studies on the process of second language acquisition, conducted with a variety of target languages--Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French, English, and Japanese--and with hearing and/or deaf learners. Topics addressed include the genesis and ontogenesis of linguistic and metalinguistic abilities; the influence of a multilingual mind on cognition in general, and the processing of L2 input and generation of output in particular; how learning transfers from one context to another; the extent to which L1 interferes with L2 meaning; external manipulation of learner attention; the default process and strategies by which learners analyze input; learners' working memory capacity for processing input for form and meaning; Universal Grammar constraints on processing grammatical ambiguity; and the relationship between perception and production. For second and foreign language researchers and practitioners. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

ZhaoHong Han is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include second language learnability, teachability, and fossilization. She is the author of Fossilization in Adult Second Language Acquisition (2004, Multilingual Matters) and of a variety of articles in journals and books in applied linguistics, second language learning, and second language education.