Early Work on Second Language Acquisition

This article reviews the history of second language acquisition research and theorizing, from the mid‐20th century until the 1980s. World War 2 gave a major impetus to language teaching, and scholars first turned to behaviorist learning theory and structural linguistics for a scientific approach. Later research showed that language learning was more than the formation of habits and the systematic nature of learner language, and its evolution was recognized and reconceptualized as “interlanguage.” The Chomskian idea of an innate language processor driving subconscious learning became influential through the work of scholars such as Stephen Krashen; other scholars showed pioneering interest in the role of sociocultural factors in promoting/inhibiting development. The naturalistic learning of adult migrant workers became prominent in the 1980s and promoted the view that naturalistic learning was driven by communicative need, plus identity factors. Many of the debates opened up through this early work remain alive today.

Comprehension approach · Language acquisition · Language education · Language pedagogy · Naturalism · Second-language acquisition · Second-language attrition · Sociocultural evolution · Subconscious

• On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition

  Open Access•Jurgen M Meisel, Harald Clahsen et al.•Studies in Second Language…•1981

  Add to list

• Research on the acculturation model for second language acquisition

  John H Schumann•Journal of Multilingual and…•1986

  Add to list