Excerpt 6 June 1988)
3.1 An Overview of Themes and Trends over the Past Three Decades
Case studies of language development and use have focused on a vari- ety of questions and have used many kinds of methods. In this chapter, I provide a synopsis of case studies that have generated interest over the past several decades across bilingual, multilingual/multicultural, and other L2 learning contexts. I also note some current research trends that reflect expanding research agendas beyond traditional (postpositivist) L2 studies.
The studies collectively reveal some, but certainly not all, developmen- tal trends in the field of L2 learning and in applied linguistics. Because of the growing number of case studies from which I could have sampled to produce examples and themes for this chapter, there are also obvious omissions across geographical, cross-linguistic and theoretical domains.
I have simply tried to find representative examples within the designated thematic areas.
A comparison of case studies conducted “then and now” reveals that many of those conducted in the 1970s and 1980s addressed linguistic and social-psychological questions of the sort shown in Table 3.1.
Unlike earlier, first-wave (or first-generation) SLA studies, often with uninstructed (naturalistic), lower-proficiency-level immigrant children and
adults learning an L2 that examined their stage-by-stage development in tense/aspect and other morphology, for example, contemporary case studies focus to a greater extent on poststructural, as opposed to structural, aspects of language learning, use, and loss, and do so using more interpretive and critical analytic practices. They explore bilingual, multilingual and other L2 learners’ identities, how these learners are represented or positioned by themselves and by others in social encounters, learners’ variable access to target-language communities and speakers, their agency in language learning, and their linguistic socialization into and through various L2 (or multilingual) activities. The studies draw increasingly on anthropological, sociocultural, and phenomenological/narrative approaches to linguistic and literacy development and activity (see Table 3.2). More of the learners studied are quite advanced in L2 proficiency or are functionally bilingual or multilingual with varying degrees of literacy in those languages. With this emerging research trend, social categories and issues related to race, gender, community membership, postcolonialism, and marginality are
Table 3.1 Research Questions in Traditional SLA Case Studies
1. How do bilingual children learn and manage two linguistic systems when most children are struggling to master one?
2. Why do some learners fossilize or plateau prematurely in some (but not necessarily all) areas of language development, while others continue to progress?
3. How important is it for learners to notice gaps in their linguistic knowledge or notice new forms in the input for them to acquire these new forms?
4. How do language forms and functions (or meanings) map onto each other in early stages of L2 development?
5. What is the profile of the prototypical “good,” “successful,” or “talented” language learner?
6. Is there a critical period for language learning? What is the optimal age to learn another language?
7. What processes or strategies do effective second-language readers, writers, speakers, or listeners use? And what is the relationship between L1 adeptness in these skill areas and L2 performance?
8. How do students learn to understand and perform certain speech acts, such as requests, in a second language? What role does L1 transfer play in L2 pragmatics or other aspects of language production?
9. What is the relationship between acculturation and L2 learning?
10. How do learners’ attitudes, motivation, and aptitude affect their second-language acquisition?
foregrounded, analyzed, and theorized differently than in earlier applied linguistic research. The linguistic and cultural practices and communi- ties one is able to participate in are often given more attention than is just tacit knowledge (competence) and its development within an individual learner. Earlier questions and research methods have certainly not been abandoned, however, so the newer approaches should be seen as comple- mentary to earlier ones, but clearly seeking answers to very different sorts of questions.
In what follows, I present examples of case studies in applied linguis- tics in different categories. Many of the early studies, reviewed first below,
Table 3.2 Recent Research Questions in Studies of Language Learning, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, and Education
1. What is the relationship between L2 learning and L1 loss (or attrition)? What are the consequences of language loss for learners and their communities?
2. What is the relationship between learners’ social identities (e.g., gender, class, race, ethnicity, immigrant status) and their L2 learning experiences? How does social identity affect access to language learning opportunities or increased integration into L2-mediated communities of practice, and vice versa?
3. What is the effect of participating in computer-mediated communication, online instruction, electronic bulletin boards, or other electronic media on language/literacy acquisition and use?
How are the target linguistic/literacy genres themselves evolving?
4. How are misunderstandings negotiated and repaired in classrooms, informal encounters, or workplaces?
5. How does emotion mediate language learning and memory? How do personal narratives or life histories of learners capture the influence of affective factors?
6. How do newcomers to a culture or group learn to participate in and gain competence in new language/literacy practices in ways that are expected? How and why do some newcomers resist those same practices and expectations?
7. What are the histories, experiences, hopes, and desires of heritage-language (HL) learners?
How do HL developmental patterns and ultimate levels of attainment differ from those of non- HL learners of the same target language or proficient L1 users of the target language?
8. How does the acquisition of L2 literacy (e.g., academic and nonacademic writing) affect one’s L1 literacy practices? What is the connection between orality and literacy?
9. What are the greatest linguistic and nonlinguistic challenges for L2 learners who have been mainstreamed into academic L2 content courses?
10. How does L2 learning affect L3 (or even L1) learning? In what ways are the sociolinguistic experiences and psycholinguistic processes of trilinguals in contemporary societies different from those of monolinguals and bilinguals?
were longitudinal. They were groundbreaking and innovative when first conducted and are still instructive today. Some of the studies are presented in more detail than others to provide readers, to the extent possible, a sur- vey and discussion of both topics and methods.