RAD Book Club Atkinson (2011) Alternative approaches to second language acquisition

Our book for August 2016 is a panoply of key theories in Second Language Acquisition put together by Dwight Atkinson (2011) in Alternative approaches to second language acquisition.

Here is a review from the journal Applied Linguistics and another from the Journal of Identity, Language & Education. Sadly neither of these are open access, so only some of you will be able to read them.

Routledge Publishing gives us a summary of the book:

"This volume presents six alternative approaches to studying second language acquisition – 'alternative' in the sense that they contrast with and/or complement the cognitivism pervading the field. All six approaches – sociocultural, complexity theory, conversation-analytic, identity, language socialization, and sociocognitive – are described according to the same set of six headings, allowing for direct comparison across approaches.

Each chapter is authored by leading advocates for the approach described: James Lantolf for the sociocultural approach; Diane Larsen-Freeman for the complexity theory approach; Gabriele Kasper and Johannes Wagner for the conversation-analytic approach; Bonny Norton and Carolyn McKinney for the identity approach; Patricia Duff and Steven Talmy for the language socialization approach and Dwight Atkinson for the sociocognitive approach.

Introductory and commentary chapters round out this volume. The editor’s introduction describes the significance of alternative approaches to SLA studies given its strongly cognitivist orientation. Lourdes Ortega’s commentary considers the six approaches from an 'enlightened traditional' perspective on SLA studies – a viewpoint which is cognitivist in orientation but broad enough to give serious and balanced consideration to alternative approaches.This volume is essential reading in the field of second language acquisition." (Routledge Publishing)

You can read the book electronicall from the UofT catalogue or buy it from Amazon.

Join us at OISE (room 10-200) on August 11 from 1-3PM to share your thoughts on the book.

Learn more about RAD Book CLUb here​!