This textbook offers an introductory overview of eight hotly-debated topics in second language acquisition research. It offers a glimpse of how SLA researchers have tried to answer common questions about second language acquisition rather than being a comprehensive introduction to SLA research. Each chapter comprises an introductory discussion of the issues involved and suggestions for further reading and study. The reader is asked to consider the issues based on their own experiences, thus allowing them to compare their own intuitions and experiences with established research findings and gain an understanding of methodology. The topics are treated independently so that they can be read in any order that interests the reader.

The topics in question are:

• how different languages connect in the mind;

• whether there is a best age for learning a second language;

• the importance of grammar in acquiring and using a second language;

• how the words of a second language are acquired;

• how people learn to write in a second language;

• how attitude and motivation help in learning a second language;

• the usefulness of second language acquisition research for language teaching;

• the goals of language teaching.

About the Authors

Vivian Cook, who sadly passed away before his chapter in this volume appeared, was a British linguist who was Emeritus Professor of Applied Linguistics at Newcastle University. He was renowned for his work on second language acquisition and second language teaching, and for writing successful textbooks and popular books about linguistics. He worked on a number of topics such as bilingualism, EFL (English as a foreign language), first language acquisition, second language teaching, linguistics, and the English writing system. He published more than 20 books and 100 papers across seven decades. He was founder and first President of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA), and co-founder of the Oxford University Press journal Writing Systems Research. He died on December 15, 2021, at the age of 81. Vivian will be profoundly missed by his colleagues and students.

David Singleton is Fellow Emeritus, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, Professor Emeritus, University of Pannonia, Hungary and Professor, University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland. He is the author of numerous monographs and textbooks, including Key Topics in Second Language Acquisition (2014, with Vivian Cook, Multilingual Matters) and Beyond Age Effects in Instructional L2 Learning (2017, with Simone Pfenninger, Multilingual Matters).

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