Second Language Acquisition in Multilingual and Mixed Ability Indian Classrooms

This book discusses current research on learning theories and pedagogical practices in second language acquisition, and tries to bridge the gap between the two. Second language acquisition is perceived as the study of the relationship between input, intake and output in a particular task performance, and Indian classrooms are the context for the research studies in this book. The empirical studies discussed in this book are based on two tasks: seminar speech task (SST) and written test performance task (WTPT). The pedagogical practices discussed cover three specific areas: tasks, skills, and strategies. The study focuses on text input processing for written versus spoken tasks, at various levels of task performance, and for language versus information. The authors discuss, among other issues, various elements of second language speech production, teachers’ evaluation of communicative versus form-focused tasks, and task-based versus proficiency-based performance.

As a study located in multilingual and mixed ability classrooms, this work provides immense insights to teacher-educators and researchers working in ESL settings with learners from diverse backgrounds. 

Vaishna Narang, PhD, has four decades of teaching and research experience in linguistics. She is a Professor of Linguistics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. Her research interests include general and applied linguistics, learning theories and pedagogical practices, application of linguistics in clinical practices of speech and language acquisition/learning, language and cognition, neurocognitive linguistics, and the genetics of voice. She has supervised more than 50 MPhil and PhD dissertations. Professor Narang has published 15 books and more than 100 articles in national and international journals of repute. 

Salonee Priya is a Visiting Scholar at Linguistic Empowerment Cell, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has about 14 years of experience in teaching and research. Prior to this she was working as an Associate Professor at Institute of Information Technology and Management (IITM), New Delhi. As an author she has 12 published articles and as an editor she has to her credit eight books on the various facets of linguistics. 

Varalakshmi Chaudhry (Late), PhD, was associate professor at the Linguistic Empowerment Cell, JNU. As a guest faculty at JNU, she taught courses in applied linguistics and psycholinguistics for M.A. and MPhil students. She won several awards: The ELTAI Best English Teacher (College Level) National Award (2013), Chennai; Best Team Player (First Prize) – 2013, Indian Institute of Management Indore; and Best Paper Award (2014), Lingaya’s University, Faridabad. She published two books and 23 research articles in national and international journals. During preparation of this work, Varalakshmi passed away in July 2015 following a road accident.