Social Network Analysis in Second Language Research: Theory and Methods

This text is the first holistic research overview and practical methodological guide for social network analysis in second language acquisition, examining how to study learner social networks and how to use network data to predict language learner behavior and identity.

Authors Kristen Kennedy Terry and Robert Bayley lay out the history of social network analysis in sociolinguistics, discuss the state of the art in empirical findings in applications to language acquisition, offer how-to guidance and best practices for planning, conducting, and understanding this research, and authoritatively set the agenda for future work.

With a variety of helpful features like case studies, suggested research projects, discussion questions, and recommended further reading, this book will be an invaluable resource to students and researchers of second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, education, and beyond.

Kristen Kennedy Terry is an Assistant Professor of French and Applied Linguistics at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She has published her research on social networks and study abroad in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, The Modern Language Journal, The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics, Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic Perspectives, and the L2 Journal.

Robert Bayley is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Davis. His recent publications include articles in Language and Studies in Second Language Acquisition as well as the edited books, Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic Perspectives (with D. R. Preston and X Li., 2022) and Needed Research on North American Dialects (with E. Benson, 2023). Professor Bayley was President of the American Dialect Society (ADS) and is a Fellow of the ADS and the Linguistic Society of America.