A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World [Journal Article Review]
I found this to be a fascinating paper, in both the content, and the context in which it was written.
I love that so many SLA researchers contributed, and embodied the kind of interdisciplinary and collaborative approach that they advocated for.
I thought it was actually a good overview of the field of Second Language Acquisition in general, in that different influences and considerations in SLA were explored. I particularly enjoyed discussions of emotion and identity, and the idea of continuity from first language acquisition mechanisms into additional languages acquisition, such as mediation by attention and social interaction.
I appreciated the acknowledgment of macro level features of influence such as language ideologies, which may either promote of constrain learning. Particularly with regard to socioeconomic access and opportunity, and capital.
I liked revisiting also the concepts of imagined and real communities of practice,and the learner's self-perception of competency being a strong mediating factor in their successful use of language.
The way the paper was structured into themes was quite good. It gave me a lot of food for thought.
I wonder why this was chosen as a text for meso level evaluation though [the topic of study for Week 5]. It does present a diagram of micro, meso and macro level influences, with meso being institutions, but I am not sure if this is directly applicable or relevant to evaluation.
Nonetheless, it is one of my favourite reads in the course thus far.
The Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A Transdisciplinary Framework for SLA in a Multilingual World. The Modern Language Journal, 100, 19-47. doi:10.1111/modl.12301
