L2: Volume 08 Issue 1

Researching Vocabulary Development: A Conversation Analytic Approach

This paper contributes to the much debated yet still largely unanswered question of how second language (L2) learning is anchored and configured in and through social interaction. Using a socio-interactional approach to second language (L2) learning (e.g., Hellermann, 2008; Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004; Pekarek Doehler, 2010), I examine students’ search for the meaning of a lexical item and …

Content-Based Instruction Understood in Terms of Connectionism and Constructivism

Despite the number of articles devoted to the topic of content-based instruction (CBI), little attempt has been made to link the claims for CBI to research in cognitive science. In this article, I review the CBI model of foreign language (FL) instruction in the context of its close alignment with two emergent frameworks in cognitive science: connectionism and constructivism. I show …

“Got Llorona?”: Teaching for the Development of Symbolic Competence.

Cultural and literary texts are used in the foreign language classroom to support learners’ language development, cultural awareness, and reading comprehension. While classroom activities frequently facilitate a literal understanding of facts and events, these texts offer another potential level of analysis: symbolic dimensions, which focus on …