In this paper we review Martin Lamb's (2016) publication when motivation research motivates: issues in long-term empirical investigations. We discuss his insightful arguments about the challenges and opportunities related to the engagement with longitudinal research. We begin with a discussion of the concept of context and unpack the complex…

Research into the formulaic nature of language has grown in size and scale in the last 20 years or more, much of it based in corpus studies and involving the identification and categorisation of formulas. Research suggests that there are benefits for second and foreign language learners recognising formulaic sequences when listening and reading,…

This article explores ways in which a dialogue between researchers and practitioners can be bidirectional, effective, and beneficial for the two professional communities. We suggest concrete directions for second language (L2) research: (a) a collaborative mindset, (b) the nature of research, (c) venues for dialogue, and (d) institutional support.…

Research in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), that is the medium of communication between people who come from different linguacultural backgrounds, has created a rich body of work in various areas. This article focuses on a more recent development of this research for teachers and teacher educators in the perspective of critical language…

A grandmother attempts to teach her four-year-old granddaughter the multiplication tables using simple repetition, but they repeatedly start over at 'three fives'; the child keeps coming up with 'thirty-five'. We consider three possible explanations: self-perpetuating frequency of behavior, saliency of memory and Vygotsky's next or proximal zones…

This report reflects a panel presentation and discussion at the 2020 Literacy Research Conference focused on the science of reading (SoR). Each panelist presents a summary of the presentation and incorporates the comments of the Literacy Research Association (LRA) members attending the session virtually and posting in the chat room. Each…

Linguistic geniuses such as Heinrich Schliemann have long fascinated many with their exceptional capabilities to master multiple languages on top of their own mother tongues. These individuals are believed to be able to extract the probabilistic, abstract patterns underlying a target form's linguistic and frequency distribution in second language…

This article combines research results centred on theory of mind (ToM) from cognitive and developmental psychology (Goldman 2006; Apperly 2010; Wilkinson and Ball 2012) with the notion of intersubjectivity in usage-based linguistics (i.a. Verhagen 2005; Nuyts 2012; Traugott 2012). It identifies some of the controversies in the literature from both…

This book revolves around educating recently arrived immigrant youth in the United States who are emergent bilinguals. Drawing on a seven-year research collaboration with three ESL teachers in an urban secondary school in the United States, it addresses questions around taking a critical approach to language and literacy education, including what…

Emerging audio technologies over the last decade have provided a new, unprecedented window into the everyday lives of infants and young children. These new approaches will allow us to begin to address longstanding questions about the nature of language experiences across languages, communities and situations and the role of these experiences in…

In this Forum article, we discuss issues emerging from utilizing two significant theoretical constructs, Funds of Knowledge and Cultural Capital, in the field of second/multilingual language studies. Some similar underlying characteristics yet opposite perspectives surrounding the concepts and theoretical applications have confused researchers and…

Applying an approach termed "citizen sociolinguistics" offers a unique opportunity to capture a large corpus of naturally occurring language data, especially fleeting interactions. Drawing on citizen science innovations in the natural sciences, citizen sociolinguistics recruits and trains scientists to complete data-related tasks such as…

Instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) research has recently attracted more focal attention due to the publications of three books and as the theme of the 2016 Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) conference that celebrated its 35th anniversary in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). Recent definitions (e.g. Loewen, 2015) have…

In this study, Corpus Linguistics (CL) and Conversation Analysis (CA) is discussed as methods of data analysis. Both CL as a quantitative tool and CA as a qualitative tool have their own strengths and weaknesses for applied linguistics studies. So, the tenets of each view are evaluated and the similarities and differences between them are…

In this response to commentators, I agree with those who suggested that the distinction between exemplar- and abstraction-based accounts is something of a false dichotomy and therefore move to an abstractions-made-of-exemplars account under which (a) we store all the exemplars that we hear (subject to attention, decay, interference, etc.) but (b)…