Adult Language Acquisition: Volume 1, Field Methods
Cross-Linguistic Perspectives

Crosslinguistic investigation of adult second language acquisition in a new social environment.

Clive Perdue (Edited by)

9780521417082, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 July 1993

272 pages, 20 tables
23.8 x 15.9 x 2.7 cm, 0.568 kg

"All in all, this was clearly a valuable project whose results will be referred to widely. The two volumes will be of particular interest to acquisition researchers working within a functional framework." Canadian Journal of Linguistics

These two volumes present the methodology and results of an international research project on second language acquisition by adult immigrants. This project went beyond other studies in at least three respects: in the number of languages studied simultaneously; in the organisation of co-ordinated longitudinal studies in different linguistic environments; and in the type and range of linguistic phenomena investigated. It placed the study of second languages and inter-ethnic discourse on a firm empirical footing. Volume 1 explains and evaluates the research design adopted for the project. Volume 2 summarises the cross-linguistic results, under two main headings: native/non-native speaker interaction, and language production. Together they present the reader with a complete research procedure, and in doing so, make explicit the links between research questions, methodology, and results.

1. Aims of the ESF project
2. Previous longitudinal studies
3. Who are the adult immigrants?
4. Research areas: some communicative tasks for the learner
5. Research design
6. Data collection techniques
7. Transcription, storage and retrieval of data
8. Measuring language acquisition
Appendices
References.

Subject Areas: Language acquisition [CFDC]