Language Learning in Social Context. The View from Research in Second Language Learning

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the extent to which those who provide linguistic and social support for language learning can influence the outcome of the process. It discusses the ways in which instructional practices affect children's learning of the school language. In a study discussed in the chapter, these students were slightly older. They were between ages 8 and 10 when the study began, and they were a year older when the observations were concluded. The findings from these studies of variation in language learning yield a richly detailed picture of both the social and the cognitive processes involved in second language learning. Moreover, the chapter discusses the social processes in language learning, although it also discusses cognitive and linguistic processes as they are influenced by the social.