Tapping into the Worlds of the Target Language: A Re-Examination of L2 Learning

Abstract

This article draws on Nelson Goodman's work on world-making to re-examine second-language (L2) learning. It examines Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' experience of L2 learning and use, with the aim of understanding their interaction with the relevant linguistic and sociocultural worlds. The results show that L2 learners make sense of foreign concepts by tapping into a new sociocultural world. On the other hand, learners' L1 worlds play an active role in their L2 use and learning; they provide linguistic resources and are particularly helpful for learning when the L2 is used to describe learners' familiar L1 experiences. Our experiment showed that Chinese EFL learners benefited in specific ways from their study of Chinese writers' narratives in English, and were becoming more ready to accept multiple models—native-speaking and indigenous—for their L2 learning.