Where does Psychology and Second Language Acquisition research connect? An interview with Zoltan Dornyei

Abstract

What is Psycholinguistics? How does it differ from Cognitive Linguistics? Why is this general area of linguistics in the limelight these days? Dr. Zoltan Dornyei is a professor at Nottingham University who is at the forefront of this research. He recently wrote a book titled, The Psychology of Second Language Acquisition (Dornyei, 2009). In it, Dornyei discusses the newer challenges SLA researchers in this century need to come to terms with. He details research of the Critical Period Hypothesis (the connection between emotion and learning), Individual Differences (the implicit/explicit dichotomy), and Dynamic Systems Theory. This interview provides an overview of such recent research and serves as an introduction to his book