Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition

“VanPatten (Texas Tech Univ.) and Benati (Univ. of Greenwich, UK) have written a book that will serve as a handy reference tool for students interested in the growing discipline of second language acquisition. […] Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and graduate students.” ―CHOICE, September 2010

“The text presents definitions and reader-friendly summaries of key theories and thinkers in a complex field.” ―Times Higher Education Supplement

“… this book can serve as an excellent reference for interested readers, especially graduate students. The language is very accessible, and it enables novice readers or researchers to attain a general grasp of SLA in a relatively short time.” ―Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2012, 34

“The authors convey central issues in SLA in an easy-to-get way for novice SLA readers to understand, but deep enough for them to appreciate the complexity of the field… It offers students an accessible approach to the nature of SLA and to concepts that, when read in introductory textbooks, may seem daunting and unapproachable. I wish that I had had access to a book like this one when I was a beginning graduate student.” ―Claudia Fernandez, Knox College, The Modern Language Journal 2012. issue 3

“In Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition, Bill VanPatten and Alessandro Benati provide a much-­-needed introduction to the main issues, concepts, and workscurrently shaping SLA. The book can be used as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate introductory courses in SLA or as a handy reference for second/foreign language teachers and SLA scholars…VanPatten and Benati’s Key Terms effectively summarizes, highlights, and defines the main issues, people,and terms in SLA. The authors present the most relevant information about the field in a clear, comprehensible, and concise manner. In addition, the book is a current and objective overview of SLA, as it presents multiple perspectives on each issue. The organization into four parts with each referring to the others makes thematerial easy to navigate and access by both novices and experts…a must-have reference for anyone in applied linguistics.” ―Olga Pahom, The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language

“The succinct descriptions of the key terms and the overall slim and compact size of the book undoubtedly make this a handy reference source for students of SLA, helped by the lucid and accessible style in which it is written, and the simple linguistic examples used to illustrate the discussion.” ―Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

“This is a well-crafted primer for the newcomer to the field of second language research. The discussion of key issues is clear and straightforward, and illustrated effectively with simple linguistic examples. The definitions of the key terms are equally good. The text provides an excellent point of entry to the more technical research reported in the specialist journals.” ―Professor Roger Hawkins, Department of Language & Linguistics, University of Essex, UK

“Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition is the text we’ve been waiting for to introduce students to the field of SLA. I used the manuscript in my introduction to SLA graduate seminar and found this to be the ideal book to help students appreciate and critique the major issues and questions that drive this burgeoning discipline. Students praised this text for being easy to read and digest and appreciated the handy key terms and up-to-date references. This book will quickly become a key text in all introductory SLA courses.” ―Wynne Wong, Associate Professor of French & SLA, The Ohio State University, USA

Bill VanPatten is Professor of Spanish and Director of Romance Language Instruction at Michigan State University, USA.

Alessandro G. Benati is Professor in theSchool of Education, University College Dublin, Ireland. He has held positions in several British and overseas institutions. He is known for his work in second language acquisition, and he published ground-breaking research on the pedagogical framework called processing instruction. His research on processing instruction has been recently driven by the use of new online measurements (e.g., eye tracking, and self-paced reading). Alessandro has coordinated national and international high-impact research projects which have been influential in determining educational policy and had an impact in providing effective language teacher training programs. He is the author and co-author of several research monographs, peer-reviewed articles in high-ranked journals, and editor and co-editor of book series and scientific journals such as Cambridge Elements in SLA and Instructed Second Language Acquisition. He was a member of the sub-panel for Modern Languages and Linguistics for the Research Excellence Framework for England (REF 2021), AHRC Panel, and he is an Honorary Professor at Your SJ University (UK), University of Hong Kong (China), Adjunct Professor at Macquarie University (Australia), and Visiting Professor at Anaheim University (USA)