Rod Ellis is a Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winning British linguist. He is currently a research professor in the School of Education, at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. He is also a professor at Anaheim University, where he serves as the Vice president of academic affairs. Ellis is a visiting professor at Shanghai International Studies University as part of China’s Chang Jiang Scholars Program and an emeritus professor of the University of Auckland. He has also been elected as an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning—otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process of learning a language other than one's native language (L1). SLA research examines how learners develop their knowledge of second language, focusing on concepts like interlanguage, a transitional linguistic system with its own rules that evolves as learners acquire the target language.
Lydia White is a Canadian linguist and educator in the area of second language acquisition (SLA). She is James McGill Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at McGill University.
James J. Jenkins is an American psychologist who played a significant role in the development of cognitive psychology.
Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig is an American linguist. She is currently Provost Professor and ESL Coordinator at Indiana University (Bloomington).
Stefan Th. Gries is Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), Honorary Liebig-Professor of the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, and since 1 April 2018 also Chair of English Linguistics in the Department of English at the Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen.
Lila Ruth Gleitman was an American professor of psychology and linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania. She was an internationally renowned expert on language acquisition and developmental psycholinguistics, focusing on children's learning of their first language.
The noticing hypothesis is a theory within second-language acquisition that a learner cannot continue advancing their language abilities or grasp linguistic features unless they consciously notice the input. The theory was proposed by Richard Schmidt in 1990.
The main purpose of theories of second-language acquisition (SLA) is to shed light on how people who already know one language learn a second language. The field of second-language acquisition involves various contributions, such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and education. These multiple fields in second-language acquisition can be grouped as four major research strands: (a) linguistic dimensions of SLA, (b) cognitive dimensions of SLA, (c) socio-cultural dimensions of SLA, and (d) instructional dimensions of SLA. While the orientation of each research strand is distinct, they are in common in that they can guide us to find helpful condition to facilitate successful language learning. Acknowledging the contributions of each perspective and the interdisciplinarity between each field, more and more second language researchers are now trying to have a bigger lens on examining the complexities of second language acquisition.
Language Learning: A Journal of Research in Language Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Language Learning Research Club at the University of Michigan. The editor-in-chief is Nick C. Ellis University of Michigan.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to second-language acquisition:
Michigan Language Assessment (MLA), also known as the Cambridge–Michigan Language Assessment (CaMLA) and previously the "English Language Institute Testing and Certification Division at the University of Michigan", has been providing English language assessments, learning resources, teacher development, consultancy and research since 1941.
Diane Lillo-Martin is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut. She is currently the Director of the university's Cognitive Sciences Program as well as its Coordinator of American Sign Language Studies. She spent 12 years as Head of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut.
Robin M. Queen is an American sociolinguist and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan. In 2010 she was named a Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Professor of Linguistics, English Languages and Literatures, and Germanic Languages and Literatures. She served as the Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan from 2014-2021 and the Chair of the Department of Communication and Media from 2022-2024. In 2024 she was named the Sarah Thomason Collegiate Professor of Linguistics.
Patrice (Pam) Speeter Beddor is John C. Catford Collegiate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan, focusing on phonology and phonetics. Her research has dealt with phonetics, including work in coarticulation, speech perception, and the relationship between perception and production.
Diane Larsen-Freeman is an American linguist. She is currently a Professor Emerita in Education and in Linguistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An applied linguist, known for her work in second language acquisition, English as a second or foreign language, language teaching methods, teacher education, and English grammar, she is renowned for her work on the complex/dynamic systems approach to second language development.
Jacquelyn E. Schachter was professor emerita of linguistics at the University of Oregon. She received her Ph.D. in 1971 from UCLA, with a dissertation entitled, "Presuppositional and Counterfactual Conditional Sentences."
Alison Mackey is a linguist who specializes in applied linguistics, second language acquisition and research methodology and is one of the most highly cited scholars in the world in these areas.
Susan Gass is an American Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize-winner linguist. She is currently a professor emerita, retired from the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on applied linguistics with a special focus on second language learning, corrective feedback, and task-based language learning. She graduated in 1961 from Kingswood School Cranbrook.
Marilyn Shatz is an American scholar known for her work in language development and discourse. She holds the title of Professor Emerita of Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, where she worked from 1977 until retiring in 2009.
