CHAPTER PREVIEW

WHAT exactly does the L2 learner come to know? HOW does the learner acquire L2 knowledge? WHY are some learners more successful than others? While there are some significant differences of opinion, and while there is much yet to discover, there is also much that we now know about SLA. Our review of answers to these questions will be followed by a discussion of what we know about the most advanced state of L2 learning (or “near-native” competence), including what features are likely to be mastered last, and how ultimate achievement levels relate to individual and social goals. The chapter concludes with a brief set of important implications for L2 learning and teaching that we may draw from the findings we have summarized here.

Integrating perspectives

Linguistic, psychological, and social perspectives on SLA all address the basic what, how, and why questions that we have been considering throughout this book, but as we have seen, they have each tended to focus primarily on one question over the others. These disciplinary perspectives are listed in 7.1, along with the priorities that scholars working within them have generally set in relation to SLA.

There are significant differences of opinion within each perspective as well as between them, depending on subdisciplinary orientations. Still, it is possible at this stage in the development of SLA theory and research to report some answers to our questions with considerable confidence. For others, we should remain more tentative.