Interlanguage Variation in Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective

In this book H.D. Adamson reviews scholarship in sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, comparing theories of variation in first and second-language speech, with special attention to the psychological underpinnings of variation theory. Interlanguage is what second language learners speak. It contains syntactic, morphological and phonological patterns that are not those of either the first or the second language, and which can be analyzed using the principles and techniques of variation theory. Interlanguage Variation in Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspective:

• relates the emerging field of variation in second language learners? speech (interlanguage) to the established field of variation in native speakers? speech
• relates the theory of linguistic variation with psycholinguistic models of language processing
• relates sociolinguistic variation theory to the theory of Cognitive Grammar
• suggests teaching applications that follow from the theoretical discussion

At the forefront of scholarship in the fields of interlanguage and variation theory scholarship, this book is directed to graduate students and researchers in applied English linguistics and second language acquisition, especially those with a background in sociolinguistics.

Part I Variation in native speaker speech

1 Variation Theory

2 A study of variation in the native speaker speech community

3 Language Variation and Change

Part II Variation in nonnative speaker speech

4 The study of variation in interlanguage

5 The acquisition of English irregular past tense by Chinese-speaking children

Part III Variation in theoretical perspective

6 Psychological theories of linguistic variation

7 Cognitive linguistics

Part IV Variation in pedagogical perspective

8 Speaking style and monitoring

9 Teaching implications

Appendix: Variation and change in color semantics

H.D. Adamson is Professor of English at the University of Arizona, where he has served as the Director of the Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching. He has taught English as a second or foreign language in Ethiopia, Spain, and the United States.