Processability Approaches to Second Language Development and Second Language Learning

Jörg-U. Keßler

Mar 2009 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

A fundamental issue in second language acquisition research and in applied linguistics is the question of how learners acquire a second language. Today it is general knowledge that any second language learning follows certain, theoretically established and empirically supported developmental sequences. Based on Processability Theory (Pienemann 1998 and 2005) one can diagnose current states of individual learners’ second language development. Knowing about the path of second language development provides important insights into what learners are ready to acquire in the second language at a given point in time. This can support second language learning both in natural and instructional settings. Pienemann’s Processability Theory (PT) provides a well researched and empirically substantiated framework to explain the developmental sequences in second language learning across languages.

Taking Pienemann (1998 and 2005) as the point of departure the chapters of this book apply, test and extend PT. The book is organised in four parts, (I) Introduction, (II) Current Theoretical Issues within the PT Framework, (III) Applying PT to the Second Language Classroom, and (IV) Work in Progress within the PT Framework.

About the author

Dr. Jörg-U. Keßler works as Senior Lecturer and researcher in the applied linguistics programme at the English Department at the University of Paderborn, Germany. He has worked on the evaluation and calibration of Rapid Profile, a computer-assisted diagnostic tool to trace L2 development for his PhD. He conducted post doctoral research as a guest member of staff at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and Paderborn (Germany). His research interests encompass psycholinguistic approaches to second language learning, task-based language teaching, and teaching methodology in primary school EFL classrooms and immersion settings. In his current research he works on various applications of Processability Theory to the language classroom. He is a member of the State Committee for the evaluation of English in Primary Schools in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia, Germany. His publications include several books on the acquisition of L2 English in formal settings and a range of articles on task-based language teaching.