Second Language Learning: Theories and Practices

Dear Colleagues,

Second language learners (who could be immigrants, newcomers, migrants, or refugees) represent a high population of students currently in the schooling process across educational systems around the world. Research indicates that it is important to consider the role of culture, identity, socio-emotional development, resilience, and the learning environment as students begin to learn a second language or the language of their host nation. This is because these factors, and other factors, are intertwined in children’s developmental process as well as in the process of learning a second language (e.g., emergent bilinguals) for their academic and life-long success. Therefore, research that focuses on these factors is critically important to advance theory on second language learning and to support practices that are research-based, culturally meaningful, and contextually diverse.

There are two aims of this Special Issue on “Second Language Learning: Theories and Practices”: (1) to provide to the field of education a compendium of studies that serve to advance theories on second language learning that is cross-cultural and relevant across locals, and (2) to provide schools and educational systems across the world with studies that exemplify best-practices for teaching and learning a second language among linguistic and culturally diverse populations. We welcome studies that exemplify Vygotsky’s (1978) planes of analysis with a focus on either the intra-psychological, inter-psychological, and social plane as factors that may serve to advance theory or practice among diverse learners.

We suggest that the following themes are focused on in this Special Issue:

• Studies focused on second language learning of children, youth, and/or adult learners as well as teachers are welcomed. These studies can be part of a project that used a quantitative design (e.g., experimental, quasi-experiment, etc.), a qualitative design (e.g., case study, ethnography, etc.), or a mixed-method design to answer research questions of theory or practice or both.
• Studies focused on indigenous communities with a focus on capacity building, cultural, and L1 maintenance (e.g., bilingual education) to answer research questions of theory or practice or both.
• Studies focused on immigrant communities’ (e.g., newcomers, refugees, asylum seekers, etc.) learning of the second language of the host country with a focus on either theory or practice or both.
• Studies focused on classroom practices that address the interplay of either culture, identity, socio-emotional development, resilience, and/or the learning environment to the teaching and learning of a second language among diverse populations.
• Studies focused on either the application(s) of a new or adapted research method/approach or novel application(s) of an existing research method to advancing theories and/or research practices of second language learning.
• Studies focused on the assessment of second language learners that address various validity and/or fairness issues concerning culture, diversity, socio-emotional development, and/or learning environment.

Dr. Héctor Rivera
Dr. Heesun Chang
Guest Editors

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• second language teaching and learning
• second language assessment
• immigrants
• resilience
• learning environment
• socio-emotional development
• identity