Description
Book SynopsisThe reality of multicultural societies and globalization has increased the demand for language abilities. This book examines the acquisition of advanced levels of ability in three parts: theoretical; descriptive; and instructional. It also links systemic functional linguistics and sociocultural theory.
Trade Reviewmention- Book News Inc./ August 2007
"With this edited volume, Byrnes has added one more publication to the growing body of literature (of her authorship and that of others) on advanced language learning (ALL). In this collection, the notion of advancedness in language learning and instruction is explored through a very special lens: the illuminating potential of Halliday's systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and Vygotskyan sociocultural theory (SCT)...This is an excellent volume. The chapters are all well written and rich in stimulating ideas. The book balances adequately the theoretical with the practical, offering support for a new approach to L2 classrooms that truly places meaning at the center of instruction and makes ALL both a possible and desirable goal...serves wonderfully as a point of departure for exploration of aspects of meaning, context, and use in advanced language teaching and learning from an integrated SFL and SCT perspective." -María C. M. De Guerreo, MLJ Reviews, (Modern Language Journal), Vol. 92 No. 2, 2008 -- María C. M. De Guerreo
"The book, however, is not as well balanced in terms of the two perspectives used as theoretical bases, with the majority of the papers taking an SFL outlook rather than an SCT one. In addition, although the compatibility of Hallidayan and Vygotskyan theories is alluded to in several contributions, there is no thorough or extended treatment of how the two theories can complement each other in approaches to advanced language teaching." -María C. M. De Guerreo, MLJ Reviews, (Modern Language Journal), Vol. 92 No. 2, 2008
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I: Theoretical considerations in advanced instructed learning; 1. Educating for advanced foreign language capacities - Christian M I M Matthiessen; 2. Generalised collective dialogue and advanced foreign language capacities - James V. Wertsch; 3. The relevance of languaculture and conceptual knowledge for advanced proficiency - James P. Lantolf; Part II: Description and Instruction; 4. Language, agency and collaboration in advanced second language proficiency - Merrill Swain; 5. The linguistic features of advanced language use - Mary Schleppegrell. 6. The problem of text construction and the advanced language learner - Marianna Ryshina-Pankova; 7. Bilingual heritage speakers acquiring Spanish - Teresa Oteiza; 8. Approaching second language writing instruction - Susan Strauss; 9. Academic French - Alice Caffarel; 10. Meaning-making in Italian - Roberta Piazza; 11. Grammatical metaphor - M. Cecilia Colombi; Part III: Pragmatic and curricular issues; 12. Meeting the challenge of comprehensive curriculum construction - Heidi Byrnes; 13. Genre as a curricular framework for collegiate L2 learning - Cori Crane.; 14. Developing a heritage language speaker track to support L2 acquisition - Sylvia Pessoa; 15. Advanced learning for intermediate learners - N A J Moore.
