Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistic Studies

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to invite you to contribute an empirical article to a special issue of the journal Languages that Chelsea Escalante and I (Rebecca Pozzi) will be guest editing. The title of this Special Issue will be Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistic Studies.

The field of second language sociolinguistics has received a growing amount of attention in recent years, including investigations on the role of linguistic and social factors in speech production in Chinese (e.g., Li, 2014; 2017), the impact of social networks in acquiring French variants in immersion contexts (e.g., Kennedy Terry, 2022), and the perception and/or production of regional features of Spanish (e.g., Escalante, 2018; Pozzi & Bayley, 2020). Moreover, recent textbooks (e.g., Geeslin & Long, 2014) and handbooks (e.g., Geeslin, 2022) have provided an introduction to this area of inquiry, a critical discussion of previous research on the topic, and suggestions for future investigations. Although these publications offer invaluable insight into the nature of the acquisition of sociolinguistic features, the field would benefit from one source that incorporates empirical research across multiple languages, including less commonly-taught languages as well as heritage and immigrant languages. Being able to compare patterns across languages in a variety of learning contexts will deepen our understanding of the role of the language, the learner, and the context in the use of sociolinguistic features. This Special Issue addresses the intersection of second language acquisition and sociolinguistics across several languages and learner populations in an effort to connect researchers who study different second languages and advance the field collectively.

If you are interested in contributing to this Special Issue, please let us know by 15 December 2023. If you would like to add a co-author (or co-authors) to your contribution, you are welcome to do so. We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution by 15 May 2024. Please send it to the Guest Editors (rpozzi@csumb.edu and cescalan@uwyo.edu) or to the Languages editorial office (languages@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purpose of ensuring that the paper is within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will be due by 15 March 2025, and will undergo a double-blind peer-review process.

Thank you for your consideration.

References

Escalante, C. (2018). "The acquisition of a sociolinguistic variable while volunteering abroad: S-weakening among L2 and heritage speakers in coastal Ecuador" (Order No. 10826363). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ University of California; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I. (2097263056). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2097263056?accountid=14505.

Geeslin, K.L. (2022). The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics. Routledge.

Geeslin K.L. & Long, A.Y. (2014). Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition: Learning to use language in context. Routledge.

Kennedy Terry, K.M. (2022), At the Intersection of SLA and Sociolinguistics: The Predictive Power of Social Networks During Study Abroad. The Modern Language Journal, 106: 245-266. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12763

Li, X. (2014). Literature circle with multimedia support in CFL teaching. Journal of Chinese Language Teachers Association, 49(2), 155-162.

Li, X. (2017). Stylistic variation in L1 and L2 Chinese: Native speakers, learners, teachers and textbooks. Chinese as a Second Language, 52(1), 55-76.

Pozzi, R. & Bayley, R. (2020). The development of a regional phonological feature during a semester abroad in Argentina. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 43(2), 109-132.

Dr. Rebecca Pozzi
Dr. Chelsea Escalante
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• second language acquisition
• sociolinguistics
• crosslinguistic perspectives