Form-Meaning Connections in Second Language Acquisition

Form-Meaning Connections in Second Language Acquisitionis an interdisciplinary and timely edited book of essays and empirical studies, most of which are based on the papers presented at the Form and Meaning Conference held in Chicago in 2002. The goal of the conference and now of the book is to present linguistic and cognitive approaches to second language acquisition, attempting to integrate external and internal issues in interlanguage development, while outlining directions for future research. The editors address questions, such as: What is the nature and sequence of the form-meaning mapping process? How are these connections made? How are these connections used to construct grammars and lexicons? And, how can conditions and external factors be manipulated to improve the chances of making these form-meaning connections? Contributors to this volume include such second language acquisition scholars as Susan Gass, Nick Ellis, Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig, Catherine Doughty, and Diane Larsen-Freeman. They address these form-meaning issues from a variety of settings and from multiple perspectives. Researchers and graduate students in applied linguistics, cognitive psychology, linguistics, and language pedagogy will find this volume to be an important resource.

Bill VanPatten received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and is widely known for his research on instructed second language acquisition, most notably for his theoretical work in input processing and for its applied side, processing instruction. He is the co-author of Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen with James F. Lee (now in its 2nd edition, 2003). His newest book is titled, From Input to Output: A Teacher's Guide to Second Language Acquisition (2003). ). Among language teachers he is best known for Destinos (a PBS telecourse) and Sabías que... ? (now in its 4th edition). He has a new movie-based materials project under contract.
Jessica Williams teaches in the M.A. TESOL program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she also directs the ESL composition program. She has published articles on variety of topics in second language acquisition, including second language writing, lexical acquisition, and the effect of focus on form. She is the co-editor of Focus on Form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition.
Susanne Rott received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She directs the German language program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and teaches courses in second language acquisition, language pedagogy, and computer-assisted language instruction. Her research focuses on lexical development and German grammar pedagogy.
Mark Overstreet received his Ph.D. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002 and is currently working on research in the field of second language processing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.