How Languages are Learned, 5th Edition

“How Languages are Learned is written in a clear, engaging, and pedagogically rich style. In their authoritative yet accessible book, Lightbown and Spada admirably combine established theories and the latest developments in research. This fifth edition remains the best resource for teachers to understand second language acquisition so they can critically integrate research-based insights into their classrooms.” * Lourdes Ortega, Professor in Applied Linguistics, Georgetown University *

Patsy M. Lightbown is Distinguished Professor Emerita, Applied Linguistics, at Concordia University, Montreal. For more than thirty-five years, she has studied how different types of input and instruction affect second-language acquisition, especially in classrooms where the emphasis is on ‘communicative’ or ‘content-based’ language teaching. The contexts for her research have included the teaching of English to French-speaking students in Canada as well as dual or ‘two-way’ immersion classes in the U.S. Her forthcoming book Focus on Content-Based Language Teaching will appear in the Oxford Key Concepts for the Language Classroom series, which she is co-editing with Nina Spada.