The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Input Processing

This state-of-the-science handbook offers a comprehensive discussion of input processing in second language acquisition. The volume assesses past and current research on input processing and engages the reader in critical reflection about the current state of the field and what lies ahead for future research, theory-building, and implications for language instruction.

The handbook considers multiple theoretical perspectives, pivotal research findings, issues in research methodology, and instructional implications that underscore the centrality of input processing in second language acquisition. Whereas to date most research in this area has focused on input processing as it relates to the acquisition of morphosyntax and lexis, the present volume also attends to more recent theoretical advances regarding other linguistic subsystems, such as phonology and pragmatics, as well as processing resource allocation during multilevel input processing.

Thorough and forward-looking, this volume is an indispensable resource to scholars and advanced students of second language acquisition, bilingualism, applied linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, and education.

This comprehensive and balanced collection of papers on learning from input processing will be welcomed by those beginning their study of input processing as well as those who are familiar with the field. The papers included tackle the major issues and do so with clarity and authority. It is especially pleasing to see that vocabulary is now getting the attention it deserves in this crucial area of second language acquisition.

Paul Nation, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

This impressive handbook comprehensively brings together key topics in input processing as written by renowned scholars and remarkably establishes connections with related theoretical, empirical, methodological, and pedagogical work. Thus, it offers innovative directions for understanding input processing and second/additional language acquisition more generally.

Kara Morgan-Short, University of Illinois Chicago, USA

In this cutting-edge and mesmerizingly insightful handbook, Drs. Wong and Barcroft share the writings of a generation’s worth of wisdom on the brain’s mechanisms in acquiring new languages. This is a volume every applied linguist should read.

Paula Winke, Michigan State University, USA

This volume is a testament to the longevity and the intellectual force that is input processing in the field of SLA. Decades in the making, yet current and cutting edge, the text’s contributions and their individual contributors—led by Wynne Wong and Joe Barcroft—have simultaneously consolidated and propelled our understanding of input processing at the nexus of theory, empirical research, and practice.

Luke Plonsky, Northern Arizona University

Wynne Wong is Professor of French and Second Language Acquisition at The Ohio State University, USA. She is the author of Input Enhancement: From Theory and Research to the Classroom (2005) and lead author of two French textbooks: Liaisons (2013, 2019) and Encore (2016, 2020). She is/has been on the editorial board of the journal Instructed Second Language Acquisition and on the advisory committee of The Canadian Modern Language Review.

Joe Barcroft is Professor of Spanish and Second Language Acquisition and Affiliate Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, USA. His books include Lexical Input Processing and Vocabulary Learning (2015); Input-Based Incremental Vocabulary Acquisition (2012); and the volume, co-edited with Javier Muñoz-Basols, Spanish Vocabulary Learning in Meaning-Oriented Instruction (2021).

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