Taking a social turn for the worse: the language socialization paradigm for second language acquisition

• Published in: Second language research Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 413 - 442
• Main Author: Gregg, Kevin R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA Arnold 01-10-2006; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive linguistics; Cognitive Psychology; Cognitive science; Conceptual frameworks; Editors; Educational Theories; Language; Language acquisition; Language Research; Linguistics; Mind; Philosophy; Researchers; Science; Second language acquisition; Second Language Learning; Socialization; Theoretical linguistics; Japan
• ISSN: 0267-6583; 1477-0326
• DOI: 10.1191/0267658306sr274oa

In recent years, a number of researchers in the field of second language acquisition have voiced discontent regarding the tendency of second language acquisition (SLA) research to be conducted within a framework of cognitive science (Firth and Wagner, 1997; Atkinson, 2002; Johnson, 2004). Watson-Gegeo (2004) expresses this same discontent, and goes beyond it to call for a new SLA paradigm, the 'language socialization paradigm'. In this article, I point out the various ways in which Watson-Gegeo has misunderstood the nature of cognitive science research in general, and SLA research in particular, and show why her call should go unheeded.