| What is second language acquisition (SLA) like from the learner's point of view? In this study, I analysed the experiences of SLA as described by a particular group of learners: 30 individuals who authored language narratives---published accounts of their own experiences of living in a new language (in most cases, English) and a new culture. These accounts, 12 full-length autobiographies and 18 essays, were not limited to language-related events, but it was to these events that I attended in my analysis.; Three research questions prompted this study. The information gathered from the first question determined the focus for questions 2 and 3. (1) How do the individuals who author these language learner narratives represent their SLA? (2) How do the learners' representations of SLA correspond to SLA literature? (3) How do experienced teachers of English as a second language (ESL) relate to these learners' representations of SLA?; After identifying 6 principal themes that recurred across the narratives, I reviewed selected theoretical and research literature on SLA and 5 course textbooks used in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) education programs to determine whether or not the issues/themes named by the learners/narrativists were represented. Finally, I conducted focus group interviews with 6 experienced ESL teachers and asked them to consider pedagogical implications of these 6 themes.; I located attention to some of these themes in the selection of SLA literature that I reviewed, but often the nature of that attention was different from the perspectives of the learners. The 5 course textbooks included limited references to the 6 principal issues I had identified. I found that the experienced ESL teachers were reflecting on a number of these issues for the first time. They considered some of the issues to be beyond the mandate of classroom teachers, while other issues had clear pedagogical implications. The teachers agreed that learner perspectives generated from language learner narratives were valuable sources of professional development for both prospective teachers and experienced teachers, and that these perspectives would also be useful as prompts for discussion in ESL classrooms. |
