As students, teachers or researchers, we all seek knowledge to understand basic phenomena in our fields to make better decisions. However, knowing, or being ‘learned’, requires more than just attaining information. As outlined in Bloom’s taxonomy (1956), knowing has different levels involving the analysis, synthesis and application of information to new situations. Indeed, to stress the importance of what it means to be ‘learned’, Benjamin Franklin famously stated: ‘Tim was so learned, that he could name a horse, in nine languages. So ignorant, that he bought a cow to ride on’. As a L2A researcher and also a student and a teacher, I myself struggle with the successful use of my own accumulated knowledge. This book aims to help people like me with a basic understanding of L2 learning, teaching and assessment from the perspective of Krashen’s (1985) CI hypothesis, a concept that has been referenced often but perhaps not according to current conventions in the field.

As is rather well-acknowledged in the field, L2A, teaching and assessment are highly dynamic, interdependent and multidimensional areas of study. What we know about different factors, systems and processes of L2 education and how they interact with one another is far from a complete picture. Yet, the field has produced a plethora of knowledge as to where particular sets of pieces can be placed in the big picture. Thus, as important as it is to try to address the unanswered questions about important pieces of the puzzle, raising awareness of the complex nature of the puzzle and identifying more questions for consideration are equally critical. This book attempts to do just that from a CI angle. Indeed, if the ultimate goal of L2A is ‘authentically languaging one’s L2 self’, offering straightforward remedies as to how it happens would be no less unwise than trying to take a still picture of a constantly self-organizing dynamic system with countless elements.