This book critiques a wide range of theoretical models and tools with a relationship to cognitive SLA research. It contains a preface and seven chapters, with three conceptual divisions: disciplinary identity and research issues (chapter 1); brain physiology and cognitive models of learning (chapters 2–4); and models related to language learner differences and the role of instruction (chapters 5–7). The preface reveals that Dörnyei wades into methods of research that are both recent and complex, and he tries to make sense of them for the reader. His writing style is lucid, personable, and pleasant to read.
Chapter 1 covers two topics: the development of hybrid disciplines with an interest in language acquisition and the attainment issues that matter in any account of SLA. Dörnyei describes how models of language acquisition have developed within linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, and, more recently, neuroscience: “We are all inevitably becoming, at least partially, cognitive neuroscientists specializing in second language issues” (p. 11). Dörnyei believes that the future of SLA theory lies in an understanding of the brain and in models of learning that take into account neuroarchitecture. He identifies the key attainment issues that will ultimately rely on this type of theory, including bilingualism, multilingualism, differential attainment in first- and second-language acquisition, and the results of naturalistic versus instructed SLA.
This discussion leads to the question of where SLA fits. Most researchers interested in (second) language acquisition will not ultimately become neuroscientists, but many are indeed cognitive linguists (within cognitive science) with an interest in the findings of neuroscience. After reading this chapter, the terms applied linguistics and psycholinguistics seem very old-fashioned. Dörnyei’s ultimate conclusion is that SLA is a dynamic system with emergent properties, with no simple truths, and with a multiplicity of ways to approach the collection and interpretation of language acquisition data. He persuasively argues that not only language acquisition is dynamic and emergent but also the field of cognitive SLA itself.
Despite this promising start, chapters 2–7 do not delve deep enough into any given topic to satisfy a knowledgeable researcher in the field; each topic is covered in no more than two to four pages. For instance, in chapter 7, Dörnyei provides a brief overview of the grammar-translation method, the audiolingual method, communicative language teaching, and task-based language teaching (eight pages total). He relates these methods to the concepts of explicit versus implicit language learning, but only at a surface level. The topics in chapters 2 and 3 are newer (neuroimaging techniques, molecular genetics, connectionism, dynamic systems theory, and emergentism, for instance), but the treatment is similar. For example, there are brief explanations of various neuroimaging techniques but few or no connections made to the key issues outlined in chapter 1.
This volume could not serve as an introductory textbook on the psychology of SLA because it does not provide language data or research results. What it does provide is a discussion of problems related to doing cognitive SLA research. As Dörnyei honestly admits in the preface, it is difficult to keep up with recent developments in this research or even to know what matters among those developments. Chapter 1 is a great start in helping the reader think this through. Dörnyei could have built on this chapter if he had focused on a narrower range of big ideas (like dynamic systems theory) and developed them conceptually, describing both existing research results and potential applications for understanding multilingualism and differences in ultimate attainment. Perhaps it is too soon to hope for a book like that, but chapter 1 suggests that Dörnyei might be getting close.
