Mind matters in SLA Clare Wright, Thorsten Piske, and Martha Young-Scholten (Eds.). (2018). Bristol, UK: Channel View Publications, 248 pp.

Abstract

We cannot really teach language, we can only create conditions in which it will develop spontaneously in the mind [emphasis added] in its own way” (Corder, 1967, p. 169). Thus, in order to teach language effectively by creating a supportive learning environment, one must understand how the human mind learns language in the first place. To this end, Mind Matters in SLA (2018), edited by Clare Wright, Thorsten Piske, and Martha Young-Scholten, considers some of the important and diverse topics in SLA research regarding what appears to be the most significant factor in both theoretical and instructed SLA—understanding the mind of the language learner from the learner’s perspective.