John Benjamins Publishing Company
Chapter 2. Taking the Long view
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Susan M. Gass
Abstract
By any definition, Michael Long was a giant in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). He was one of the very few who could truly wed language learning and language teaching which he did in a seamless fashion. His impact is far-reaching and envelops a number of different areas as we will show in this chapter. He was remarkable in his encyclopedic knowledge of the field (and beyond), including access to what had come before and what was current. It was common to hear him say “As so and so showed in 2003…” with his listeners often thinking “How did he remember that?” The first author of this paper was always in awe of his numerous contributions to the fields of language learning and language teaching and his ability to see the big picture. We started our careers at about the same time (Gass received her PhD in 1979 and Mike received his in 1980) and our interests in those early years paralleled each other’s. His work influenced the work of Gass and one would hope that there was bidirectionality in this influence. Our paths crossed personally and professionally and so his death is both a personal loss as well as a tremendous loss to the field (see Ortega’s, 2021 tribute). In this paper we will have the easy task of demonstrating his impact. We include an objective consideration of his areas of influence as well as an analysis of citations of Mike’s work. Finally, we discuss how his research areas have been an influential force in the development of the field of SLA.
Abstract
By any definition, Michael Long was a giant in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). He was one of the very few who could truly wed language learning and language teaching which he did in a seamless fashion. His impact is far-reaching and envelops a number of different areas as we will show in this chapter. He was remarkable in his encyclopedic knowledge of the field (and beyond), including access to what had come before and what was current. It was common to hear him say “As so and so showed in 2003…” with his listeners often thinking “How did he remember that?” The first author of this paper was always in awe of his numerous contributions to the fields of language learning and language teaching and his ability to see the big picture. We started our careers at about the same time (Gass received her PhD in 1979 and Mike received his in 1980) and our interests in those early years paralleled each other’s. His work influenced the work of Gass and one would hope that there was bidirectionality in this influence. Our paths crossed personally and professionally and so his death is both a personal loss as well as a tremendous loss to the field (see Ortega’s, 2021 tribute). In this paper we will have the easy task of demonstrating his impact. We include an objective consideration of his areas of influence as well as an analysis of citations of Mike’s work. Finally, we discuss how his research areas have been an influential force in the development of the field of SLA.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- In memory of Professor Michael H. Long (1945–2021) vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- About the editor and contributors xix
- Chapter 1. The legacy of Professor Michael H. Long and his influence in second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. Taking the Long view 9
- Chapter 3. Stabilization 29
- Chapter 4. Enhanced incidental learning 77
- Chapter 5. The uncertainty principle in second language acquisition 101
- Chapter 6. Tandem interaction enhancement 113
- Chapter 7. Immediate versus delayed oral negative feedback 127
- Chapter 8. A calculus for L1 transfer 143
- Chapter 9. Age of acquisition in second language thinking 177
- Chapter 10. Age effects in naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition 197
- Chapter 11. Performance on second language speaking tasks 211
- Chapter 12. A task-based needs analysis framework for TBLT 235
- Chapter 13. Can focus on form have an effect on language development? 257
- Index 273
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- In memory of Professor Michael H. Long (1945–2021) vii
- Acknowledgements ix
- Preface xi
- About the editor and contributors xix
- Chapter 1. The legacy of Professor Michael H. Long and his influence in second language acquisition 1
- Chapter 2. Taking the Long view 9
- Chapter 3. Stabilization 29
- Chapter 4. Enhanced incidental learning 77
- Chapter 5. The uncertainty principle in second language acquisition 101
- Chapter 6. Tandem interaction enhancement 113
- Chapter 7. Immediate versus delayed oral negative feedback 127
- Chapter 8. A calculus for L1 transfer 143
- Chapter 9. Age of acquisition in second language thinking 177
- Chapter 10. Age effects in naturalistic and instructed second language acquisition 197
- Chapter 11. Performance on second language speaking tasks 211
- Chapter 12. A task-based needs analysis framework for TBLT 235
- Chapter 13. Can focus on form have an effect on language development? 257
- Index 273
