Exploring Second-Language Varieties of English and Learner Englishes

The articles in this volume are intended to bridge what Sridhar and Sridhar (1986) have called the 'paradigm gap' between traditional SLA research on the one hand and research into institutionalised second-language varieties in former colonial territories on the other. Since both learner Englishes and second-language varieties are typically non-native forms of English that emerge in language contact situations, it is high time that they are described and compared on an empirical basis in order to draw conceptual and theoretical conclusions with regard to their form, function and acquisition. The present collection of articles places special emphasis on empirical evidence obtained from large-scale analyses of computerised corpora of learner Englishes (such as the International Corpus of Learner English) and of second-language varieties of English (such as the International Corpus of English). It addresses questions such as ‘Are the phenomena we find in ESL and EFL varieties features or errors?’ or ‘How common and wide-spread are features across contact varieties of English?’

Chit Cheung Matthew Sung, Lancaster University, in Studies in Second Language Acquisition 35: 560-562, 2013.:
This collection clearly pushes the boundaries of SLA studies by drawing on invaluable insights from the growing fi elds of New Englishes and corpus linguistics. It also achieves the purpose of the collection as set out in the introductory chapter—namely, to bridge a “paradigm gap” between traditional SLA studies and research into institutionalized L2 varieties. This volume opens up exciting venues for further interdisciplinary research on SLA and will be a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students interested in learner language, corpus linguistics, and New Englishes.