Perspectives in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research have widened dramatically in the last 25 years. One consequence of the widening of the field is that the relationships between theoretical frameworks are less clear. In some cases the relationships have not been addressed because specific issues have been pursued within particular approaches, for example in the investigation of real-time L2 speech processing using online research tools such as eye-tracking devices. In other cases, the theoretical issues have been reduced to almost sloganistic dichotomies.

In this volume, we want to take advantage of the widened body of work in both Processability Theory and other frameworks to explore relationships between Processability Theory research and other work in SLA. We are seeking contributions that ‘look out’ from Processability Theory as well as contributions that ‘look in’ from other perspectives.

Contributions to the volume will address the widened approaches and findings in work drawing or reflecting on Processability Theory as well as its application to teaching and assessment in relation to general issues of SLA research. In particular, we plan to focus on the following four areas:

1. Input analysis & comprehension processes

Whereas the main focus of Processability Theory-based research has been on the development of speech production, recent expansions also investigate receptive processes. A related aspect concerns the question of potential correlations between production and comprehension processes. Although Processability Theory has acknowledged input as necessary, the exact nature of learners’ engagement with the input has not been extensively theorised or investigated.

To date, Processability Theory has also paid limited attention to the analysis of formulaic language use, tending to regard formulae as exceptions to the requirement for productive language use that is inherent in emergence as the definition of acquisition. However, some recent work in classroom language learning settings has devoted greater attention to formulaic language and research within Processability Theory is now attempting to open up a wider view of formulae.

Recent work in the framework of the Teachability Hypothesis makes reference to Processability Theory and growing interest in the role of input has emerged out of that work that has two different dimensions. The first of these is attempts to theorise the relationship between input and Processability Theory. The second dimension is work on understanding where learners obtain models of the target language and the role that these models play in learners’ second language production.

We envisage contributions on receptive processing and grammatical decoding processes from a Processability Theory perspective or discussions of influences on noticing. Potential contributions might include notions such as receptive grammar processing, grammatical decoding, noticing in rich linguistic environments or the relation between input frequency and the overcoming of processing constraints.

2. Crossing typological boundaries

Over a number of years, work in Processability Theory has engaged with a range of typologically different languages that now includes German, English, Swedish, Italian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese. Issues that have been addressed have been dominated by morpho-syntactic features, but some work has been completed in relation to the acquisition of discourse-pragmatic features, such as topic and focus.

Papers in this section could focus on research on L2 development in typologically diverse languages, such as those mentioned above or others such as Hungarian, Vietnamese, Hindi or some of the languages of Africa. They might examine particular linguistic issues, such as the development of case, or the acquisition of particular structures, such as causatives or relative clauses where typological features are central to the analysis.

3. Knowledge, use and developmental trajectories

Traditionally, Processability Theory has primarily focused on L2 developmental schedules. However, recent work within Processability Theory has also addressed the question of the nature of the L2 initial state and related issues, such as the types of mental representations that are assumed to be initially present. The criterion for acquisition has been a consistent theme within Processability Theory, but attention to longitudinal studies of acquisition has opened up the issue of the relationship between emergence and mastery as well as whether identifiable pathways between the two can be identified. As in other areas, work connected with Processability Theory has also expanded to include a more diverse range of languages, contexts and theoretical concerns.

We envisage contributions that would focus on issues of relationships between interlanguage use and knowledge representation in the context of how such relationships unfold over time and experience.

4. Learning/teaching issues in relation to classroom & assessment contexts

Teachability is now a 30-year old construct that preceded the development of Processability Theory. What are the implications of the elaboration and specification of Processability Theory for the idea of Teachability and for specific claims that have been made about how features of an additional language can be taught? How do features of language teaching such as the passive fit within a Processability perspective? What is the potential of Processability Theory to contribute to the design and interpretation of assessment processes and data? The issues addressed in this part of the volume include a) current interpretations of teachability and associated findings, b) potential critiques of the construct and c) assessment as a context for the application of Processability Theory. The range of issues identified above suggests that there are strong parallels between expansions within Processability Theory and issues that are being explored more broadly within SLA research. Some phenomena, for example, formulaic language, might connect with a number of the issue groupings that we have identified and it would be up to the author to specify the theme that is being engaged with.

The wider SLA field also addresses a range of other issues, for example in relation to sociolinguistic or pragmatic perspectives, or pronunciation. In order to constrain the focus of the book, to the extent that these approaches do not engage with the issues core to Processability Theory, they would fall outside the scope of this volume.

For each of the four areas listed above, a key objective of this volume is relating Processability Theory-based research to a number of issues that are central to the field of SLA in general. These include notions such as the initial state, the existence of representations, emergence, proficiency, assessment & instructed development. As these issues are matters of intense debate in the SLA literature and are viewed very differently by different SLA researchers, contributors will be asked to make explicit connections to at least one of these notions and to discuss the identified notions on the basis of research findings.

Submissions containing proposals for book chapters should clearly establish in what ways they contribute to one of the areas outlined above.

Process for the submission of chapter proposals:

Your proposal for a book chapter should be

• 500-1,000 words long
• submitted no later than Monday, 19th, January 2015.
• explicit about how your chapter will engage with at least one of the central themes in the volume.

In addition to your proposal text, your submission should contain the following information:

- Proposed chapter title

- Author name(s) and affiliation(s)

- 4-6 keywords

Questions about the volume, preliminary indications of potential interest in submitting a proposal and the chapter proposal itself can be sent to Anke Lenzing at:

alenzing@mail.uni-paderborn.de

The notification of accepted proposals and the submission of our full book proposal to the PALART series editors will occur at the beginning of February 2015.

Upon acceptance by the series editors, chapter authors will be invited to submit full chapters (up to 8,000 words) and will be sent guidelines for preparing chapters along with submission deadlines (approximately three months from notification of acceptance of the full book proposal).

Chapters should be original manuscripts and should not be under review for publication elsewhere. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.

Volume editors:

Anke Lenzing (Paderborn University)

Howard Nicholas (La Trobe University)

Jana Roos (Paderborn University)