The Longitudinal Study of Advanced L2 Capacities (review)

Proposing that both advanced language capacities and longitudinal studies are under-researched areas in second language (L2) acquisition, Ortega and Byrnes collect reports on longitudinal research projects and discussions of the theoretical and methodological issues. Taken together, this collection offers multiple, and sometimes divergent, perspectives on the challenges for and possibilities of research into the development of advanced capacities.

The five chapters in Part I explore arguments for particular methodologies, explicate theoretical frameworks, and offer sound advice on issues of data collection and analysis. Harklau (chapter 2) argues for the potential of case-study methodology, which allows for intensive and repeated engagements with a small number of learners. She proposes that case studies are capable of attending to the engagement between the learner and the social and institutional milieus in which they acquire and use their L2s. Achugar and Colombi (chapter 3) propose that the attention to language in context inherent in systemic functional linguistics (SFL) makes this approach particularly compatible with the study of advanced L2 capacities. As a demonstration of the possibilities of SFL, they describe an application of the 'appraisal' frame-work to the study of learners' gradually emerging self-positionings within an academic community. Rees and Klapper (chapter 6) classify the types of longitudinal studies of L2 acquisition (discrete area/holistic, quantitative/qualitative, cross-sectional/longitudinal, presence/absence of a control group) and discuss methodological issues arising from different approaches. Myles (chapter 4) and Skiba, Dittmar, and Bressem (chapter 5) discuss theoretical and methodological issues arising from the collection, coding, use, storage, and distribution of longitudinal L2 data. Taken together, these five chapters form a very important resource for researchers involved with longitudinal research.

The eight chapters in Part II introduce longitudinal investigations undertaken with an eye to the emergence of advanced capacities. These investigations vary in the length of the data-collection period, their assessment of advancedness, and the methodology employed. That the data-collection periods of the eight longitudinal studies vary from seven weeks to four years demonstrates not a lack of agreement on what constitutes longitudinal research but an understanding that the necessary length of investigation depends upon the aspects of advanced capacities studied. While most of the studies took place in the context of university foreign language (FL) programs in American, Japanese, and Swedish universities or of study-abroad programs in Europe, one of the studies (Angelelli, chapter 14) investigates L2 language use in a professional setting: medical interpreting in US hospitals. These eight investigations conceptualize advanced capacities in various ways, including nuanced knowledge of vocabulary; the range, frequency, and complexity of relativization employed by learners; and the ability to use and understand a variety of registers of more than one language in demanding social contexts. Most investigations use multiple forms of data collection, often including both quantitative and qualitative measures in an attempt to contextualize particular linguistic performances, the students' declarative knowledge about language, and the contexts in which the language was being learned. Through the use of interviews, narrative analysis of journals, and ethnographic observations and recordings, some studies are able to include the social worlds of the learners outside the classroom within the scope of their investigations.

This volume will be of greatest interest to those with the courage to undertake longitudinal research as part of their graduate studies or as part of an ongoing research program. While particular attention is paid to longitudinal research investigating the emergence of advanced capacities, many of the chapters would be of more general interest to researchers investigating any aspect of longitudinal research. FL instructors working in university settings will find the specific results of some of the investigations relevant to their teaching context and pedagogy, regardless of their interest in conducting longitudinal research. While the research was not conducted in Canada, much of it will be relevant to Canadian researchers exploring the development of advanced capacities among FL learners in universities and among learners of English or French as a second language in...