Stories from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency

Katarina Mentzelopoulos, Zoltán Dörnyei

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Jahr: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781800414341
• Thema: Languages & Linguistics
• Thema: Psycolinguistics

It is generally understood that most language learners beyond a certain age are unlikely to ever reach nativelike proficiency in their second language. However, there exists a unique population of gifted adult learners who do triumph against all odds and achieve nativelike proficiency, and their learning experiences have thus far remained a largely untapped gold mine. The companion to Lessons from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency, this volume presents the autobiographical learning stories of 30 such exceptional individuals, opening a narrative window into their learning experiences. This rich corpus of success stories reveals the many steps of these language learning journeys and the learners' pathways to success. A fascinating and readable collection of personal stories, this volume will be of interest to non-specialist language learners as a motivational primer for their own studies as well as researchers working in language learning psychology, who will find the unique database of learner narratives a useful tool for future research.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Endorsements
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1 A Unique Bond
• 2 Escaping the Everyday
• 3 A New Generation
• 4 An Ear for Languages
• 5 The Desire to Blend In
• 6 Shifting Identities
• 7 Success Breeds Success
• Concluding Remarks
• Index