Organizer: Yuko Goto BUTLER (University of Pennsylvania, USA)

Second language acquisition (SLA) research has been developed largely based on adult second/foreign (L2/FL) learners until recently. Despite the growing popularity of teaching L2/FL to young learners (defined as children up to 12 years old), we still have relatively little information on SLA which can be directly informative for teachers of young learners. Classroom teachers of young learners often express their pedagogical concerns but our current knowledge in SLA research may have limited direct implications for young learners due to the various age-related factors and contextual constrains that teachers of young learners often encounter. Ellis and Shintani (2014) observe that teachers have difficulty finding answers to their concerns in SLA; the “implications” that are typically addressed at the end of SLA research papers are not necessarily tied to teachers’ immediate concerns. 

In the spirit of the above-mentioned observation made by Ellis and Shintani (2014), this colloquium consists of four instructed SLA papers. Among the various concerns that teachers often have, this colloquium focuses on the role of teachers’ interaction in young learners’ FL learning and development. As one can see below, the presenters employed a variety of theoretical and methodological frameworks and conducted studies with different age groups and in different contexts. Yet, their research questions were all originally inspired by teachers’ concerns and puzzlements in their classroom practice. It is hoped that the present colloquium is indicative of a broader effort to bridge the gap between research and practice for teaching FL to young learners.