Cultural Migrants and Optimal Language Acquisition

This volume introduces us to a new concept - the ‘cultural migrant’ - in order to investigate linguistic variation and long-term attainment among L2 users with a genuine desire to integrate into a new culture. The editors and contributors succeed in enlivening and complicating the age debate through a holistic view of the individual, and a renewed emphasis on acculturation, both needed to decisively move critical period research forward.

-- Alene Moyer, University of Maryland, USA

This book makes a valuable contribution to the contemporary debate around native-likeness and ultimate attainment in adult second language learning, focusing on the growing body of cultural migrants. Its strength and originality lie in connecting migration studies with language learning through the interesting consideration of linguistic, psychological, and societal factors.

-- Carmen Muñoz, University of Barcelona, Spain

This fascinating collection of papers brings together multiple perspectives on a little-known influence on adult language acquisition: cultural migration. Exploring in detail the relationship between levels of acculturation and native-like attainment in a second language, the book offers a refreshing new look at Schumann's Acculturation model.

-- Pauline Foster, St. Mary's University, UK

Readers interested in very advanced learners and the subtle differences between advanced, near-native and native speakers of a language will be interested in the findings presented and analyzed here; useful summaries of previous research are provided, and some useful techniques for data collection and analysis presented, especially concerning the analysis of lexical and multi-word features in spoken discourse.

-- Heather E. Hilton, University of Lyon 2, France * Language, Interaction and Acquisition 7