Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons, and the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons

Foreign language learning and teaching refer to the teach-ing or learning of a nonnative language outside of the envi-ronment where it is commonly spoken. A distinction is of-ten made between ‘foreign ’ and ‘second ’ language learning. A second language implies that the learner resides in an envi-ronment where the acquired language is spoken. In the area of research, the term second language acquisition (SLA) is a general term that embraces foreign language learning and in-vestigates the human capacity to learn languages other than the first language once it has been acquired. Scholarly inquiry into the acquisition of a nonnative language includes the disci-plines of psychology, linguistics, language pedagogy, educa-tion, neurobiology, sociology, and anthropology. Inquiries of learning and teaching innovations have provided new insights into successful language learning strategies and environment