Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:18:07.698Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Language Attrition Research: An Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Extract

The study of language loss—or language attrition—was recognized as a field in 1980, when the University of Pennsylvania hosted the first conference ever on the theme. Most of the contributions to this conference stressed the need for systematic empirical investigation of the phenomenon of language attrition, which everybody seems to know about, but which very few scientists had actually looked into.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, R. (1982). Determining the linguistic attributes of language attrition. In Lambert, R. & Freed, B. (Eds.), The loss of language skills (pp. 83118). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Bahrick, H. (1984). Fifty yean of second language attrition: Implications for programmatic research. Modem Language Journal, 68, 105118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. (1987). Principles of language learning and language teaching (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Burling, R. (1978). Language development of a Garo- and English-speaking child. In Hatch, E. (Ed.), Second language acquisition (pp. 54–15). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
DeBot, K., & Weltens, B. (in press). Recapitulation, regression, and language loss. In Seliger, H. & Vago, R. (Eds.), First language loss: Theoretical and structural perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885) Ueber das Gedachtnis. Untersuchungen zur experimenlellen Psychologie. Leipzig: Duncker & HumblotGoogle Scholar
Edwards, G. (1977). Second language retention in the public service of Canada. Ottawa: Public Service Commission of Canada.Google Scholar
Gardner, R., Lalonde, R., & Macpherson, J. (1985). Social factors in second-language attrition, language Learning, 35, 519540.10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb00359.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godsall-Myers, J. (1981). The attrition of language skills in German classroom bilinguals—A case study. Dissertation Abstracts International, 43, 157A. (University Microfilms No. 82–12 947).Google Scholar
Hansen, L. (1980). Learning and forgetting a second language: The acquisition, loss and reacquisition of Hindi Urdu negative structures English-speaking children. Dissertation Abstracts International, 42, 193A. (University Microfilms No. 81–13, 060).Google Scholar
Lambert, R., & Freed, B. (Eds.). (1982). The loss of language skills. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Lambert, R., & Moore, S. (1986). Problem areas in the study of language attrition. In Weltens, B., Debot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 177184). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Moorcroft, R., & Gardner, R. (1987). Linguistic factors in second language loss. Language Learning, 37, 327340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neisser, U. (1984). Interpreting Harry Bahrick's discovery: What confers immunity against forgetting? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 3235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olshtain, E. (1986). The attrition ol English as a second language with speakers of Hebrew. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Vanels, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 187204). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Pan, B., & Berko-Gleason, J. (1986). The study of language loss: Models and hypotheses for an emerging discipline. Applied Psycholinguistics, 7, 193206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schumans, J., Van Os, C., & Weltens, B. (1985). Vocabulairekennis in de vreemde taal na beeindiging van het onderwijs. Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen, 23, 8189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smythe, P., Jutras, G., Bramwell, J., & Gardner, R. (1973). Second language retention over varying intervals. Modern Language Journal, 57, 400405.Google Scholar
Snow, M., Padilla, A., & Campbell, R. (1984). Factors influencing language retention of graduates of a Spanish immersion program. Los Alamitos, CA: National Center for Bilingual Research.Google Scholar
Valdman, A. (1982) Language attrition and the administration of secondary school and college foreign language instruction. In Lambert, R. & Freed, B. (Eds.), The loss of language skills (pp. 155175). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Van Els, T. (1985, September 2–6). Errors and foreign language loss. Paper presented at the FIPLV symposium on Errors and Foreign Language Learning,London.Google Scholar
Van Els, T. (1986) An overview of European research on language attrition. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 318). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Weltens, B. (1987). The attrition of foreign-language skills: A literature review. Applied Linguistics, 8, 2238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weltens, B. (1989) The attrition of French as a foreign language. Dordrecht: Foris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.). (1986) language attrition in progress. Dordrecht: Forts.Google Scholar
Weltens, B., & Van Els, T. (1986) The attrition of French as a foreign language: Interim results. In Weltens, B., De Bot, K., & Van Els, T. (Eds.), Language attrition in progress (pp. 205221). Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar