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Decision Making in Second Language Acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

David Birdsong
David Birdsong
Affiliation:
University of Texas
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Abstract

The present paper isolates certain domain-general cognitive processes involved in decision making and examines their instantiations in adult second language acquisition (SLA). After reviewing important differences between mature and immature cognition, I discuss the epistemological categories and concepts that underlie decision making. I then address decision making from the point of view of fallibility—for example, maladaptive biases that mediate learners' decisions—and I suggest that some impediments to success in SLA may be the result of mature domain-general decision making. The heuristic value of research in the area of decision making is emphasized.

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 169 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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