Down from the Pedestal! —A Chronological Look at the Philosophy of SLA

Abstract

Second language acquisition (SLA) is viewed as the appropriation of several voices reflecting different perspectives. To make a major shift in our understanding of what the domain of SLA should be and what kind of theory should be developed entails thorough understanding of what happens in the history of SLA and relinquishing our absolute trust in the epistemology of a given school of thought. The purpose of present paper is to have a chronological review of the three main schools of scientific movements in SLA in harmony with their related philosophy.