“Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition Research”

Kimberly Geeslin, Indiana University

Research on second language sociolinguistics falls at the intersection of two fields, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, and requires careful planning to account for the nature of variable language, both linguistic and social, and its context-dependent nature. This workshop aims to provide a broad view of the range of research methods employed in the field of second language sociolinguistics as well as an in-depth account of the application of variationist sociolinguistics research methods to second language data collection, analysis and interpretation. The primary focus of the discussion will be making transparent the decision-making that goes into designing research on L2 variation, beginning with planning and design, continuing to coding and analysis, and extending through interpretation of the findings. There will be opportunities to explore real-world challenges, to collaborate and to apply research methods to new areas of inquiry. Building on several chapters of L2 variationist research methods, each of which identified directions for future research at the time of publication, we will conclude by identifying some of the remaining challenges and most promising areas for new projects.