On the Need of Pluralism and Common Ground in SLA

Authors

Simona Pekarek Doehler, University of Neuchâtel
Steven L. Thorne, Portland State UniversityFollow
Soren W. Eskildsen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Marije C. Michel, University of Groningen

Published In

Modern Language Journal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-4-2026

Subjects

Second Language Acquisition -- Teaching -- Pedagogy

Abstract

Hyperbolic claims that SLA is in crisis (!), that a unifying theory is overdue, or that research must be oriented toward pedagogy have resurfaced once again—most recently in the response by Lantolf et al. (2025) to the Special Issue on Synergies in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLA/T) (Atkinson et al., 2025). Our own position is diametrically opposed to such claims.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.70043  

DOI

10.1111/modl.70043

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44501

Publisher

Wiley

Citation Details

Pekarek Doehler, S., Thorne, S. L., Eskildsen, S. W., & Michel, M. C. (2026). On the need of pluralism and common ground in SLA. The Modern Language Journal. Portico.