In Other Words: The Science and Psychology of Second-Language Acquisition

By Ellen Bialystok, Kenji Hakuta

Categories: Education & Teaching, Politics & Social Sciences

In Other Words (Basic Books) by psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta reviews the science of how people learn a second language. Drawing on linguistics, psychology and neuroscience, the authors examine whether there is a critical period after which a language cannot be fully mastered, finding the evidence weaker than popular belief holds. They consider how age, aptitude, motivation, social setting and a learner's first language affect progress, what bilingualism does to the mind and what it all means for language teaching.

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• Tim Ferriss: “There's also a book called In Other Words, just for people out there – since people will be listening to this – who may not think as adults they're well equipped to learn languages, In Other Words, which is co-authored by someone named Hakuta, H-A-K-U-T-A.”