Affordances theory in multilingualism studies
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Date
2012
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Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
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Abstract
The concept of affordances originating in Gibson’s work (Gibson, 1977) is gaining
ground in multilingualism studies (cf. Aronin and Singleton, 2010; Singleton and
Aronin, 2007; Dewaele, 2010). Nevertheless, studies investigating affordances in
respect of teaching, learning or using languages are still somewhat rare and tend
to treat isolated aspects of multilingualism. This is despite the fact that the theory
of affordances can actually provide a valuable, supplementary, up-to-date framework
within which a clearer, sharper description and explication of the intriguing
range of attributes of multilingual communities, educational institutions and individuals,
as well as teaching practices, become feasible. It is important that not only
researchers and practitioners (teachers, educators, parents, community and political
actors) but also language users and learners themselves should be aware of
how to identify or, if necessary, design new affordances for language acquisition
and learning. The aim of this article is to adapt the concept of affordances to multilingualism
studies and additional language teaching, and in so doing advance theoretical
understanding in this context. To this end the article contains a brief summary
of the findings so far available. The article also goes further into defining the
ways of how affordances work in relation to multilingualism and second language
teaching and puts forward an integrated model of affordances.
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Keywords
affordances, multilingualism, second language learning, complexity, multiple language acquisition
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2012, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 311-331.