Linguist List Book Review: 2017

Review: Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition; Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics: Isaacs, Trofimovich (2017)

SUMMARY

Second Language Pronunciation Assessment, by Isaacs and Trofimovich, is compilation of 14 chapters dedicated to second language (L2) pronunciation assessment for researchers and educators which synthesizes knowledge from over five decades of research in this field (Isaacs & Trofimovich, 2017; Lado, 1961). Uniting a breadth of interdisciplinary work from the perspectives of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), speech and hearing sciences, psycholinguistics, English and French lingua franca communication studies, and sociolinguistics, the editors set forth goals to consolidate knowledge, modernize the field, define baseline standards, foster scholarly dialogue, and chart the course for future research.

Editors and well-established scholars in the SLA pronunciation field, Isaacs and Trofimovich, spearhead this ambitious project. The 23 other contributors of the volume comprise of researchers from the Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, and the United States. Research outlined in this volume builds upon qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research. Academics, researchers, teachers, and language professionals are the audience of this volume. Five main sections of the book organize the chapters and “can be read in sequence or as stand-alone units” (Isaacs & Trofimovich, 2016c, p. 7)