Multiple Dimensions of Usage-Based SLA and Its Prospect

Abstract

There has been a growing trend toward conducting second-language acquisition (SLA) research in the framework of usage-based models of language, which posit that grammar emerges through language use. Previous studies that claim to investigate usage-based SLA, however, vary in their research questions and their methods. Because of this diversity, we tend to lose sight of what constitutes usage-based SLA research. To clarify this fundamental issue, the first part of this paper discusses four key underpinnings of usage-based models of language: frequency, construal of the situation, shared meanings in social interactions, and conventionality. Next, some representative SLA studies from usage-based perspectives are reviewed in terms of the first three underpinnings to show that each of the studies focuses on one or two of the multiple dimensions of usage-based SLA. Based on this review, the paper confirms that this line of research is still in its exploratory stage. Furthermore, it proposes that research should be conducted from the perspective of multilingualism to investigate how new construals emerge and are conventionalized through the contact of a second language with the existing language resources including those in the first language. It is concluded that transdisciplinary approaches are needed to tackle the multifaceted nature of usage-based SLA.