David Block

This book examines how identity is an issue in different second-language-learning contexts. It begins with a detailed presentation of what has become a popular approach to identity in the social sciences (including applied linguistics) today, one that is inspired by poststructuralist thought and is associated with the work of authors such as Antony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman, Chris Weedon, Judith Butler and Stuart Hall. It then examines how in early SLA research, identity was an issue lurking in the wings, but not coming to the centre stage. Moving to the present, the book details recent research focusing on identity in three distinct language-learning contexts: adult migration; foreign-language classrooms; and study-abroad programmes. The book concludes with a critique of current research focusing on identity in language learning, offering suggestions for future research. David Block is Senior Lecturer in Languages at the Institute of Education, University of London.

It may be America’s game, but no one seems to know how or when baseball really started. Theories abound, myths proliferate, but reliable information has been in short supply-until now, when Baseball before We Knew It brings fresh new evidence of baseball’s origins into play. David Block looks into the early history of the game and of the 150-year-old debate about its beginnings. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the English game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all-the Abner Doubleday–Cooperstown story. Block’s book takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball’s development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this book is a unique and invaluable resource-a comprehensive, reliable, and readable account of baseball before it was America’s game.

It may be America’s game, but no one seems to know how or when baseball really started. Theories abound, myths proliferate, but reliable information has been in short supply-until now, when Baseball before We Knew It brings fresh new evidence of baseball’s origins into play. David Block looks into the early history of the game and of the 150-year-old debate about its beginnings. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the English game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all-the Abner Doubleday–Cooperstown story. Block’s book takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball’s development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this book is a unique and invaluable resource-a comprehensive, reliable, and readable account of baseball before it was America’s game.

David Block asks the question "What is second language acquisition (SLA)?" by offering an extended critique of one of the main theoretical approaches to second language acquisition: the "Input-Interaction-Output" model. He argues that a more interdisciplinary and socially informed approach to SLA research is in order, and he draws on recent work in sociolinguistics as well as SLA research influenced by sociolinguistic and sociohistorical approaches to language and language learning. In so doing, he demonstrates that there is a need to broaden the horizons of second language acquisition. Finally, he offers some important thoughts on the future direction of SLA research, and includes an extensive bibliography.

What is Second Language Acquisition? In recent years there has been a notable increase in the number of publications discussing and debating issues surrounding SLA. In The Social Turn in Second Language Acquisition David Block critically examines the key assumptions behind this research. He unpacks and analyses the way the key components of SLA are commonly understood, asking what is meant by the terms 'second', 'language' and 'acquisition'. Block discusses a wide variety of research by applied linguists and those working in SLA who have drawn on recent developments in social theory in their attempts to make sense of language practices and language learning. The main thread running through the text is the suggestion that SLA researchers need to concern themselves not only with language learning as an individual and primarily cognitive process, but also as a sociohistorically situated phenomenon. This book is written for applied linguists and students on applied linguistics courses, who are familiar with recent developments in the field of SLA. Features: *New ideas about SLA and a useful critique of the field *Readable style *Includes an extensive bibliography of over 400 sources.