Why Second Language Acquisition Should Be a Part of Linguistics Education

This chapter argues that linguists should expand the data used in linguistics education to include second language data and that expanding linguistic education to include second language and multilingualism at its core would put the field of linguistics in a better position to bridge the gap between second language education programs and linguistics. It gives several arguments for including second language data in linguistics education: Second language data are natural language data and should be included in models of language, second language acquisition and first language acquisition share many characteristics, knowledge of second language acquisition will put graduates in a stronger position for academic jobs, and including second language data in linguistics education can promote an awareness of linguistic diversity and work toward a more inclusive field. It offers some suggestions for how to incorporate second language data into linguistics courses and a discusses some of the barriers to this proposal. It concludes with two examples of exercises which use second language data to reinforce basic linguistic concepts.