Summary and conclusion

This final chapter begins by summarizing the major findings on RSLA that are presented in the preceding chapters and then outlines directions for further research. The chapter identifies three key areas of further investigation. First, it calls for more systematic investigation of L1 transfer effects. Given that the majority of L2 Russian studies reviewed in this volume focus on learners with English as their L1, comparative research involving speakers of other L1 backgrounds is needed to clarify the role of L1 influence in RSLA. The second suggested direction is greater use of psycholinguistic measures (such as eye-tracking) to study real-time processing of Russian by learners. And the final direction concerns intervention research and the relevance of study findings for the L2 classroom.