This book explores how language is acquired via enculturation. It combines research and perspectives from anthropology, sociology, applied linguistics, developmental psychology and neurobiology to argue for a theory of language acquisition via enculturation. The first part of the book examines the practices by which we are enculturated. Indeed, members of a society are socialized into their culture, and more specifically to use language through language via processes that include eavesdropping, observation, participation, imitation, and language socialization. However, ethnographic accounts also overwhelmingly show that children become enculturated in large part on their own initiative. Thus, the second part of the book argues for a motivation to attune to, seek out, and become like othersor an Interactional Instinct, which facilitates enculturation and the biology that subserves it. The final chapters explore more of our biological readiness and the neurological structures and systems that may have evolved to respond to the input provided by society to facilitate the learning of cultural practices and traditions by its youth. The picture that emerges indicates that biology is nature and culture is nurture, but there is no nurture without nature, and it is nurture that provides for the phylogenetic development of our biological nature. The ontogenesis of language behavior, i.e. its acquisition, cannot occur without its evolved biology or without its evolved cultural practices for socialization. Reviews: This book has great potential for influence. It is a very clever demonstration of the relatedness between behaviorial views of language and cultural acquisition and neurobiology. - Ryan Nelson, University of Louisiana, Lafayette The book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand socio-neurobiology of language acquisition. It achieves this in a manner that will be informative for developmental psychologists, socio-cultural theorists, and neurobiologists of language. - From the Foreword by John H. Schumann, University of California, Los Angeles

Here is the first comprehensive cross-disciplinary work to examine the current health situation of our immigrants, successfully integrating the vast literature of diverse fields -- epidemiology, health services research, anthropology, law, medicine, social work, health promotion, and bioethics -- to explore the richness and diversity of the immigrant population from a culturally-sensitive perspective. This unequalled resource examines methodological issues, issues in clinical care and research, health and disease in specific immigrant populations, patterns of specific diseases in immigrant groups in the US, and conclusive insight towards the future. Complete with 73 illustrations, this singular book is the blueprint for where we must go in the future.

Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals learn, i.e. how they acquire, organize and deploy knowledge and skills. The 20th century can be considered the century of psychology on learning and related fields of interest (such as motivation, cognition, metacognition etc.) and it is fascinating to see the various mainstreams of learning, remembered and forgotten over the 20th century and note that basic assumptions of early theories survived several paradigm shifts of psychology and epistemology. Beyond folk psychology and its naïve theories of learning, psychological learning theories can be grouped into some basic categories, such as behaviorist learning theories, connectionist learning theories, cognitive learning theories, constructivist learning theories, and social learning theories. Learning theories are not limited to psychology and related fields of interest but rather we can find the topic of learning in various disciplines, such as philosophy and epistemology, education, information science, biology, and – as a result of the emergence of computer technologies – especially also in the field of computer sciences and artificial intelligence. As a consequence, machine learning struck a chord in the 1980s and became an important field of the learning sciences in general. As the learning sciences became more specialized and complex, the various fields of interest were widely spread and separated from each other; as a consequence, even presently, there is no comprehensive overview of the sciences of learning or the central theoretical concepts and vocabulary on which researchers rely. The Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning provides an up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the specific terms mostly used in the sciences of learning and its related fields, including relevant areas of instruction, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, and especially machine learning and knowledge engineering. This modern compendium will be an indispensable source of information for scientists, educators, engineers, and technical staff active in all fields of learning. More specifically, the Encyclopedia provides fast access to the most relevant theoretical terms provides up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the most important theories within the various fields of the learning sciences and adjacent sciences and communication technologies; supplies clear and precise explanations of the theoretical terms, cross-references to related entries and up-to-date references to important research and publications. The Encyclopedia also contains biographical entries of individuals who have substantially contributed to the sciences of learning; the entries are written by a distinguished panel of researchers in the various fields of the learning sciences.

The Interactional Instinct (Oxford University Press, 2009) argued that the ubiquitous acquisition of language by all normal children was the result of a biologically-based drive for infants and children to attach, bond, and affiliate with conspecifics in an attempt to become like them. This instinct leads children to seek out verbal interaction with caregivers and allows them to become competent language speakers by about age 8. In Exploring the Interactional Instinct, scholars in applied linguistics expand the theory by examining interaction in second language acquisition; in different cultures and species; in observation without participation; in literacy; in schizophrenia; in relation to human physiological responses; and in relation to correlated perspectives on interaction. This book, like its predecessor, offers a radical view of language acquisition: language is not acquired as a result of a Language Acquisition Device in the brain, but is rather a cultural artifact universally acquired by all normal children.

Gonzalez' (TESL, U. of Cincinnati) text developed from her own experiences as an international graduate student in the U.S., and her interest in mentoring international students when she became a college professor. She examines the effects of social, cultural, cognitive, affective/emotional, and linguistic factors on the adaption process of interna.

"Demonstrates that the study of international migration has really come of age. From acculturation to undocumented immigration, the authors consider more than three dozen concepts at the heart of migration studies. Clearly written in a highly readable style, the book is a valuable resource for students and scholars alike." - Nancy Foner, City University of New York "This very useful and authoritative compendium explicates thirty-eight concepts central to analysis of international migration. It is accessible to undergraduate students and even can enrich graduate courses. It nicely complements books like The Age of Migration or Exceptional People. Concision is a virtue!" - Mark J. Miller, University of Delaware This book provides lucid and intuitive explanations of the most important migration concepts as used in classrooms, among policymakers, and in popular and academic discourse. Arguing that there is a clear need for a better public understanding of migration, it sets out to clarify the field by exploring relevant concepts in a direct and engaging way. Each concept: Includes an easy to understand definition Provides real-world examples Gives suggestions for further reading Is carefully cross-referenced to other related concepts It is an ideal resource for undergraduate and post-graduate students studying migration in sociology, politics, development and throughout the social sciences, as well as scholars in the field and practitioners in governmental and non-governmental organizations.

The scope of individual learner differences is broad, yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now.

The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is the first reference work of its kind. The handbook contains twenty contributions from leading experts in the field of Chinese SLA, covering a wide range of topics such as social contexts, linguistic perspectives, skill learning, individual differences and learning settings and testing. Each chapter covers historical perspectives, core issues and key findings, research approaches, pedagogical implications, future research direction and additional references. The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Second Language Acquisition is an essential reference for Chinese language teachers and researchers in Chinese applied linguistics and second language acquisition.

Contributors to this book consider how researchers study human-animal relationships, focussing on the methodologies they use, and how these might give new insights into how humans relate to animal kind.