Challenges in ISLA: Theoretical, empirical, methodological, pedagogical, and curricular

ISLA has been in existence for over three and a half decades yet it is still conflated with SLA despite the obvious differences in affordances and type of processing between the two. Indeed, one major challenge in ISLA lies in an understanding or minimal acknowledgment of what comprises the real instructed setting, especially when viewed from a contextual, processing, and curricular perspective. A contextual perspective (instructed vs. naturalistic setting) clearly notes that the affordances provide in the latter are not remotely similar to those in the former. A processing perspective (explicit vs. implicit learning) reveals that in ISLA the former clearly predominates in the formal setting. A curricular perspective raises the simple question of where the language classroom is situated, that is, within a language curriculum that has, for example, goals, syllabi, textbooks, tests, and learning outcomes that place a serious demand on ISLA research to address them. To this end, how classroom research is viewed, with or without pedagogical ramifications derived from experimental findings, will have clear methodological implications for future ISLA research, especially in light of research designs (e.g., one-shot laboratory-based studies that do not hold potential pedagogical implications vs. longitudinal studies that are embedded within the language curriculum and that do hold pedagogical implications). This presentation will provide a succinct discussion on the theoretical, empirical, methodological, pedagogical, and curricular aspects of ISLA with the argument that a solid acknowledgment of these issues is of paramount importance if empirical research in ISLA is slated to address this instructed environment, potentially contribute to a better understanding of the L2 learning process, and optionally provide robust pedagogical ramifications. To address all these issues discussed above, an exemplar of a longitudinal study embedded within the language syllabus and curriculum that involves both teachers and students will be presented.