Second language acquisition in Brazil since the social turn

ABSTRACT The present study is an appraisal of the literature that has been published in second language acquisition (SLA) in Brazil since what is widely known as the social turn in the field (BLOCK, 2003). The objective of such an examination is to assess the impact that the social turn has had upon SLA research in the country. One hundred forty-one texts (among articles from top-ranked journals, theses, dissertations, and books) were systematically reviewed and categorized based on three main criteria: a) main topics, b) SLA frameworks/approaches, and c) methods used. The results show that socially-guided research seems to have gained space in SLA in Brazil since the social turn; however, cognitivist work in the country is still very strong, and little dialog seems to occur among these different perspectives on SLA.