Mindscapes of Second Language Acquisition: A New Perspective on the Cognitive Inquiry of Language
Abstract
This book repositions second language acquisition (SLA) within cognitive science by developing a new epistemological framework for explaining language learning. Grounded in functional realism and contemporary mechanistic explanation, it advances the Causal-Mechanistic Systems Research Programme that retains a commitment to organised cognitive systems while incorporating complexity, embodiment, and sociality. From this perspective, the book reconsiders how L2 knowledge should be conceptualised, how language interacts with other dimensions of cognition, and how linguistic knowledge emerges and develops. Rather than treating descriptive categories, correlations, or task-dependent effects as explanations in themselves, it asks what underlying mechanisms generate the observable phenomena of SLA. By applying this perspective across major theoretical domains of second language research, the book presents SLA as a distinctive empirical arena for investigating the organisation, development, and adaptability of human cognition.
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BibTeX
@misc{fukuta2026mindscapes,
title = {{Mindscapes of Second Language Acquisition: A New Perspective on the Cognitive Inquiry of Language}},
author = {JUNYA FUKUTA},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/pb5wv_v3},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pb5wv_v3/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mindscapes of Second Language Acquisition: A New Perspective on the Cognitive Inquiry of Language
AU - JUNYA FUKUTA
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/pb5wv_v3
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/pb5wv_v3/
AB - This book repositions second language acquisition (SLA) within cognitive science by developing a new epistemological framework for explaining language learning. Grounded in functional realism and contemporary mechanistic explanation, it advances the Causal-Mechanistic Systems Research Programme that retains a commitment to organised cognitive systems while incorporating complexity, embodiment, and sociality. From this perspective, the book reconsiders how L2 knowledge should be conceptualised, how language interacts with other dimensions of cognition, and how linguistic knowledge emerges and develops. Rather than treating descriptive categories, correlations, or task-dependent effects as explanations in themselves, it asks what underlying mechanisms generate the observable phenomena of SLA. By applying this perspective across major theoretical domains of second language research, the book presents SLA as a distinctive empirical arena for investigating the organisation, development, and adaptability of human cognition.
ER -