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Article published In: Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 51:3 (2016) ► pp.236–251

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Research meets practice

Holding off and holding on

 | Teachers College, Columbia University
Published online: 2 February 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.51.3.01han
At the recent CLTA-S2 conference, a spirited debate occurred between critics of second language acquisition (SLA) research and researchers who embraced it. Fascinating as it was, neither camp appeared to have convinced the other, but, more important, the debate left much of the audience flummoxed. In this paper, I intend to provide a follow-up, attempting to clarify a) the relationship between research and teaching in the context of Chinese as a second language (CSL), b) misunderstandings on the part of critics over research findings, and c) potential pitfalls in interpreting the SLA literature. My goal is to encourage, as well as contribute to, further communication between the two camps, for the ultimate good of CSL instruction and learning.
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