Language, people, classrooms, world: Blending disparate theories for united language education practices

Abstract

With a forward‐looking and problem‐solving mindset, this article aims to combine theoretical knowledge and empirical evidence from different schools of thought in the field of second language (L2) learning and teaching—namely, instructed second language acquisition, generative linguistics, and an ecological perspective that includes multiple frameworks. Acknowledging numerous fundamental differences in our theoretical and methodological perspectives on how to conduct research, we are united on two fronts: First, we believe that researchers with differing theoretical commitments can and should work together to advance L2 research. Second, differing theoretical beliefs are potentially of limited relevance to those who will implement our pedagogical suggestions, that is, practitioners. In this article, we first present our individual perspectives regarding L2 learning and teaching (Perspective 1 by Michel and Sato, Perspective 2 by Alexopoulou, and Perspective 3 by Thorne and Hellermann). In the final section of the article, we unite our voices by prioritizing the educational practices upon which we agree, including the fact that all L2 learners bring their individual backgrounds into the classroom, the necessity of L2 use for L2 learning, and the role of L2 education for people's overall quality of life.