Abstract
A Critical Review of the Concept-Oriented Approach in Second Language Acquisition: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Misconceptions
The main starting point of functionalist approaches is to investigate form-to-function or function-to-form mappings in learners’ interlanguage and developmental sequences of these mappings in second language acquisition (SLA). The term function here is used as meaning or concept, and one of the functionalist approaches is called the concept-oriented approach. Concept-oriented approach is not presented as a theory of SLA because it does not aim to do so but it is used as a framework mainly by Bardovi-Harlig (2015). However, it might actually respond to some of the questions that SLA researchers are interested in. Thus, critical evaluation of this approach by identifying its strengths and weaknesses and considering some misconceptions related to its scope is necessary. In this respect, our aim in this paper is to critically review the concept-oriented approach and identify some possible doorways for expanding the framework for a more widespread use in research studies considering the lack of studies on this approach.
Keywords
functionalist approaches, function-to-form, interlanguage,