Context effects in second language acquisition: formal instruction, study abroad and immersion classrooms

The aim of this introduction is to set the scene and present the three contexts on focus in the monograph and justify this choice of topic within second language acquisition (SLA) research, the perspective taken in this volume. Starting with the latter, in the past two decades the examination of the effects of different contexts of acquisition has attracted the attention of researchers, based on the idea that ?the study of SLA within and across various contexts of learning forces a broadening of our perspective of the different variables that affect and impede acquisition in general? (Collentine & Freed 2004: 157).