Abstract:
Cognitive and psycholinguistic perspectives largely shaped early research in
Second Language Acquisition (SLA). These approaches, popular in the 1970s and
1980s, focused on how language learners processed input, internalized linguistic
structures, and produced output [6]. Although these models were influential, they
tended to treat learners as isolated individuals, paying limited attention to the social
environments, power dynamics, and shifting identities that shape language learning
experiences. As a result, early SLA research often overlooked how learners
understand themselves and how their experiences and identities change as they
acquire a new language.
