“She was influential in the integration of linguistic theory and second lan-
guage acquisition.”“In later years, Gass and Mackey’s work in research
design is important.”
She was president of AILA for three years and a former president of AAAL.
Gass, S. (2013)Input, Interaction and the Second Language Learner, New
York: Routledge.
Gass, S. (2013)Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, New
York: Routledge.
Stephen Pit Corder
Pit Corder, who passed away in 1990, was a foundingfigure in SLA. He
popularized the idea of“interlanguage”and made the AL community aware
of the significance of learner errors. He co-edited the famous Edinburgh
series that paved the way for AL to develop.
“He alerted thefield to the creative nature of‘errors’.”“He was a source
of inspiration for a whole generation.”“He has been influential through his
cooperation with many researchers who later became leaders in thefield.”
Corder, S. P. (1967)“The significance of learner’s errors”,International
Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, vol. 5, no. 1–4: 161–70.
Corder, S. (1981)Error Analysis and Interlanguage, Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Stephen Krashen
Stephen Krashen started out as a neurolinguist but has been extremely
influential through his work on the natural approach to language teaching.
His bookPrinciples and Practice of Second Language Acquisitionis mentioned
frequently as one of the most influential books in the last decades. His
recent work is on advocacy for minority language users.
“Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell strove to let the world know that
learning second languages was‘natural’.”“Knows how to make research
relevant for teachers.”“Captivating speaker.”“An activist in minority language
education.”
Krashen, S. (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language
Learning, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Krashen, S. (1982)Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition,
Oxford: Pergamon.
Chris Candlin
Chris Candlin promoted communicative language teaching through various
publications. His more recent interests lie in the use of language teaching in
professional communities for which he works, for example healthcare pro-
fessionals. Rather than through his own research and publications, he has
44 The leaders