ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies some structural problems that weaken Second language acquisition (SLA) as an embryonic discipline, as shown not so much by the charges themselves as by the reception they have been given in some quarters. It summarizes two representative critics' arguments in each case as fairly as possible, letting their own words speak for them, and then shows that most of the accusations are themselves naive and irrelevant, albeit potentially very damaging, nonetheless, which means that they need to be addressed. Theories of SLA differ, of course, in the significance of the role they attribute to the linguistic—let alone the social and sociolinguistic—environment, and researchers also differ in their interpretations of the empirical findings to date. Dating from the late 18-century Enlightenment, modernism is associated with beliefs in the self-motivated, rational subject, individual freedom, self-determination, the possibility of steady progress through scientific discovery, and a capacity for self-emancipation in the struggle for a more just, humane society.
