Task‐based language teaching (TBLT) has received considerable attention in the field of second or foreign language teaching from both supporters and critics. Since its early stages in the late 1970s to early 1980s, one of the main challenges in using TBLT has been to incorporate its principles (focus on meaning and focus on form) into second language (L2) classrooms. One particular issue of contention found in the literature relates to the considerable criticism it has received as it encouraged learner fluency at the expense of accuracy. This chapter aims to describe how L2 researchers' views have changed over time, currently focusing mostly on how focus form can be distributed across pre‐ and post‐task stages. This chapter provides practical ideas for teachers to balance focus on meaning and focus on form in their L2 classrooms.

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Second language learning anxiety has been a widely discussed topic in second language acquisition research. For many years, research findings that looked at correlations between anxiety and language performance were inconsistent until it was determined that second language anxiety should be treated as a situational phenomenon that involves a complex adaptive system of multiple physiological, behavioral, psychological, cognitive, and context‐specific factors. Teachers must become better prepared to ease their students' second language learning anxiety. These students need guidance to overcome the various challenges that they will face while learning new language skills, interacting with peers in the classroom, presenting in front of the class, or taking a test. With a renewed understanding of the complex nature of second language anxiety, this entry discusses pedagogical implications that range from anxiety‐reducing teaching practices to anxiety coping strategies.

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The second language (L2) speech production system is conceptualized within the information‐processing model of human cognition. Depending on the learner's proficiency, the production of speech is a challenging and conscious process rather than a natural and automatic one. It involves risk to “face,” so planning, monitoring, and rehearsal may be extensively utilized to cope with the lack of linguistic resources. When students are given the chance to practice the L2 in meaningful situations, it creates opportunities to negotiate meaning and receive online feedback. This communicative interaction helps learners construct a store of concrete “exemplars” that include associations of form‐meaning mappings, which can later be recalled to produce novel utterances. Thus, students' interaction during classroom activities facilitates access to information they have previously learned, and they incorporate it with new information they receive as they perform the task, allowing for their interlanguage to evolve.

Neuroplasticity in humans is characterized by the extraordinary ability of the human brain to adapt in response to environmental stimuli, cognitive demand, or behavioral experience. Cognitive brain research in recent decades, especially the past 20 years, has revealed that neuroplastic changes in response to experience can produce beneficial effects on cognition. Research has also shown that second language learning is mediated by changes in the brain, and that brain plasticity is involved in the successful adult second language learning outcomes. This entry examines the current literature on neurophysiology of second language learning and discusses implications and recommendations for second language pedagogy.

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When professor Celce-Murcia retired in 2002, she was interviewed by IAL; back then she talked a little about her early studies and educational background, and about changes she had witnessed not only in the field of applied linguistics and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) but also within our department, with our newly created undergraduate minor in TESL -Teaching English as a Second Language. In addition, she outlined two of her most impressive works: The Grammar Book (co-authored with Diane Larsen-Freeman) and Teaching Pronunciation (co-authored with Janet Goodwin and Donna Brinton). But contrary to what one would expect, retiring for her did not mean going home victoriously at last, to find the long-deserved and inviting arms of Morpheus; after all, she had already greatly contributed to society with an impressive list of accomplishments and hallmark books that are still hailed as the best of their kind. Instead, it was just the beginning of a new set of challenges and projects. In this interview, Marianne addresses some of the projects and hardships that awaited her after her retirement, along with her unexpected appointment to serve as dean of English programs at the American University of Armenia, and the creation and co-editing of an innovative discourse-based ESL textbook series.Professor Emerita of Applied Linguistics & TESL at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she taught and mentored graduate students for thirty years, Marianne Celce-Murcia has published widely in the areas of language teaching methodology (including discourse-based approaches), the teaching of pronunciation, and pedagogical grammar. She has administered various TESOL related programs around the world, including the UCLA ESL Service Course pro-