This course provides students with a broad grounding on the generative, cognitive, sociocultural, and sociolinguistic dimensions of how languages are learned. Topics that center on the generative and cognitive aspects of language learning include the effect of one’s first language on the acquisition of second or subsequent languages, universal constraints in language acquisition, the effect of a critical period (i.e. age effects) on learning languages, the influence of explicit/implicit instruction, corrective feedback, and interaction. Topics to be discussed on the social dimension cover both learner-internal factors such as motivation, affect, agency and identity, and learner-external factors such as how social context affects language learning, at both the conversational and situational level, and social and cultural level.