A Brief Review of Microgenetic Method in Second Language Acquisition Research

Abstract

Microgenetic method is a specific method emerging in cognitive psychology. Over the past two decades, an increasing number of cognitive psychologists adopted this method to investigate the trajectory and mechanism of cognitive development with a focus on the variability within a specific group or subject. This paper provided a brief overview of microgenetic method and listed its potential advantages and disadvantages in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Meanwhile, systematical evaluation of the current empirical research indicates that although microgenetic method has good adaptability in SLA research, especially for studying sociocultural approaches and frequency effects, research gap still exists which worth further investigation.