Cognitive variables such as attention, short, working, and long term memory, and automaticity of language processing are discussed in this book. It blends research from the cognitive sciences and applied linguistics.

Chapter 1. Attention. Richard Schmidt; Chapter 2. Memory for Language. Nick C. Ellis; Chapter 3. The Competition Model: The Input, the Context and the Brain. Brian MacWhinney; Chapter 4. Sentence Processing. Michael Harrington; Chapter 5. Automaticity and Automatization. Robert M. DeKeyser; Chapter 6. Learnability and Second Language Acquisition Theory. Kevin R. Gregg; Chapter 7. Cognition and Tasks. Peter Skehan and Pauline Foster; Chapter 8. Cognitive Underpinnings of Focus on Form. Catherine Doughty; Chapter 9. Intentional and Incidental Second Language Learning: A Reappraisal of Elaboration, Rehearsal and Automaticity. Jan H. Hulstijn; Chapter 10. Task Complexity, Cognitive Resources and Second Language Syllabus Design: A Triadic Framework for Examining Task Influences on SLA. Peter Robinson; Chapter 11. Aptitude, Individual Differences, and Instructional Design. Mark Sawyer and Leila Ranta; Chapter 12. Cognition, Instruction and Protocol Analysis