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Second Language Acquisition Theory: The legacy of Professor Michael H. Long
Edited by Alessandro G. Benati and John W. Schwieter
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 14] 2022
► pp. 9–28

Chapter 2
Taking the Long view

A bibliometric analysis

 | Michigan State University
 | Northern Arizona University
 | Michigan State University
By any definition, Michael Long was a giant in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). He was one of the very few who could truly wed language learning and language teaching which he did in a seamless fashion. His impact is far-reaching and envelops a number of different areas as we will show in this chapter. He was remarkable in his encyclopedic knowledge of the field (and beyond), including access to what had come before and what was current. It was common to hear him say “As so and so showed in 2003…” with his listeners often thinking “How did he remember that?” The first author of this paper was always in awe of his numerous contributions to the fields of language learning and language teaching and his ability to see the big picture. We started our careers at about the same time (Gass received her PhD in 1979 and Mike received his in 1980) and our interests in those early years paralleled each other’s. His work influenced the work of Gass and one would hope that there was bidirectionality in this influence. Our paths crossed personally and professionally and so his death is both a personal loss as well as a tremendous loss to the field (see Ortega’s, 2021 tribute). In this paper we will have the easy task of demonstrating his impact. We include an objective consideration of his areas of influence as well as an analysis of citations of Mike’s work. Finally, we discuss how his research areas have been an influential force in the development of the field of SLA.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Long’s impact
    • 1.1Citations
    • 1.2Indices
    • 1.3Other indications of impact
    • 1.4Impact beyond publications
  • 2.Bibliometric analysis
    • 2.1Data
    • 2.2Analysis
      • 2.2.1Task-based language teaching and learning
      • 2.2.2Input/interaction
      • 2.2.3Ultimate attainment
  • 3.Discussion
    • 3.1Task based language teaching and learning
    • 3.2Input/interaction
    • 3.3Ultimate attainment
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 11 August 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.14.02gas
References (37)
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