1. How are languages learned?
Introduction to second language acquisition. First language vs. second language learning.
Popular beliefs on language learning.
Reading:
Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. (2006). Popular ideas about language learning revisited. How Languages are Learned. Oxford University Press, pp. 201–212.

2. How is foreign language learning / second language acquisition studied?
SLA Research and its methodology

Reading:
Dörnyei, Z. & Ushioda E. (2011). Main types and methods of motivation research. Teaching and researching motivation. 2^nd ed. Harlow: Longman, pp. 212–245.

3. What can affect the process of learning?
Factors influencing SLA. Introduction to individual learner differences.

Reading:
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The individual differences paradigm: the myth and the problems. The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 179–187.

4. How does what learners believe about learning affect the process?
Learner beliefs.

Reading:
Horwitz, E. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal, 72, pp. 283 – 294.
Winke, P. & Amuzie, G. (2009). Changes in language learning beliefs as a result of study abroad. System, 37, pp. 366 – 379.

5. Do people learn better under stress or when they have fun?
Affective states: anxiety/enjoyment.

Reading:
Horwitz, E. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154-167.
Dewaele, J. M. & MacIntyre, P. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4, pp. 237-274.

6. How does motivation help?
Motivation as the key factor

Reading:
Duff, P. (2017). Commentary: Motivation for Learning Languages Other Than English in an English-Dominant World. The Modern Language Journal, 101, pp. 597–607.
Dörnyei, Z. & Ushioda E. (2011). The L2 Motivation Self System. Teaching and researching motivation. 2^nd ed. Harlow: Longman, pp. 79–87.

7. What do learners report on their own learning?
Empirical research – diary studies

Reading:
Fry, J. (1988). Diary studies in classroom SLA research. Problems and prospects. JALT Journal, 9 (2), 158–167.

8. Should the only language in the classroom be the target one?
Using mother tongue/ mediating language in a FL classroom.
Reading:
Busse, V. & Walter, C. (2013). Foreign language learning motivation in higher education: A longitudinal study of motivational changes and their causes. Modern Language Journal, 97 (2), pp. 435–456.

9. What strategies do language learners use?
Learning styles and learning strategies.
Reading:
Ellis, R. (2008). Learning strategies. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: OUP, pp.529–545.

10. The younger, the better? Is there a best age to start learning a language?
Reading:
Ellis, R. (2008). General factors contributing to individual differences in SLA. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: OUP, pp.484–494.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The age effect and its possible sources. The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 249–263.

11. Do smart people learn faster? Does a talkative person perform better?
Intelligence, language aptitude, personality.