Jan Hulstijn
Jan H. Hulstijn is a Dutch applied linguist and Professor Emeritus of Second Language Acquisition at the University of Amsterdam. He has spent his career on the cognitive mechanics of L2 vocabulary learning, implicit and explicit knowledge, and, more recently, a broader theory of "basic" and "higher" language cognition.
Hulstijn's best-known single contribution is the Involvement Load Hypothesis (with Batia Laufer, 2001), which argued that vocabulary retention depends on a task's motivational and cognitive load: need, search, and evaluation. The hypothesis was attractive precisely because it was testable, and it has generated a substantial replication and contestation literature. Beyond it, his career-long concern has been with why some language becomes effortful, automatic, or schooled, and what this means for assessment and theory.
Career
- PhD from the University of Amsterdam
- Long career at the University of Amsterdam, Professor of SLA until retirement
- Editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition
- Past president of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA)
Published Work
- Laufer, B. & Hulstijn, J. (2001). "Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement." Applied Linguistics 22.
- Language Proficiency in Native and Non-Native Speakers: Theory and Research (2015)
- Influential articles on implicit/explicit knowledge and automatization
Influence
- The Involvement Load Hypothesis is a core reference in vocabulary task design
- Framed much of the debate on incidental vs intentional vocabulary acquisition
- His later Basic Language Cognition / Higher Language Cognition framework feeds into large-scale assessment debates