Reflections on the Development of Contrastive Domain of Second Language Education: An Overview

The current paper reflects on the evolving course and place of contrastive aspects of second language research. It attempts to give a concise overview of the related cross-linguistic perspectives over the last decades and elucidates their ascribed nuts and bolts in order to shed further light on the role and significance of cross-linguistic studies in second language research from the past up until now. To this end, the author expressly elaborates on different versions of Contrastive Analysis (CA) to come up with a clear picture of 'contrastive' genre of second language education. The paper concludes that notwithstanding of its inconsistent influence, the contrastive realm of second language education has firmly abided and has dynamically maintained its sphere of influence in L2 research.