Over the past few decades, there has appeared a disagreement and debate among second language scholars on how a second language is learnt. It seems that such disputes never end as the field of SLL is active, productive and complicated (Atkinson, 2011; Mitchel & Myles, 2004; Ortega, 2011). Despite this depute, the cognitive, socio-cultural and socio-cognitive theories greatly influence the domain of SLL in general and English as a foreign language (EFL) in particular. In this paper, my principal goal is to introduce these current theories and their applications in EFL classrooms at the tertiary level. I will begin by looking at the cognitive theory, I then continue to look at the socio-cultural perspective and finally, I will introduce a newer theory in SLL, the socio-cognitive theory. The last section will provide brief summaries of some studies on higher education (HE) EFL learning and teaching, drawing on these perspectives. This empirical evidence shows that understanding the knowledge of a language is a valuable source for EFL teachers and learners in situating their instructions and learning experiences. Keywords: Second language, SLL, EFL, cognitivism, social-cultural perspective, socio-cognitive theory