Measuring Competence in L2 Acquisition: Commentary on Part II

Abstract

This chapter argues that adults learning an L2 can access the principles of Universal Grammar (UG). Although there may be interference from the first language (LI), there are other factors involving the interaction of LI and L2 parameters. The English rule depends not only on phonological information, such as the syllable structures and positions within the word, but also morphological and syntactic information. Metrical parameters are a group of settings that characterize a part of the phonological system that captures the hierarchical nature of stress. Dresher and Kaye outlined a number of universal parameters for constructing metrical structures that take the form of labelled trees where various possibilities are expressed in terms of a series of binary parameters. Methodology study investigates the acquisition of English metrical parameters, stress placement, and syllable structure by adult second learners of English. The participants are native speakers of CA, a dialect of Egyptian Arabic spoken in Cairo.