Generative SLA Research Articles

生成文法理論に基づくSLAリサーチの可能性 : 制約・知識からデータ・教育へ

生成文法理論に基づくSLAリサーチの可能性 : 制約・知識からデータ・教育へ

The relationship between L2 instruction, exposure, and the L2 acquisition of a syntax–discourse property in L2 Spanish

This article uses the clitic left dislocation (CLLD) construction in L2 Spanish to investigate whether generative SLA has valuable insights to contribute to language teaching. Although CLLD is a structure that is commonly used by native speakers, as reported anecdotally and in at least one corpus, we found that native-Spanish and native-English teachers of Spanish have little metalinguistic knowledge of it. Crucially, we also found that CLLD does not appear consistently in Spanish textbooks. Additionally, it appears to be infrequent in the classroom input that learners receive, as we found in three lectures we recorded and tallied for CLLD usage rates. At the same time, study results show that the construction is learnable. Study abroad, that is, exposure to naturalistic input, appears to be a significant factor. Based on these collective findings, we suggest that learners at intermediate proficiency levels should be exposed to CLLD and that generative SLA is valuable to teachers in identifying such gaps in instruction.

We Have Moved On: Current Concepts and Positions in Generative SLA

In this Forum piece, we address several common misunderstandings of the generative L2A framework that are current in the wider L2A literature. Many of these misunderstandings stem from proposals that, although tested and eventually discarded, are still cited as though they were still accepted and in active use. We hope that by addressing four of the most persistent myths, we can persuade the wider L2A field to let them go and move on. By highlighting what generative researchers have in common with the proponents of other frameworks, we want to pave the way for increased collaboration between frameworks.

Reaching out to the other side: Formal-linguistics-based SLA and Socio-SLA

AbstractGenerative linguistics has long been concerned with the linguistic competence of the “ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community, who knows its language perfectly” (Chomsky 1965: 3). Research in formal-linguistics-based second language acquisition takes as its starting point the second language (L2) speaker's underlying mental representation. Here the factors of interest are influence of the learner's native language and, in generative SLA, the operation of innate linguistic mechanisms (Universal Grammar). Similar to methodology in formal syntax, lxSLA adopts techniques such as grammaticality judgment, comprehension and perception tasks supplementing spontaneously produced oral data. While there may be individual differences in oral production, tasks that tap learners' mental representations reveal commonalities across learners from a given native language background with the same amount/ type of exposure and age of initial L2 exposure. When it comes to phonology, age has long been a central factor with numerous comparative studies showing younger learners far outperforming older learners (see Piske et al. 2001). This paper discusses a case of possible non-acquisition by L2 children who had had considerable exposure to the L2. Children's non-acquisition is only apparent, and this allows us to consider the value of lxSLA methodology on the one hand, and and raises issues about what might be lacking in the current socio-SLA paradigm, on the other. We argue that only when we return to the cooperation that marked its birth in the 1960s will we have a comprehensive picture of SLA.

Experimental Methodologies: Two Case Studies Investigating the Syntax- Discourse Interface

Abstract The current article examines two experimental investigations of the syntaxdiscourse interface, which address theoretical questions in different ways: the first is an L1 investigation of Galician speakers in Gupton (2010) and the second is a dual investigation of L1 and L2 Spanish reported on in Leal Méndez & Slabakova (2011). These investigations gathered quantitative data via psycholinguistic tasks with accompanying audio utilizing the WebSurveyor platform. They involved counterbalanced designs and were followed by statistical analysis. While acknowledging that experimental data does not have primacy over intuitive data, the authors endorse the use of experimental methods of data elicitation (such as the ones already used in generative SLA research) in theoretical syntax in order to avoid experimenter bias and to get a more complete picture of native speaker intuition and competencies.

INQUIRIES IN LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT: IN HONOR OF LYDIA WHITE

INQUIRIES IN LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT: IN HONOR OF LYDIA WHITE. Roumyana Slabakova, Silvina A. Montrul, and Philippe Prevost (Eds.) . Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2006. Pp. vi + 363. $156.00 cloth. As noted by one of the contributors to this Festschrift volume, Lydia White is widely regarded as the ostensible mother of research in SLA from a generative linguistics perspective. This volume consists of an introduction and 14 chapters edited and written by McGill University alumni who have studied with White. The collection covers an impressive range of topics, mostly in generative SLA, in various linguistic domains including phonology, morphosyntax, lexical and formal semantics, the syntax-discourse/pragmatics interface, and language processing. There are also chapters on first language (L1) acquisition, third language acquisition, bilingualism, and language attrition among heritage language speakers.

Second Language (L2) English and Third Language (L3) French Article Acquisition by Native Speakers of Cantonese

This paper looks at the acquisition of articles and related nominal functional properties (the status of classifier, the singular–plural distinction) in English and French by native speakers of Hong Kong Cantonese. Two experimental studies are reported. In the generative SLA literature, there is disagreement as to which properties of the grammar will transfer from the first language (L1) at early stages of L2 acquisition and what the path of subsequent development might look like. We present L1 Cantonese–L2 English as well as L1 Cantonese–L2 English–L3 French data collected from learners of different proficiency levels on a variety of experimental tasks to shed light on these debates. Our findings largely support Full Transfer Full Access, a position that posits strong transfer and no impairment in SLA.