The Earliest Stages of Language Learning: Introduction

This volume brings together work by researchers who examine the nature of language learning but who normally do not publish in the same journals, go to the same conferences, or consider themselves as working in the same field (e.g., second-language acquisition). Yet they share common questions, such as: How do the resources that learners of a new language bring to the task affect learning, and what are the mechanisms that govern language learning? To answer these questions, they have all decided that phenomena of language learning (and acquisition, for those inclined to distinguish the two) need to be studied in populations for which preexisting knowledge is homogeneous and with tight control over the input that the learners receive, thereby minimizing the influence of the notoriously wide range of variables affecting second-language learning. As a consequence, they study learners who are exposed to a new language for the first time. The authors differ with respect to their views on what type of language should be learned, ranging from natural to artificial, and in which setting, ranging from mere exposure over classroom instruction to laboratory experiments. Given the immense difficulties involved in controlling for the linguistic knowledge that second-language learners bring to the task, using artificial