The present study investigated second language (L2) learners’ acquisition of automatic word recognition and the development of L2 orthographic representation in the mental lexicon. Participants in the study were Japanese university students enrolled in a compulsory course involving a weekly 30-minute sustained silent reading (SSR) activity with graded readers for 12 weeks. They completed the ma...

With over a decade of fruitful Universal Grammar (UG)-based research in second language acquisition (SLA), White (in press) suggests that "...perhaps the time has come to stop asking the broad question: is UG available to second language (L2) learners or not? ... but it is now the turn of a somewhat more detailed focus on the precise nature of the linguistic competence of language learners". Th...

Abstract This study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of a constraint on definiteness in Japanese floating numeral quantifiers (NQs) by native English and Korean speakers. The arises because specific structural relation between NQ its associated noun, resulting an obligatorily indefinite interpretation. indirect – or, covert encoding this structure allows investigation predictio...

Vocabulary acquisition is a cognitive activity that poses significant challenge to second language learners. Non-literal language, particularly metaphor, has long been recognized as potent and linguistic tool for expressing understanding abstract concepts, emotions, experiences. However, some contend learning non-literal may impede L2 vocabulary acquisition. This research paper aimed investigat...