This experimental study investigated the learners’ integrative acquisition of obligatory overt subjects and subject-verb clause agreement in English as an L2. In L1 acquisition research, correlations between superficially unrelated linguistic phenomena are analyzed in terms of integrative effects. For instance, in English L1 acquisition, there is evidence for an integrative appearance of subjec...

L2 researchers have debated the significance of the lexicon in addition to the relevance of acquiring syntax, in the learning of an L2. (Huckin et.al, 1993; Haastrup, 1991) and other researchers in the field of SLA recognize the fact that learners’ knowledge of words from context assists them in the comprehension of unfamiliar words that they encounter in their reading materials. Academic readi...

according to a basic prediction made by the revised hierarchical model (rhm,kroll & stewart, 1994), there is no l2 conceptual connection at the beginning stages of language learning as l2 learners mostly rely on l1 conceptual connections to retrieve the meaning of the l2 words.with increasing proficiency, however, there would be a direct access from l2 to the conceptual system. available litera...

although the majority of linguists believing in chomskyan revolution have no doubt about the presence of ug in ll acquisition, its availability in l2 acquisition _in general, and in adult l2 acquisition in particular, is controversial. on the one hand, there are proponents of the access to ug in l2 acquisition, lidia white for example, says: therange of option available to the second language l...

If first language is rational in the sense that acquisition produces an end-state model of language that is a proper reflection of input and that optimally prepares speakers for comprehension and production, second language is usually not. This paper considers the apparent irrationalities of L2 acquisition, that is the shortcomings where input fails to become intake. It describes how ‘learned a...

In his seminal paper on the ‘fundamental difference’ between first and second language (L1 and L2) acquisition, Bley-Vroman (1990) proposed that this disparity is due to the lack of continued access to Universal Grammar and the unavailability of ‘domain-specific learning procedures’ beyond a critical period in child language development. He considered four possible alternative accounts of this ...

     This project investigates the relationship between lexical semantics and causative morphology in the acquisition of causative/inchoative-related verbs in English as a foreign language by Iranian speakers. Results of translation and picture judgment task show although L2 learners have largely acquired the correct lexico-syntactic classification of verbs in English, they were constrained by ...

A basic issue in the neurosciences of language is whether an L2 can be processed through the same neural mechanism underlying L1 acquisition and processing. In the present paper I review data from functional neuroimaging studies focusing on grammatical and lexico-semantic processing in bilinguals. The available evidence indicates that the L2 seems to be acquired through the same neural structur...