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 the m...

Previous research has provided evidence that second language (L2) learners use gesture to enhance spoken communication with interlocutors, and that gesture facilitates L2 word learning. The current study investigates how L2 learners use gesture to communicate in conversational settings, and whether their gesturing in these settings facilitates L2 acquisition beyond the immediate context. The re...

Given that this special issue is devoted to the acquisition and processing of inflectional morphology by second language (L2) learners, the question in the title may appear redundant. However, recent research on first language (L1) and L2 morphological processing has challenged basic assumptions about the status of inflectional morphology in linguistic processing that had long been taken for gr...

Early second language has been defined as a restricted linguistic system that can offer a “window” on language genesis. In this paper, I model the acquisition of negation by L2 (adult) learners as a sequence of constraint rankings in the framework of Optimality Theory. The rankings shift from pragmatics via conventionalization of negation as a focus operator to syntax. Early language is argued ...

Listening is an important language skill to develop in terms of second language acquisition (SLA). In spite of its importance, second language (L2) learners often regard listening as the most difficult language skill to learn. This paper reviews a variety of recent research on listening comprehension to provide a basis for creating more effective listening instruction. It begins with a brief di...

The role of age in second language (L2) acquisition is a subject of much debate. The paper is to examine the role of age in L2 acquisition. In this context, the paper firstly introduces Lenneberg’s (1967) Critical period hypothesis, then further development of the hypothesis made by Johnson and Newport (1989) is offered. Following this, Felix’s (1994) Competition Model and Bley-Vroman’s (1990) ...

We present a new feedback strategy implemented in a natural-language-generation-based e-learning system for German as second language (L2). Although the system recognizes a large proportion of the grammar errors in learner-produced written sentences, its automatically generated feedback only addresses errors against rules that are relevant at the learner’s current L2 acquisition stage. This app...