Poverty of the stimulus has been at the heart of ferocious and tear-filled debates at the nexus of psychology, linguistics, and philosophy for decades. This review is intended as a guide for readers without a formal linguistics or philosophy background, focusing on what poverty of the stimulus is and how it's been interpreted, which is…

This paper sets out to peruse the role of various theories or more precisely, hypotheses invoked in second language acquisition (SLA) research by surveying three empirical studies pertaining to the critical period hypothesis in the SLA of phonetics and phonology. In particular, the three studies reviewed are titled in chronological order as (1)…

Research synthesis and meta-analysis provide a pathway to bring together findings in a given domain with greater systematicity, objectivity, and transparency than traditional reviews. The same techniques and corresponding benefits can be and have been applied to examine methodological practices in second language (L2) research (e.g., Plonsky,…

This paper synthesizes cross-sectional studies of the effect of proficiency on second language (L2) pragmatics to answer the synthesis question: Does proficiency affect adult learners' pragmatic competence? Findings have revealed an overall positive proficiency effect on pragmatic competence, and in most cases higher proficiency learners have…

This article critically reviews strategy research on learning Chinese both as a second and foreign language. Through a careful examination of major data bases in both the Chinese and English languages, the article summarizes research in the field and the principal research methods used in the studies reviewed. Moreover, key limitations in research…

Case studies provide detailed comparisons, arranged alphabetically by title for ease of reference, of 26 problems in Modern English grammar, from both the old grammar (OG) and new grammar (NG) viewpoints. This A-Z approach juxtaposes contributions made by OG and NG to the description of Modern English grammar. Part I surveys large OG and NG…

Asserts that many aspects of the second-language learning and teaching process are not amenable to experimentation at the present time and that case studies, that is, studies of the individual learner, teacher, or classroom, are valuable as precursors to experimentation. (Author/SED)

Defining peak as the climax of discourse, this paper argues that it is important to identify peak in order to get at the overall grammar of a given discourse. The paper presents case studies in which four instances of peak in narrative discourses occur in languages from four different parts of the world. It also illustrates the occurrence of a…

Presents a critical review of the published accounts of the "Genie Case," involving psycholinguistic research conducted by Susan Curtiss and others in the 1970s with an adolescent with extremely limited language ability. The review maintains that serious discrepancies still remain in the accounts of the subject's language abilities. (21…

This paper suggests that one possibility for the lack of study emphasis and unity of understanding in the area of dual language development is that language study in general shows some serious gaps and reveals a need for viewing language development as a holistic endeavor. Noting the failures of Skinnerian theory, Chomskian theory, Soviet…

A discussion of diary studies, research on second language learning and teaching that uses student journals about the learning experience, defines the method, reviews a number of such studies, and examines the pros and cons of this approach. It is noted that diary studies are first-person case study research, a form of empirical (data-based)…

Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues: minority labeling, the relationship between cognition and bilingualism, "normal" data on bilingual development, and monolingual versus bilingual environment for children experiencing delay. This paper concentrates on reviewing…

A study of children's acquisition of synonymy as a sense-property during the second childhood period (as defined by Piaget) suggests that, contrary to psychologists' claims, nominal realism is a linguistic phenomenon that should be studied as such. (75 references) (Author/CB)

Summarizes existing research on the use and teaching of learning strategies, and presents six situational case studies of strategy training. A research-based strategy training model is proposed, as well as other instructional ideas for strategy training in the second-language classroom. (116 references) (Author/CB)

Suggests a methodology for studying second language acquisition that is concerned with gaining insight into the use, development, and possible fossilization of interlanguage in important real-life situations. Specific interest is focused on the understanding ability of the non-native speaker to use English in discussing a technical field. (65…