Increased second language acquisition (SLA) research interest in the effect of planning on subsequent L2 oral production has typically examined the effect of planning on the syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and/or fluency (CALF) of L2 production. However, the results of research in this domain are inconclusive. This study, a…

In the past two decades, syntactic complexity measures (e.g. the length or number of words per clause/t-unit/sentences and number of clauses per t-unit/sentence, and types of clauses used) have been widely used to determine and benchmark language proficiency development in speaking and writing. (Norris and Ortega 2009; Lu 2011). However, the…

Heritage Language Instruction (HLI) is a resource used in many immigration-receiving countries that allows students with an immigrant background to continue to be in contact with their Heritage Language (HL). However, many of the psycholinguistic effects of this instruction are still unknown. This study aims to provide an in-depth view of the…

This study investigates the differential effects of a task-based inside-school intervention and an outside-school project intervention on the development of speaking skills of 56 beginner second language (L2)-learners. The study extends previous research by looking at development across multiple occasions instead of two (i.e., a pretest and…

This study investigates the effects of corpus use on second language (L2) vocabulary learning as well as the influence of moderators on effectiveness. Based on 29 studies representing 38 unique samples, all of which met several criteria for inclusion (e.g. with control groups), we found an overall positive medium-sized effect of corpus use on L2…

This article provides an overview of the research on morpho-syntactic challenges in Swedish-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD), compared with typically developing (TD) children learning Swedish as their first and second language (L1/L2). Children with DLD show vulnerabilities with verb finiteness, the possessive…

Conversely to plenty of studies describing how L1 transfer affects L2 systems, where the two grammars, L1/L2, often only come to interact later in life, less is known of dominant language transfer in heritage language grammars. Unlike in L2 speakers, the dominant language of the heritage speaker potentially affects its weaker language already from…

This longitudinal study examined growth patterns of written syntactic complexity of Turkish learners of English. Using a nonexperimental corpus of 852 writing samples by 284 English as a foreign language (EFL) learners over three semesters, the study addressed the following questions: which indices of syntactic complexity characterize the writing…

Do adults learn the same syntactic second language (L2) form explicitly and implicitly simultaneously during meaning-based exposure, and does the type of learning (explicit and/or implicit) affect subsequent performance. In this study, 81 anglophones completed comprehension tasks providing incidental exposure to a semi-artificial language (English…

Foreign language (FL) knowledge has been shown to contribute significantly to FL reading performance. Studies have contrasted the contribution of FL vocabulary and syntactic knowledge, following a dichotomous view of these components, producing mixed results. Despite the increasingly recognized formulaic nature of language, the contribution made…

Language aptitude comprises cognitive and perceptual abilities that predispose individuals to learn well or rapidly (Carroll 1981; Doughty et al. 2007) and that can interplay with age by moderating its effects on learning outcomes. Although there is agreement regarding the importance of aptitude, findings have been mixed regarding its role in…

Communicative adequacy is a key construct in second language research, as the primary goal of most language learners is to communicate successfully in real-world situations. Nevertheless, little is known about what linguistic features contribute to communicatively adequate speech. This study fills this gap by investigating the extent to which…

A number of studies attest to the late language learner's ability to attain native-like outcomes in morphology and syntax, with accent often the only linguistic hint of their non-native status. Nevertheless, some do end up sounding native-like despite a late start. This article explores possible explanations for "exceptional"…

This longitudinal case study follows a dynamic systems approach to investigate an under-studied research area in second language acquisition, the development of complexity and accuracy for an advanced untutored learner of English. Using the analytical tools of dynamic systems theory (Verspoor et al. 2011) within the framework of complexity,…

This article provides a selective overview of recent event-related brain potential (ERP) studies in L2 morpho-syntax, demonstrating that the ERP evidence supporting the critical period hypothesis (CPH) may be less compelling than previously thought. The article starts with a general introduction to ERP methodology and language-related ERP profiles…