Second language acquisition researchers often face particular challenges when attempting to generalize study findings to the wider learner population. For example, language learners constitute a heterogeneous group, and it is not always clear how a study's findings may generalize to other individuals who may differ in terms of language background…

The present study analyzes morphological productivity for complex verbs in second language acquisition by analyzing a corpus of German as a Foreign Language (GFL). It shows that advanced learners of GFL use prefix and particle verbs relatively frequently and productively but less so than native speakers do and discusses these findings in the light…

I will propose a tentative framework of how words in two languages could be organized in the cerebral cortex based on neural assembly theory, according to which neurons that fire synchronously are bound into large-scale distributed functional units (assemblies), which represent a mental event as a whole ("gestalt"). For language this…

In the past 15 years, a substantial body of evidence has confirmed that a powerful distributional learning mechanism is present in infants, children, adults and (at least to some degree) in nonhuman animals as well. The present article briefly reviews this literature and then examines some of the fundamental questions that must be addressed for…

Listening comprehension plays a key role in language acquisition, yet little is known about the variables that contribute to the development of second language (L2) listening ability. This study sought to obtain empirical evidence for the impact of some of the learner variables and the degree to which they might predict success in L2 listening.…

Studies about bilingualism and second language acquisition (SLA) have a long tradition within linguistic and psycholinguistic research. The contributions from psycholinguistic research are crucial to the improvement of neurolinguistic models. This importance stems from the fact that psycholinguistic research is posing more specific questions than…

This article argues that a native-speaker baseline is a neglected dimension of studies into second language (L2) performance. If we investigate how learners perform language tasks, we should distinguish what performance features are due to their processing an L2 and which are due to their performing a particular task. Having defined what we mean…

Responds to a previous article on emergentism, connectionism, and language learning. Suggests that connectionist models of emergent language knowledge will continue to be important in the years to come. (Author/JL)

Examines perspectives from which foreign language anxiety research has been conducted, the instruments that have been used, and the results that have been reported. Three approaches to the study of anxiety are identified as trait, state, and situation specific perspectives. (68 references) (VWL)

It is argued that if theoretical goals are formulated to account for language learnability, a different markedness construct than the linguistic and psycholinguistic constructs usually applied is necessary--the projection model. The theoretical considerations for such a model are delineated, and the model is tested. (MSE)

Reviews processing (PI) instruction, outlines a model of input processing, describes the nature of PI, and discusses research on it to date. (Author/VWL)

Responds to VanPatten's update of the findings for processing instruction. Questions the explanatory adequacy of the model of input processing that VanPatten proposed and that underpins his pedagogic proposals. Questions the validity of the limited-capacity, single-resource model of attention proposed for second language learning. (Author/VWL)

Proposes a revision and expansion of Schumann's (1978b) model of pidginization as it relates to second language learning. A distinction is made between sociocultural aspects of the pidginization cycle and the acquisitional processes of pidginization, creolization, and decreolization. (Author/AM)

Proposes that a second-language acquisition research paradigm using Universal Grammar (1) did not consider the paradigm's theoretical and logical basis; (2) simplistically interpreted the parameter-setting paradigm; (3) and made false assumptions regarding statistical analysis methods and regarding the empirical facts of language processing. An…

Answers to theoretical questions about the place of input in a formal second language acquisition model are dependent on a distinction between two kinds of learner hypotheses. Type-N hypotheses require "negative evidence" for testing, while Type-P hypotheses are tested on the basis of "positive data" alone. (Author/CB)