A key aspect of the acquisition of grammar for second language learners involves learning how to make appropriate connections between grammatical forms and the meanings which they typically signal. We argue that learning form/function mappings involves three interrelated principles. The first is the Given-to-New Principle, where existing world…

Argues that in the initial stages of learning a new form in a foreign language and its associated functions, communicative needs and learning needs are fundamentally opposed. Suggests that what is needed is an orientation to language that is based on prior familiarity with specific forms and meaning that can be used in discourse as anchors to…