Lardiere's keynote article adverts to a succession of "units of comparison" that have been employed in the study of cross-linguistic differences, including mid-twentieth-century structural patterns, generative grammar's parameters, and (within contemporary Minimalism) features. This commentary expands on the idea of units of cross-linguistic…

Recommends the "distributional" and transformational grammar approach as especially suitable for developing a teaching grammar for dealing with the French simple infinitive and infinitive with "de". (IFS/WGA)

Second language learners must acquire a generative system of grammar. There is, as yet, no way of describing notions in generative terms. Long-term syllabuses will have to continue to be syntactically based, but the incorporation of notions from a checklist is acceptable. (Author/JB)

Outlines what Universal Grammar (UG) attempts to explain in first language (L1) acquisition and considers what research UG suggests for the area of second language (L2) learning. Suggest that L2 learners are faced with similar problems as L1 learners and that UG might have a role to play in L2 as well. (SED)

For the past 30 years, much has been written about the works of Noam Chomsky. A comparison is presented of the latest writings about Chomsky (in particular P.M.S. Hacker's 1990 work) with those written in the early 1960s. (CFM)

Addresses the issue of how we know what learners know based on evidence from second language (L2) learners' spontaneous speech samples gathered longitudinally. Examines some of the problems involved in the analysis of spontaneous speech, with focus on second language studies within the generative framework. Considers the effects of the comparative…

Criticizes attempts to incorporate transformational grammar into foreign language teaching, citing specific failures in experiments with the transformational grammar model. (IFS/WGA)

Examines the positive and negative features of traditional, transformational, and notional grammar as they relate to the teaching of French as a foreign language. (AM)

Reviews some aspects of word formation in foreign language teaching that are receiving attention in current discussions. (IFS/WGA)

Argues that Chomsky's theory of generative grammar provides a model for second language acquisition that meets the criteria of descriptive and exploratory adequacy in accounting for the language learning process. Illustrates this by presenting data on the acquisition of dative complements and dative questions in a passive context by second…

Replies to Mellow's (1996) criticism of the authors' second language acquisition model. The article argues that this model is based on the psychological concept of exchange of linguistic information and that Mellow's evaluation of various types of transformational analysis is irrelevant. The article also addresses several points of detail in…

The properties of "do", its distribution and meaning, are discussed. "Do" is one of the most common error-zones for Indian learners of English. Two analyses of "do" which account for the distribution and meaning of this element are presented. According to the transformational approach, "do" is introduced in…

Traces the history of linguistic theory as it has affected the field of second language instruction. (AM)

On the basis of evidence from general linguistic theory and psycholinguistic research, it is argued that the working hypotheses of the audiolingual habit theory are inconsistent with studies of human verbal learning tasks, and that transformation grammarians have shown convincingly that structuralist views of language are too narrow in scope. It…

Discusses the structuralist and the cognitivist theories of language learning, and emphasizes the importance of practice in second language learning. (AM)