This study proposes an explanatory account for the developmental stages of the acquisition of ser and estar in locative constructions. We propose that this copular distribution is regulated by two aspectual features, "dynamicity" and "temporal boundedness." These features are crucial for the interpretation of nominals such as…

The results of a self-paced reading study with advanced German, Dutch and French second language (L2) learners of English showed that their online comprehension of early closure (EC) sentences which are initially misanalysed by native English speakers (e.g. "While John hunted the frightened rabbit escaped") was affected by whether or…

Morphological complexity (MC) is a relatively new construct in second language acquisition (SLA). After critically discussing existing approaches to calculating MC in first- and second-language acquisition research, this article presents a new operationalization of the construct, the Morphological Complexity Index (MCI). The MCI is applied in two…

In order to ascertain if providing verb pattern information permits learners to use verbs correctly, 24 verbs that share the same semantic feature (give) but that fall into different structural patterns were presented to two groups of advanced learners of English, only one of which was given information about verb patterns. (SED)

Describes two grammaticality judgment tasks--one in French and one in English--developed based on differences between the two languages vis-a-vis middle constructions. The tasks were administered to Anglopone and Francophone advanced and very advanced learners of their second language, and to unilingual groups with the same first languages.…

This study focused on Japanese linguistic features that contribute to producing the paragraph-length and extended connected discourse that is expected at the Advanced and Superior levels in ACTFL oral proficiency interviews (OPIs). From 15 Japanese OPIs at the Intermediate-High through Superior levels, 3,062 predicates were identified. Frequent…

Quantitative analysis of 1,083 first language and second language academic texts establishes that advanced nonnative-English-speaking students in U.S. universities employ excessively simple syntactic and lexical constructions at median frequency rates significantly higher than those found in basic texts by native English speakers. (Author/VWL)

A study examined the relationship between syntactic complexity and overall accuracy in the written English of 30 advanced learners of English from five different native language groups. Results show similar patterns of error distribution, a similar level of relative strength in syntax, and relative weakness in morphology. (Author/MSE)