How strongly a verb is associated with a construction plays a crucial role in the learning of argument structure constructions. We examined the effect of verb-construction association strength on second language (L2) constructional generalization by analysing L2 learners' production and comprehension of two complex constructions (i.e. ditransitive…

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…

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

Reviews current approaches to second-language syllabus design in the United Kingdom and proposes a model for planning a five-year course of study within the national curriculum framework that will take account of both the meanings a learner may wish to express and the grammatical knowledge needed, i.e., a model reconciling the semantic and…

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)

Culturally specific compounds in Chinese could be more effectively studied from a cognitive approach, using the underlying idealized cognitive models defined by Lakoff. It is argued that the formation of Chinese compounds are systematically guided by idealized cognitive models and compounds are semantically compositional. (seven references) (LB)

Considers the interplay between source and target language in relation to two points made by Klein and Perdue: (1) the argument that the analysis of the target language should not be used as the model for analyzing interlanguage data; and (2) the theoretical claim that under the technical assumptions of minimalism, the Basic Variety is a "perfect"…

This paper offers insights on how to facilitate student-student interaction in the science classroom. These insights derive from the education and the linguistics literature. Cooperative learning research offers a means of understanding what helps groups of students interact successfully. Systemic functional linguistics provides tools for…