Reexamines the morphology/functional category debate in light of empirical data drawn from a longitudinal study of two intermediate learners of French as a second language (L2). Argues that inflectional deficits--which appear as both nonfinite verbs and as other morphological errors in the interlanguage data--support neither a codependence of…

Reports on a longitudinal study of young immigrants' spoken Danish during the first months of their stay, focusing on the Albanian-, Vietnamese-, and English-speaking adolescents' syntactic development from a functional perspective. Changes in early syntax are seen as being rooted in cognitive as well as interactional dimensions of language use.…

Describes a study on the English language use of native speakers of Arabic and Japanese in three task conditions: completing a written grammar test, participating in an oral interview, and narrating a story. Results support the hypothesis that the utterances of second language learners show systematic variability related to task. (SED)

Examines experimental data relative to second language acquisition of English reflexives. The article focuses on an experiment designed to tap syntactic constraints of interlanguage grammar and on the consideration of the consistency of responses of individual subjects. Findings reveal the systematicity of interlanguage grammar much more…

Argues that functional categories instantiated in the learners' first language (L1) transfer to the initial state of second language syntactic development. On the basis of Zulu interlanguage data on acquisition of the obligatory declarative complementizer "ukuthi" (that) by English native speakers, argues that Comp contains a null…

Discusses the current approaches to interlanguage syntax, focusing on the goal of finding consistency and pattern in syntactic variation. Some themes contributing to descriptive approaches include: the transition from morphosyntax acquisition studies to those of more complex syntax, the emergence of syntax from discourse, explicitness, and the…

Discusses the influence a first language can have on the acquisition of a second language. Includes some tentative proposals on the interaction of prior first-language knowledge and the creative construction process. (EKN)

Critiques Pienemann and Johnston (1987), an influential model of the acquisition of English as a second language (ESL) morphology. The article demonstrates that their proposals are incompatible with syntactic analyses of word formation and emphasizes that second language researchers must ensure that models of second language acquisition are…

Adult migrant learners of English were studied to investigate the effect of instruction on interlanguage development. Examination of the acquisition of a syntactic structure, "do-fronted questions," supported claims for the productiveness of form-focused instruction and suggested that the success of instruction depended on whether specific…

Examines three experimental studies deriving from contrastive analysis predictions and error analysis insights into deviances from expected target language forms. Each of these studies predate the Interlanguage hypothesis. (CB)

Discusses the treatment of idioms in language learning, specifically questions that need to be addressed when decisions are made on the role of idioms in language-learning programs. Particular emphasis is on the extent to which idioms present a particular source of misunderstanding and confusion for learners. (Author/VWL)

This article presents evidence of syntactic transfer from Chinese to English based on data obtained from 710 Hong Kong Chinese ESL learners at different proficiency levels. Three methodologies were used: self-reporting in individual interviews, translation (with and without prompts), and grammaticality judgment. The focus of the study was on 5…

This article discusses the reasons why Chinese learners of English avoid using phrasal verbs in an English community context or when using English as an inter-language in China. The avoidance of phrasal verbs often leads to ineffective communication. By adopting appropriate pedagogical and methodological approaches or providing proper guidance to…

Investigates the role of topic-comment structure and the frequency of topic-prominence in the oral interlanguage of Chinese- Japanese-, Korean-, Arabic-, Farsi-, and Spanish-speaking adult students of English as a second language. Results indicate that second language learning is generally characterized by an early topic-comment stage, independent…

Gives a short grammar of the Lisp computer language. Presents an introductory English parser (Simparse) as an example of how to write a parser in Lisp. Lists references for further explanation. Intended as preparation for teachers who may use computer-assisted language instruction in the future. (LMO)