I review the classic literature in generative grammar and Marr's three-level program for cognitive science to defend the Evaluation Metric as a psychological theory of language learning. Focusing on well-established facts of language variation, change, and use, I argue that optimal statistical principles embodied in Bayesian inference models are…

The language aquisition device (LAD) as hypothesized in the writings of Noam Chomsky is analyzed in terms of its applicability to second language learning (L2). (RL)

Aspects of language instruction which "derive from the nature of language itself" are discussed in this study. The notion that language teachers should teach grammar exclusively is disputed. This position is based on the following generalizations presented in an analysis of the nature of grammar and language: (1) language comprises more than what…

A review of trends in the teaching of foreign language during the last decade focuses on the predominance of the audiolingual method and current criticism by leading theorists of its theoretical foundations. Discussion of a psychological model of learning explores the relationships of motivation, cognition, evaluation, and response formation. The…

Questions Chomsky's postulation of an innate capacity for language use, and suggests that Chomsky is modifying his theory by including the time factor in his consideration of language acquisition. (RS)

This article reviews the historical development of applied linguistics in foreign language instruction. Five major principles influencing early applied linguistic theory are summarized, emphasizing the oral nature of language. Central to the article are discussions of: (1) prescriptive or normative grammar, (2) transformational grammar, (3)…

Considers the question of how much psycholinguistics can contribute to foreign language teaching. Transformational grammar as well as behaviorist, psychobiological and development-psychological approaches are considered. These various psycholinguistic directions are sketched and examined for their applicability to foreign language teaching. (Text…

Paper delivered as a Forum Lecture at the 1970 Linguistic Institute at Ohio State University. (DS)

Paper prepared under contract with the Defense Language Institute, English Language Branch, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and presented to the staff and faculty of the Institute in 1972. (RS)

Early psycholinguistic investigations were based on linguistic theory (primarily Chomsky's transformational theory) as a model of competence. Recent studies have suggested that naive language users neither make the same linguistic judgments as the theorizing linguists nor productively follow the linguistic rules, and that nonlinguistic knowledge…

Theoretical Assessment of the dialogue as a potential language-teaching device. Appendix and supplementary reading list included. (DS)

Experiment supported by a grant from the U.S. Office of Education, OEC-0-70-1626. Bibliography included. (DS)