Focuses on two aspects of contextual engagement in relation to second language learning--communicative contexts and learning contexts. Suggests that learning contexts are flawed in respect to the needs of the initial language learner and they need to be refashioned to enable language learners to exploit contextual cues for intake and take…

There is a growing body of research indicating that mechanical drills do not facilitate the development of explicit or implicit knowledge. This study identifies the inadequate aspects of mechanical drills and offers alternative activities for the early stages of language practice, whose formats and features comply with recent research in the…

The ability to process the linguistic input in real time is crucial for successfully acquiring a language, and yet little is known about how language learners comprehend or produce language in real time. Against this background, we have conducted a detailed study of grammatical processing in language learners using experimental psycholinguistic…

This paper studies the linguistic input attended by a deaf child exposed to cued speech (CS) in the final part of her prelinguistic period (18-24 months). Subjects are the child, her mother, and her therapist. Analyses have provided data about the quantity of input directed to the child (oral input, more than 1,000 words per half-an-hour session;…

This study examined input enhancement and second language (L2) vocabulary learning while exploring the role of "distinctiveness," the degree to which an item in the input diverges from the form in which other items in the input are presented, with regard to the nature and direction of the effects of enhancement. In this study,…

Argues for a reconceptualization of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research in order to enlarge the ontological and empirical parameters of the field. Claims that methodologies, theories, and foci within SLA reflect an imbalance between cognitive and mentalistic orientations, and social and contextual orientations to language, the former…

Presents an alternative definition of negative evidence, based on the idea that the unique discourse structure created in the juxtaposition of child error and adult correct form can reveal the child in contrast or conflict between the two forms. Findings reveal that children reproduced the correct irregular model more often and persisted with…

Fourteen Mother-Infant pairs were studied at three, six, and nine months to determine whether mothers simplify speech during the second half of the infant's first year and whether speech adjustment influences later language acquisition by infants. A mother's mean length of utterance (MLU) was predictive of later language development by her infant.…

Examines the role of the educational and socioeconomic levels of the speakers in advancing linguistic change. The study reviews three grammatical phenomena found at distinct stages of change. Individuals at the lower socioeconomic and educational strata of society embrace innovations in language more readily than their affluent and educated…

Followup to earlier report that focused on initial uses of first 10 words produced by 4 children is presented. Results of analysis of subsequent use of these 40 words is presented. Findings indicate that the role of linguistic input in early lexical development may decline sharply once a child has established initial uses for words. (24…

The hypothesis defended is that negative data and explicit data result in a type of knowledge that is not to be equated with linguistic competence. The specific claim is that only positive data can effect the construction of an interlanguage grammar comparable to the knowledge system characterizing the results of first-language acquisition. (60…

From perspective of a psycholinguist, discusses three leading questions that have arisen from foundational, descriptive second-language-acquisiton studies: Why are certain L2 constructions learnable and others not?; In considering input requirements, is it fair to say that adult learners can take advantage of metalinguistic information about the…

Examined potential effects of early exposure to sign language on the use of communicative gestures by a bilingual hearing child of deaf parents. Data were analyzed to identify types and tokens of communicative gestures, words, signs, and the ways in which they were combined. (Author/VWL)

Identifies and discusses ten factors that contribute to the difficulties that language learners may have in dealing with false cognates. Provides suggestions for minimizing confusion. (Author/VWL)

Presents evidence from Inuktitut, a null subject language, on optional infinitive production in typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). Shows TD children learning Inuktitut did not go through an OI stage, while one child with SLI does. Implications are discussed for theories of continuity, the…