Faculty Publications and Conference Presentations

<p>Research into the second language acquisition of quantifiers (every, any, some, etc.) sheds light on the L2 development of form and meaning in an area of language that is not usually a key focus of the language classroom. This chapter begins with an overview of some existing studies of L2 acquisition of quantifiers, the majority of which investigate phenomena that are not only absent from classroom instruction but are also not directly deducible from the input: “poverty of the stimulus” phenomena. The findings show that subtle properties of quantifiers are difficult to acquire—particularly if they involve the syntax-pragmatics interface—but they often emerge in advanced learners, even without teaching or direct evidence in the input. The chapter then explores how language teaching might accelerate acquisition of such late-emerging aspects of the L2. We report the findings of a pilot study (Gil K-H, Marsden H, Whong M. Can explicit grammar instruction serve as evidence for L2 grammar restructuring? In: Stavrakaki S, Konstantinopoulou P, Lalioti M (eds) Proceedings of GALA 2011. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Cambridge, to appear) on the effect of providing focus on form instruction about the English quantifier any. Though inconclusive, the findings raise new research questions that are of interest to both generative L2 acquisition researchers and classroom researchers. We conclude that collaborative research will enrich both fields.</p>

A default assumption in generative second language acquisition (SLA) research is that learned L2 knowledge cannot become acquired knowledge. However, given recent generative SLA research concerned with how classroom input affects L2 performance, this paper argues that it is time to revisit this assumption. The discussion draws on both generative and non-generative research and concludes that the context of the language classroom can serve as a motivation for a cross-paradigm research agenda that will be better placed than within-framework research to develop a transition theory for L2 acquisition, and to identify how classroom input affects different types of linguistic properties.