Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom

✍ Scribed by Melinda Whong, Kook-Hee Gil, Heather Marsden (auth.), Melinda Whong, Kook-Hee Gil, Heather Marsden (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 252
• Series: Educational Linguistics 16
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book proposes that research into generative second language acquisition (GenSLA) can be applied to the language classroom. Assuming that Universal Grammar plays a role in second language development, it explores generalisations from GenSLA research. The book aims to build bridges between the fields of generative second language acquisition, applied linguistics, and language teaching; and it shows how GenSLA is poised to engage with researchers of second language learning outside the generative paradigm. Each chapter of Universal Grammar and the Second Language Classroom showcases ways in which GenSLA research can inform language pedagogy. Some chapters include classroom research that tests the effectiveness of teaching particular linguistic phenomena. Others review existing research findings, discussing how these findings are useful for language pedagogy. All chapters show how generative linguistics can enhance teachers’ expertise in language and second language development. “This groundbreaking volume ably takes on the gap that currently exists between generative linguistic theory in second language acquisition (GenSLA) and second language pedagogy, by gathering chapters from GenSLA researchers who are interested in the relevance and potential application of their research to second/foreign language teaching. It offers a welcome and thought-provoking contribution to any discussion of the relation between linguistic theory and practice. I recommend it not only for language teachers interested in deepening their understanding of the formal properties of the languages they teach, but also for linguists interested in following up on more practical consequences of the fruits of their theoretical and empirical research.” Donna Lardiere, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-x
Introduction: Generative Second Language Acquisition and Language Pedagogy....Pages 1-13
Front Matter....Pages 15-15
What Research Can Tell Us About Teaching: The Case of Pronouns and Clitics....Pages 17-34
L2 Acquisition of Null Subjects in Japanese: A New Generative Perspective and Its Pedagogical Implications....Pages 35-55
Verb Movement in Generative SLA and the Teaching of Word Order Patterns....Pages 57-76
Modifying the Teaching of Modifiers: A Lesson from Universal Grammar....Pages 77-100
The Syntax-Discourse Interface and the Interface Between Generative Theory and Pedagogical Approaches to SLA....Pages 101-114
Front Matter....Pages 115-115
Alternations and Argument Structure in Second Language English: Knowledge of Two Types of Intransitive Verbs....Pages 117-137
Quantifiers: Form and Meaning in Second Language Development....Pages 139-159
Explicit Article Instruction in Definiteness, Specificity, Genericity and Perception....Pages 161-183
Front Matter....Pages 185-185
Whether to Teach and How to Teach Complex Linguistic Structures in a Second Language....Pages 187-205
Great Expectations in Phonology? Second Language Acquisition Research and Its Relation to the Teaching of Older and Younger Learners....Pages 207-229
Applied Generative SLA: The Need for an Agenda and a Methodology....Pages 231-247
Back Matter....Pages 249-252

✦ Subjects

Language Education;Learning &Instruction