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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 language and negative input?; Is focal attention required for acquisition of syntax and phonological rules of target language? (Author/JL)

The notion that a sensitive period exists for language acquisition has gained support from several studies. This study demonstrates that there exist differing periods of heightened sensitivity for certain aspects of the target language, periods before and after in which the learner is less sensitive to the relevant input. (Author/JL)

Pedagogical, linguistic theoretical, and psychological perspectives on corrective feedback in the field of second-language learning/teaching are discussed, and an attempt is made to integrate these different perspectives. (39 references) (JL)

Examines evidence for the presence or absence of one Universal Grammar principle, subjacency, in the grammars of groups of proficient nonnative (Korean, Chinese, Indonesian, Dutch) speakers of English. Results found that, although all subjects were able to correctly judge grammatical sentences, only the Dutch subjects were able to correctly judge ungrammatical sentences. (54 references) (Author/CB)

Responses of native and nonnative English speaking undergraduates regarding the grammaticality of sentences with varying object and subject structures demonstrated that native speakers exhibited a processing preference, as did nonnatives whose native language grammar did not bias them toward another certain structure. (19 references) (Author/CB)

Strengths and weaknesses of three approaches to the study of the input requirements of second language learners are described. The data-oriented, the language-model, and the processing-model approaches are then compared with respect to their claims concerning the metalinguistic needs of the learner. (Author/CB)

Explores four major areas of differences between first- and second-language acquisition (completeness, equipotentiality, previous knowledge, and fossilization) and argues that the theory of Universal Grammar plays a much smaller role in explaining the second-language acquisition process than current research claims. (Author/CB)

Explores Ritchie's research supporting the hypothesis that universal grammar principles are available to adult second language learners. It is concluded that the experimental principle is not an innate grammatical principle, that methodological problems are inherent in the experimental design, and that results are due to effects of processing constraints, not grammatical constraints. (Author/VWL) )

The article presents information on the reservations related to error analysis. There has been an argument over the relative merits of contrastive analysis and error analysis and the proponents of error analysis have been more convincing. But, the potential for corresponding weaknesses in error analysis has not been discussed extensively. There are six areas in error analysis which exhibit potential weaknesses. These areas include the analysis of errors in isolation, the classification of identified errors, statements of error frequency, the identification of points of difficulty, the ascription of causes to systematic errors and the biased nature of sampling procedures. These six weaknesses are responsible for limiting the usefulness of error analysis in describing the acquisition process of the second language learner. Also, these six potential weaknesses will help teachers and students in judging the merits and limitations of the many error analysis projects that they read about and hear about in a better way.