Review Essay: A Critique of Flynn's Parameter-Setting Model of Second Language Acquisition

This paper is a critique of the parameter-setting model of second language acquisition proposed by Suzanne Flynn. Flynn has applied the notion of a universal head direction parameter to the prediction of acquisition of English adverbial clause structure and anaphoric relations by L1 Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese learners. In two studies involving elicited imitation and comprehension of target language sentences, Flynn argues that the head direction parameter explains the pattern of results. One proficiency group of Spanish learners revealed a greater ease in production of postposed (forward) pronoun anaphora over prcposcd (backward) anaphora, while Japanese and Chinese learners showed no differences. Flynn claims that the match in head direction between Spanish and English favors this outcome and related results, while Japanese and Chinese learners have difficulty because of the mismatch. This critique raises serious questions as to the adequacy of Flynn's methodology and model to investigate the issue or explain the results

Road and Narrow Constraints on the English Dative Alternation: Some Fundamental Differences Between Native Speakers and Foreign Language Learners

The acquisition of lexico-semantic constraints on syntactic structures is central to the development of native language competence. The study of the acquisition of such constraints by foreign language learners can illuminate differences between native and foreign language competence and their respective acquisition processes. One view of foreign language learning, the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis, suggests that the universal acquisition mechanisms which guide children in first language development may not be available to adults learning foreign languages. This view leads to the expectation that certain sorts of lexico-semantic constraints –the "broad" constraints based in theta theory– should be reliably acquired by foreign language learners, while those based on narrow semantic classes of verbs should not be. Two studies test these predictions, comparing the knowledge of the broad and narrow constraints on the English dative alternation by native speakers and non-native speakers with Japanese as first language. The results are generally consistent with the predictions, but additional research will be needed to sort out the effect of associative mechanisms and of universal motivating factors, such as the principle of object affectedness

Creating Structure-Based Communication Tasks for Second Language Development

Task based language teaching has gained favor among both second language teachers and researchers over the last decade. Arguments for the value of a "focus on fonn" and attention to forms in input have also been made by several SLA researchers, thus pointing to a role for grammar instruction in classroom SLA. It is suggested here that the use of communicative and meaningful classroom tasks can focus learners' attention on grammatical forms in input and, thus, facilitate their acquisition This proposal differs from other recent treatments of communicative grammar instruction in its emphasis on the following areas: 1) "closed" rather than "()pen" tasks; 2) comprehension-based before production-based tasks; 3) grammatical targets which have clear form-meaning relationships. Thus, while the proposal is more narrow in scope than some other treatments, it is much more specific: i.e., it proposes tasks in which communicative outcomes can be predicted and manipulated in advance by the designer and in which grammatical form and meaning are tightly linked. Such tasks are similar to those used to test learners' language processing capabilities in psycholinguistic research, though here they are used for pedagogical purposes. Examples include tasks covering a wide range of syntactic categories and functions. ln conclusion, we argue for an approach to designing tasks which incorporates: 1) a cognitive perspective on SLA and language processing, 2) insights from research on communicative task design from second language research, and 3) methods of measuring language development from psycholinguistics and inter1anguage variation studies. By combining these with language teachers' careful observations of their students' problems in comprehending and being comprehended, meaning and communicative tasks for grammar pedagogy can be designed

The Acquisition of Multiple wh-questions by High-proficiency Non-native Speakers of EnglishThe Acquisition of Multiple wh-questions by High-proficiency Non-native Speakers of English

This paper investigates the knowledge of multiple wh-questions such as who ate what? by highproficiency non-native speakers of English whose first language is Japanese. Japanese grammar is known to license a wider range of such questions than English-who came why, for example– although the precise theoretical account is not yet clear. Acceptability judgmenb were obtained on six different types of such questions. Acceptability of English examples was rated by native speakers ofEnglish; Japanese examples were judged by native speakers of Japanese, and the English examples were judged by high-proficiency Japanese speakers of English. The results for native speakers judging their own language were generally in accord with expecrations. The high-level non-native speakers of English were significantly different from native speakers in their ratings ofthese sentences. However, the ratings were clearly not simply the result oftransfer. The consequences of this finding for theories of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition are discussed.This paper investigates the knowledge of multiple wh-questions such as who ate what? by highproficiency non-native speakers of English whose first language is Japanese. Japanese grammar is known to license a wider range of such questions than English-who came why, for example– although the precise theoretical account is not yet clear. Acceptability judgmenb were obtained on six different types of such questions. Acceptability of English examples was rated by native speakers ofEnglish; Japanese examples were judged by native speakers of Japanese, and the English examples were judged by high-proficiency Japanese speakers of English. The results for native speakers judging their own language were generally in accord with expecrations. The high-level non-native speakers of English were significantly different from native speakers in their ratings ofthese sentences. However, the ratings were clearly not simply the result oftransfer. The consequences of this finding for theories of Universal Grammar in second language acquisition are discussed

GRE Scores as a Source of Information in UHM ESL Admissions Decisions

As part of an ongoing self-evaluation process, the Graduate Faculty of the Department of English as a Second Language (ESL) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) initiated an investigation of the effectiveness of existing departmental admissions decisions for the master's degree program in ESL. A subcommittee (consisting of Drs. Bley-Vroman, Brown, and Crookes) of the Graduate Faculty was appointed to study the issue, and this paper is a result of those efforts. The purpose of this report is to summarize the outcomes of the existing admissions policies over the past five years (1985-1990), examine the effectiveness of those policies, consider alternative courses of action, and recommend new policies if they are deemed necessary. To those ends, the following research questions were framed: 1. What were the descriptive statistics for the variables under consideration in this study? To what degree was the holistic faculty rating scale reliable as applied during 1990? 2. How were the various predictor variables (available at the time of admissions) related to the student's GPR and Faculty ratings (after completing studies in the ESL MA Program)? 3. What were the pre-admissions characteristics of students who were considered successful in the program, as compared to students who were rated as not successful, or rated as average. 4. What would the decision dependability be for various cut-points on the GRE subtests and pre-admissions GPRs in relation to the students' ultimate levels of achievement in the Program? The alpha decision level for all statistical decisions was set at a α < .05