Keywords
natural order hypothesis in L2 acquisition, grammatical morpheme acquisition patterns, critiques and acceptance of natural order studies
Abstract
For a number of decades now, a widely accepted belief of language acquisition researchers is the so called natural order hypothesis (Dulay, Burt, & Krashen, 1982; Ellis, 1994; Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991). According to this hypothesis, certain grammatical morphemes emerge in a universal order in learners of English as a second language. Most of the data collection in this line of research was done in the 1970’s against a backdrop of theory which espoused the notion of L1 transfer to L2 acquisition on the one hand and a universal grammar perspective on the other. Most dealt with oral language production (Bailey, Madden, & Krashen, 1974; Dulay & Burt, 1973; Dulay & Burt, 1974; Fathman, 1975; Mace-Matluck, 1979, but a few (Anderson, 1977; Brown, 1983; Krashen, Butler, Birnbaum, & Robertson ,1978; Larsen-Freeman, 1975) examined written data. There were a few studies that continued to be reported during the 1980’s and 1990’s (See, for example, Lightbown, Spada, & Wallace, 1980; Lightbown, 1983; O’Dowd, 1991; Pica, 1983). Both ESL and EFL learners of different ages and different learning contexts appeared to follow the proposed natural order. Thus, in spite of the fact that these natural order studies have been criticized on a number of theoretical and methodological grounds over decades, the findings have come to be generally accepted.
Original Publication Citation
Weitze, M., McGhee, J. Dewey, D. P., Graham, C. R., & Eggett, D. L. (2009). Variability in L2 acquisition across L1 backgrounds. (pp. 152-163). In L. Plonsky & M. Schierloh (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2009 Second Language Research Forum: Diverse contributions to SLA. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. http://www.lingref.com/cpp/slrf/2009/paper2532.pdf
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Weitze, Malena; McGhee, Jeremiah; Graham, C. Ray; Dewey, Dan; and Eggett, Dennis L., "Variability in L2 Acquisition across L1 Backgrounds" (2009). Faculty Publications. 7915.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7915
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2009
Publisher
MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project
Language
English
College
Humanities
Department
Linguistics
Copyright Status
Selected Proceedings of the 2009 Second Language Research Forum: Diverse Contributions to SLA © 2011 Cascadilla Proceedings Project, Somerville, MA. All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-57473-444-7 library binding A copyright notice for each paper is located at the bottom of the first page of the paper. Reprints for course packs can be authorized by Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
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