ABSTRACT
Studies of the pro-drop parameter in L2 acquisition have followed a consistent approach, but there is little convergence among the resultant data or among interpretations of them. Since 1985 when the first MIT-sponsored conference on linguistic theory and L2 acquisition was held, a number of papers have appeared that share the same framework and ask the same questions about Principle A of the binding theory in L2 learners' grammars. A number of studies appeared in the late 1980s that shared the common goal of determining whether adult learners of English recognize certain facts about L2 that have been attributed to the Empty Category Principle (ECP). Most of these data were gathered via grammaticality or preference judgment tasks. Al-Kasey and Prez-Leroux also contribute to another major pro-drop controversy, namely the question of which linguistic properties are related to the presence or absence of null subjects.
