ABSTRACT
In Chapter 3, we outlined the work of second language acquisition researchers who are interested in the development of second language grammars from a purely linguistic point of view. In that view, second language learning (SLL) is seen as different from other kinds of learning, and a formal description of the linguistic systems involved (be they the first language, the second language or the learner’s interlanguage) is seen as crucial to our understanding of the SLL task. Universal Grammar-based researchers put the emphasis firmly on the language dimension of SLL, and see language as a separate module in the mind, distinct from other aspects of cognition. Universal Grammar, as we have discussed, is primarily a property theory.
