The course will compare functional and formal approaches to some traditional (and partially overlapping) areas of investigation in adult language acquisition. For each area, particular attention will be drawn to the relationship in published work between the research questions, the type of learner and language activity (perception, comprehension, production) and the methods used to tap this activity.

A detailed bibliography will be distributed and commented at the first session.
Each of the following sessions will be devoted mainly, although not exclusively, to a theme. These themes are listed below. I will introduce the theme (short lecture), which will followed by discussion, prepared by oral student summaries of relevant articles.

Session 1 Methodology: linguistic activity
Language production (dialogue, "complex verbal tasks") ; Language perception (role of input); "Trouble" (speech errors, hesitations, etc.; the role of corrective feedback);Intuitions.

References
Bongaerts, T. (to appear). Age and age-related effects on the acquisition of the pronunciation of a second language. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère 18.

Havranek, G. 1999. The effectiveness of corrective feedback : results of an empirical study. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2, 189-206.

Lalleman, J. (1999). The Alternation Hypothesis revisited : early L2 intuitions about the direction of gapping in Dutch. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2

Jansen, B., Lalleman, J. and P. Muysken (1981). The Alternation Hypothesis: Acquisition of Dutch word order by Turkish and Moroccan foreign workers. Language Learning 31(2), 315-336.

Levelt, W. (1981). The speaker's linearization problem. Philological Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 295, 305-315.


Session 2 "Simple codes" (Corder) I
The place of second languages in the study of "simple codes": proto-language, pidgins, home sign language.

References
Comrie, B. 2000. From potential to realization: an episode in the origin of language. Linguistics 38(5), 989-1004.

Corder, S. Pit 1975. 'Simple codes' and the source of the second language learner's initial heuristic hypothesis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 1, 1-10.


Session 3 The first minutes/hours of exposure to L2
The cognitive/perceptual make-up of the learner; typological distance of L1 and L2; problems of saliency.

References
Rast, R. 1999). The first hours of second language acquisition. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2, 73-88.

Zwitserlood, P. et al. (in progress). The first minutes of foreign-language exposure. Ms. Nijmegen.


Session 4 The initial state
Definition(s) of the initial state in formal approaches. "Minimal trees" hypothesis; "full access full transfer" hypothesis; "conservation" hypothesis.

References
Eubank, L. and B. Schwarz (eds) 1996. The L2 Initial State. Second language Research 12(1).

Craats, I. v. d., Corver and R. v. Hout 1999. The Conservation Hypothesis: the initial state revisited. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2, 103-118.


Session 5 Acquisition orders I
Functional approaches. Pre-basic to basic to post-basic varieties.

References
Jordens, P. (ed.)1997. Introducing the Basic Variety. Second language Research 13(4).

Perdue, C. 1996. Pre-basic varieties. The first stages of second language acquisition. Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen 55,135-150.

Trévise, A. 1999. Schémas de base en L2 et invariants sémantico-cognitifs. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2, 89-102.

Session 6 and Session 7 Acquisition orders II (Negation)
The acquisition of negation has provoked ongoing debate between formal and functional approaches to second language acquisition, on which it is worth spending two sessions. The questions to be debated are:
   (a) what levels of linguistic analysis are indispensable to account for the phenomenon?
   (b) is there any correlation between the acquisition of negation and that of finiteness?

References
Bardel, C. 1999. Negation and information structure in the Italian L2 of a Swedish learner. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère. Proceedings of 8th EUROSLA Conference, Paris. Volume 2, 173-188.

Becker, A. (in progress). The acquisition of negation and the acquisition of finiteness. Ms. Berlin.

Bernini, G. 2000. Negative items and negation strategies in non-native Italian. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 22(4), 399-440.

Giuliano, P. and D. Véronique (in progress). Crosslinguistic studies on the acquisition of negation. Ms. Paris.

Meisel, J. 1997. The acquisition of the syntax of negation in French and German: contrasting first and second language development. Second Language Research 13, 227-263.

Meisel, J., Clahsen, H. and M. Pienemann 1981. On determining developmental stages in natural second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 3(2), 109-135.

Parodi, T. 2000. Finiteness and verb placement in second language acquisition. Second Language Research 16(4), 355-381.
Perdue, C., Benazzo, S. and P. Giuliano (to appear). When finiteness gets marked. The relation between morpho-syntactic development and use of scopal items in adult language acquisition. Linguistics.


Session 8 Acquisition orders III (Temporality)
The " aspect before tense " debate; the acquisition of (morphological and semantic) finiteness.

References
Benazzo, S. (in progress).

Bardovi-Harlig, K. 1995. A narrative perspective on the development of the tense/aspect system in second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 17(2), 263-291.

Klein, W., R. Dietrich and C. Noyau 1993. The acquisition of temporality. In C. Perdue (ed.), Adult Language Acquisition. Cross-linguistic Perspectives. Volume II , 73-118. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Starren, M. (in progress)


Session 9 Fossilisation ("the end state")
The well-known and vexing fact that ultimate attainment in adults learning a second language (as opposed to children learning their L1) varies considerably from learner to learner, and success is not guaranteed. We look at learners' pronunciation, intuitions and discourse construction in order to debate the following idea: there is no monocausal reason for fossilisation, i.e. a blanket appeal to a "critical period" for successful language acquisition, or to a learner's "access" or "lack of access" to Universal Grammar, is reductionistic.

References
Bongaerts, T. (to appear). Age and age-related effects on the acquisition of the pronunciation of a second language. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Etrangère 18.

Carroll, M. et al. 2000. The relevance of information organization to second language acquisition studies. The descriptive discourse of advanced adult learners of German. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 22(4).



suggested preliminary reading:
Eubank, L. and B. Schwarz (Eds.). 1996. "Special Issue on the L2 Initial State". in Second Language Research 12(1)
Perdue, C. (Ed.). 1993. Adult Language Acquisition: Cross-linguistic Perspectives (2 Vols). (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)