In SLA, it has been often assumed that the effect of the first language (L1) is not very strong
in the acquisition of grammatical morphemes (eg, Ellis, 1994; Mitchell & Myles, 2004) …

Whether we grow up with one, two, or several languages during our early years of life, many
of us will learn a second, foreign, or heritage language in later years. The field of Second …

A cogent, freshly written synthesis of new and classic work on crosslinguistic influence, or
language transfer, this book is an authoritative account of transfer in second-language …

Studies of second-language (L2) acquisition have often addressed the issue of parameter-
setting among L2 learners. Much work has been done on the setting of syntactic parameters …

This paper argues for a refinement in the traditional approach to transfer in SLA, where
transfer is generally investigated as the unidirectional influence of native (or other language) …

This paper describes the acquisition, frequency, and function of the English articles (a, the,
and Ø—the zero article). It explains the two types of zero article (zero and null) and shows …

Child first-language (L1) learners frequently use the definite article in referential indefinite
contexts, that is, with nouns appearing in the discourse for the first time, where adults use the …

Although it is well known that many second language (L2) learners have trouble using
articles “properly,” the primary causes of their difficulties remain unclear. This study …

This paper examines three sources of knowledge in the acquisition of English articles by
second language (L2) learners: L1-transfer, L2-input and Universal Grammar (UG). The …

This paper argues for the reality of specificity as noteworthiness, a concept built upon Fodor
and Sag's (1982) view of referentiality. Support for this view of specificity comes from the …