Acquiring a Second Language and Universal Grammar

 Acquiring a Second Language and Universal Grammar


The issue of learning a second language and the role of UG theory, will be viewed in more detail.

The following discussion shows a possible place for some aspects of UG to the teaching of  a second language. 

Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013), discusses verb-movement studies which look at the extent of transfer of L1 grammar and the role of UG in the development of interlanguage grammars. According to Rankin (in Whong, et al., 2013), verb movement is a parameter of UG and languages differ in whether they have verb movement of main thematic verbs and in  the distance they move.



Table 4.1 Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013, p. 59)

This table shows lexical verb placement in English, French and German. In English sentences such as “I often read novels” the “I” does not force movement of the verb ‘read’ (Rankin, in Whong et al., p.59), the tense is a lower feature than the verb. In German the verb is placed higher in the sentence “I read often novels”…’Ich lese oft Romane’. 

English has a distinctive word order in questions where the thematic verb is at a lower position such as “Do you read novels?” compared to German and French translated to ‘Often read I novels’. Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013, p.61), discusses how this knowledge of L1 parameter settings “transfer at the initial state in L2 acquisition….learners have full access to UG during the course of acquisition…..New parametric settings are thus in principle available to learners and can be established on the basis of positive evidence, that is, structural cues available in the target language input. Grammar restructuring takes place when the current grammatical representation conflicts with parses of input data." Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013), explains that though guided by UG, L2 restructuring does not need to be identical to a native target grammar.

Ellis (2006 in Rankin in Whong et al., 2013, p.63) says, “grammar teaching involves instructional technique that draws learners’ attention to some specific grammatical form in such a way that it helps them either to understand it metalinguistically and/or process it in comprehension and/or production so that they can internalise it."

Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013), sees that there is a place for explicit instruction of grammar, rather than implicit exposure. Ellis’s research (Rankin in Whong et al., 2013), in explicit versus implicit grammar instruction, indicated that form instruction showed more improvement in students’ accuracy scores. It was noted by Rankin (in Whong et al., 2013, p. 64), that the form focused instruction was more effective when “simple morphological features such as verb forms were the target of the instruction”, rather than complex syntactic structures involving word order variation.

Stringer (in Whong et al., 2013, p. 97), discusses studies which examined L2 language acquisition and  “the nature of universals in the  syntax of P-modifiers and concluded that this hierarchy is naturally manifested” after the lexical semantics of modifiers has been learnt. Stringer (in Whong et al., 2013) argues, that explicit instruction in this aspect of grammar is not necessary, as syntax is learnt though vocabulary acquisition. Furthermore, according to Stringer (in Whong et al., 2013, p.97), targeted instruction is needed for the syntax of adjectives, but rather than rule based instruction, learners should show “relevant input through systematic inclusion of binary combinations of adjectives in course materials across the syllabus." Stringer (in Whong et al., 2013, p. 97) concludes that regardless of L1 background, “all learners follow the same path of development regardless of language background."


 Whong, M., Gil, K.H., & Marsden, H. (Eds.). (2013). Universal Grammar and the second language classroom. Dordrech: Springer nature.

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