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Acquiring Pronouns in a Second Language: Evidence for Hypothesis Testing*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Jeanette K. Gundel ,
Nancy Stenson  and
Elaine Tarone
Jeanette K. Gundel
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Nancy Stenson
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Elaine Tarone
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Extract

Gundel and Tarone (1981) studied the acquisition of pronouns by Chinese and Spanish speaking adults learning English. On the basis of this study it was proposed that when L1 and L2 differ in the relative order of object pronoun and verb, the acquisition of direct object pronouns proceeds in three stages: (1) direct transfer of the native language pattern; (2) zero anaphora, i.e. no overt form at all, in direct object position; (3) the correct L2 pattern. The present paper presents further evidence for this proposal, and hence for a hypothesis-testing view of second language acquisition, on the basis of longitudinal data from English speaking children learning French in the Toronto French Immersion Program.

Type
Research Notes
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Spring 1984 , pp. 215 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

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