Generative Second Language Acquisition

Most human beings grow up speaking more than one language: a lot of us also acquire an additional language or languages other than our mother tongue. This Element in the Second Language Acquisition series investigates the human capacity to learn additional languages later in life and introduces the seminal processes involved in this acquisition. The authors discuss how to analyze learner data and what the findings tell us about language learning critically assessing a leading theory of how adults learn a second language: Generative SLA.