Acquisition of a Second/Foreign Language by Viewing a Television Program

Following the idea of language universals (Chomsky, 1964), proposals have been made that the phrase structure rules of transformational grammar might be universal to all languages. The grammar of a particular language, then, is to be supplemented by a universal grammar that accommodates the creative aspect of the particular language use. The universal grammar expresses the deep-seated regularities. The tacit knowledge of the universals is assumed to be innate; accordingly, children and adults use, to the same extent, the universal innate schema of language in acquiring any particular languages. According to this reasoning, children’s language acquisition and acquiring a new foreign language by adults should not make any difference. However, this seems to be a quite controversial issue.

[1]  Carol W. Pfaff,et al.  First and second language acquisition processes , 1987 .

[2]  S. Krashen.  Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning , 1988 .

[3]  Evelyn Marcussen Hatch,et al.  Psycholinguistics: A Second Language Perspective , 1983 .

[4]  Barry McLaughlin,et al.  Second-language acquisition in childhood , 1980 .

[5]  Catherine E. Snow,et al.  The Critical Period for Language Acquisition: Evidence from Second Language Learning. , 1978 .

[6]  Géry d'Ydewalle,et al.  READING A MESSAGE WHEN THE SAME MESSAGE IS AVAILABLE AUDITORILY IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SUBTITLING , 1987 .

[7]  S. Jay Samuels,et al.  The Relationship Between Age and Accuracy of Foreign Language Pronunciation. , 1973 .

[8]  J. Asher,et al.  The learning strategy of the total physical response: some age differences. , 1967, Child development.

[9]  J. S. Johnson,et al.  Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language , 1989, Cognitive Psychology.

[10]  New dimensions in second language acquisition research , 1981 .

[11]  Géry d’Ydewalle,et al.  Attention Allocation with Overlapping Sound, Image, and Text , 1992 .

[12]  E. Lenneberg.  Biological Foundations of Language , 1967 .

[13]  Stephen Krashen,et al.  Research in Second Language Acquisition , 1982 .

[14]  Juana M. Liceras.  Linguistic theory and second language acquisition: the Spanish nonnative grammar of English speakers , 1986 .

[15]  Loraine K. Obler,et al.  The Bilingual Brain: Neuropsychological and Neurolinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism. Perspectives in Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics. , 1978 .

[16]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  PAIRING SCRIPT AND DIALOGUE: COMBINATIONS THAT SHOW PROMISE FOR SECOND OR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING , 1984 .

[17]  William C. Ritchie,et al.  Second language acquisition research : issues and implications , 1978 .

[18]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  Combinations of printed script and spoken dialogue that show promise for students of a foreign language , 1984 .

[19]  Wallace E. Lambert,et al.  Choosing the languages of subtitles and spoken dialogues for media presentations: Implications for second language education , 1981, Applied Psycholinguistics.

[20]  S. F. Witelson.  Bumps on the Brain: Right–Left Anatomic Asymmetry as a Key to Functional Lateralization , 1983 .

[21]  K. Rayner.  Eye movements and visual cognition : scene perception and reading , 1992 .

[22]  C. Snow,et al.  Age Differences in the Pronunciation of Foreign Sounds , 1977, Language and speech.