Discontinuity in Second Language Acquisition: The Switch between Statistical and Grammatical Learning [Kõva köide]

The acquisition of some morpho-syntactic features of a second language by adult learners may be a discontinuous process, suggests Rastelli, because the learning principles and the brain structures that have supported the acquisition of those features up to a certain point can be juxtaposed with different learning principles and different brain structures. The latter principles and structures do not replace the former, he says, but cohabitate with them, so that the second language representations after a point of rupture may duplicate in a learner's competence. He considers discontinuity as chunks feed into grammar, in the maturing and adapting brain, and in the neurocognition of a second language. He also considers the statistical learning of a second language and parts of second-language grammar that resist statistical learning. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

With a focus on the morphosyntactic features of second language, this book discusses the idea that language acquisition is a discontinuous and 'quantized' process due to the existence of two different - albeit interconnected - ways of learning: Statistical Learning and Grammatical Learning. It describes how the switch between ways of learning could take place and its developmental implications for adult SLA.