THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITI

THEORY OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
The first area we will discuss will be the central focus of this volume, second language
acquisition theory. As developed today, second language acquisition theory can be viewed as
a part of "theoretical linguistics", i.e. it can be studied and developed without regard to
practical application. As is the case with any scientific theory, it consists of a set of
hypotheses, or generalizations, that are consistent with experimental data. These hypotheses
can be arrived at using any of a variety of means (a brilliant insight, a dream, etc.). They
must, however, be able to predict new data. In other words, hypotheses are not summaries or
categories for existing data and observations, but must pass the test of accounting for new
data. If our current hypotheses are able to predict new events, they survive. If they fail, even
once, they must be altered. If these alterations cause fundamental changes in the original
generalizations, the hypotheses may have to be totally abandoned