A Study Of UG Accessibility In Second Language Acquisition

To what extent, if any, does Universal Grammar put constraints upon Second Language Acquisition? Over the last thirty years or so, this has become the predominant SLA research question. The most frequently asked question is whether L2 learners still have access to UG. Roughly speaking, three logical possibilities have been proposed with regard to the role of UG in L2 acquisition. The first is the no-access hypothesis, which holds that L2 learners rely upon problem-solving strategies rather than properties of UG to construct the L2 grammar. Another is the indirect-access hypothesis, which claims that UG is available to L2 learners via the L1. Still another is direct- access hypothesis, according to which UG is in its entirety available to adult L2 learners.In this paper the writer will carry out a small-scale experiment on the Binding Principle A to test the state of UG accessibility in L2 learners' interlanguage. The results will be analyzed and explained with the aid of Relativized SUBJECT advanced by Progovac (1992). Based on the experimental results, I shall draw the following tentative conclusion: UG is accessible in second language learning; where L1 and L2 differ in parameter settings, the learners do not assign their L1 value to the L2 first, and then switch to the L2 parametric value. But L2 learning is different from L1 acquisition in that UG, L1 knowledge and L2 input interact with one another in the learning process. L1 knowledge will interfere in the learners'judgments on L2 parameter resetting when they are different in parameter settings, leading to occasional hesitation and ambiguity. L2 input helps remove L1 interference to a limited extent.