Chapter published in:
Contemporary Approaches to Second Language AcquisitionEdited by María del Pilar García Mayo, María Juncal Gutiérrez Mangado and María Martínez-Adrián
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 9] 2013
► pp. 111–128
Chapter 6. Processability Theory
Explaining developmental sequences
Gisela Håkansson | Lund University
This chapter presents a psycholinguistic account of the developmental sequences found in second language acquisition (SLA). Building on Levelt’s (1989) model of speech production, Processability Theory (PT: Pienemann 1998, 2005) proposes that the order in which morpho-syntactic structures are acquired will be controlled by the processing requirements of those structures. The cross-linguistic validity of PT will be illustrated by the analysis of learner data in some typologically diverse languages. The findings show that the hierarchical sequence of processing procedures is similar across languages, if the emergence criterion is used, and also that the influence of any previously acquired is constrained by the processability of the structures. The implications of these findings for SLA research and profiling will be discussed.
Published online: 19 February 2013
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.9.09ch6
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.9.09ch6
Cited by
Cited by other publications
Baten, Kristof
Mitkovska, Liljana & Eleni Bužarovska
Türker-van der Heiden, Emel & Gözde Mercan
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 january 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.