The early development of second language acquisition [SLA] research in the area of morphology and syntax can be traced in some excellent publications both exemplifying and evaluating the state of the art in this area (e.g., Anderson 1981, Davies, Criper, and Howatt 1984, Hatch 1983, Wode 1981b). The research questions identified and pursued at that time have continued to occupy researchers. (The ones which are the most important and relevant for the discussion here are as follows: 1 the problem of regularity in interlanguage [IL] morphology and syntax; 2) the contribution of Universal Grammar to SLA, and 3) variability in IL performance. The problems enumerated above will provide a framework for the discussion of the acquisition of morphology and syntax. Some additional comments on other, related issues will be included.
This is a report on a morpheme study conducted with learners of English as a foreign language in Poland. The accuracy order of 11 morphemes obtained from the study was correlated with three other accuracy orders reported for English as a second language. Although the correlations showed some degree of similarity between foreign-and second-language accuracy orders, no definitive conclusions could be drawn from them because of the shortcomings of morpheme research methodology. Some of these shortcomings are discussed and some suggestions for future research are offered.
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