Investigating the lexico-grammatical resources of a non-native user of English: the case of can and could in email requests

Journal article

Individual users of English as a first or second language are assumed to possess or aspire to a monolithic grammar, an internally consistent set of rules which represents the idealized norms or conventions of native speakers. This position reflects a deficit view of L2 learning and usage, and is at odds with usage-based approaches to language development and research findings on idiolectal variation. This study problematizes the assumption of monolithic ontologies of grammar for TESOL by exploring a fragment of genre-specific lexico-grammatical knowledge (the can you/could you V construction alternation in requests) in a single non-native user of English, post-instruction. A corpus sample of the individual’s output was compared with the input he was exposed to and broader norms for the genre. The analysis confirms findings in usage-based linguistics which demonstrate that an individual’s lexico-grammatical knowledge constitutes an inventory of constructions shaped in large part by distributional patterns in the input. But it also provides evidence for idiosyncratic preferences resulting from exemplar-based inertia in production, suggesting that input is not the sole factor. Results are discussed in the context of a “plurilithic” ontology of grammar and the challenges this represents for pedagogy and teacher development.

Authors: Hall, CJ; Joyce, J; Robson, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Journal: Applied Linguistics Review
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 35-59
• Publication date: 2016-06-29
• DOI: 10.1515/applirev-2016-1001
• EISSN: 1868-6311
• ISSN: 1868-6303
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR