Hall, Christopher J 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9038-1238, Joyce, Jack and Robson, Chris
(2016)
Investigating the lexico-grammatical resources of a non-native user of English: The case of can and could in email requests.
Applied Linguistics Review, 8 (1).
pp. 35-59.
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Abstract
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.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| DOI: | 10.1515/applirev-2016-1001 |
| Subjects: | P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics P Language and Literature > PE English |
| School/Department: | School of Education, Language and Psychology |
| URI: | https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/1646 |
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