English Interlanguage Morphology

“The book provides a cogent overview of voluminous research on the acquisition/processing of irregular verbs. A particular strength is the development of classroom applications based on theoretical principles and empirical findings. A valuable resource for practitioners as well as researchers interested in the development of L2 morphology.”

—Tom Rankin, Professor at the Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

This book examines psycholinguistic elements of EL2 irregular verb morphology in English, using two empirical studies of young language learners in Austria to make evidence-based didactic recommendations for classroom use. The author first provides an up-to-date overview of the so-called past tense debate, encompassing the last four decades of linguistic, psycholinguistic, and cognitive research, before presenting an in-depth discussion of the notion of irregular and semi-regular verbal morphology in both German and English, with a focus on apophony. Turning to his original research, two behavioural elicitation experiments are analysed using generalised linear mixed models as well as conditional inference trees, avoiding common pitfalls that come with traditional ANOVAs in repeated measure designs. Based on the empirical results, he discusses concrete implications for second language acquisition and instructed EL2 teaching, with a focus on Input Processing and Variation Theory. This book will be essential reading for SLA and applied linguistics researchers as well as graduate and postgraduate students in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, language acquisition, and EL2 pedagogy.

Thomas Wagner is HS Professor for Applied Linguistics at the Pädagogische Hochschule Oberösterreich in Linz, Austria.