Exploiting the Theory of Universals in Adult Second Language Teaching

Abstract

A bilingual teaching strategy is developed that, it is argued, will permit the universalist hypothesis first posited by Noam Chomsky (1965) to be exploited in second-language (L2) classrooms in a way that grounds the concept for teachers. The theory behind this assertion is discussed with reference to the literature on L2 instruction. The theory is then elaborated through an investigation of L2 instruction for adult learners in Sri Lanka. The usefulness of the universalist hypothesis is explored by looking at the the process by which learners of a L2 bring to bear concepts & methods learned in the acquisition of a first language to learning a second (the "matching process"). It is argued that, by making learners aware of universal possibilities in language, this matching process can be facilitated. Interlinguistic transderivations is introduced, through a discussion of the Sri Lankan case study, as a strategy for carrying out this task.