Written and/or spoken language to which the learner is exposed.

Theory that postulated that behaviour (including learning) took place as a child responded to stimuli in the environment. The positive responses were rewarded to form a habit.

Learner language that contains influences from the first language and examples of target-like features.

Related to the choices a speaker makes when selecting the forms necessary to convey a message that is appropriate in a given context.

This hypothesis stated that linguists were able to predict the areas of difficulty for second language learners through a comparison of their first language to the second language.

The ability to compensate when there are breakdowns in communication, for example, paraphrasing.

The ability to interpret an utterance for its social meaning.

The part of the input that is attended to and made available to the developing linguistic system.

Research that showed that certain morphemes in the English language were acquired by all children in the same order.

A method of instruction developed according to Behaviourist theory: it provided appropriate stimuli for learners to imitate; it fostered association formation and mistakes were corrected immediately.

Refers to internal grammars that allow speakers to generate an infinite number of original, yet grammatical, sentences.

The ability to communicate effectively.

The ability to use lexical items and the rules constraining morphology, sentence structure and sound system.