Input and Evidence

Input and Evidence: the raw material of second language acquisition is an empirical and theoretical treatment of one of the essential components of SLA: the input to language learning mechanisms. It reviews and adds to the empirical studies showing that negative evidence (correction, feedback, repetitions, reformulations) play a role in language acquisition in addition to that played by ordinary conversation. At the same time, it embeds discussion of input within a framework which includes a serious treatment of language processing, including the problem of modularity and the question of how semantic representations can influence grammatical ones. It lays the foundation for the development of a truly explanatory theory of SLA in the form of the Autonomous Induction Theory which combines a model of induction with an interpretation of Universal Grammar, thereby permitting, for the the first time, a coherent approach to the problem of constraining induction in SLA.

Lisa DeWaard Dykstra, University of Iowa, in Language 79(4), 2003.:
This volume is a refreshing new look at a long discussed problem: language acquisition and the role that input and negative evidence play. Carrol's theory of autonomous induction is clearly explained, and empirical as well as theoretical support is provided. The work is readable and accessible to researchers at all levels in linguistics and SLA.