Pedagogical grammar as the framework of tefl research. Part 12. Foreign language acquisition: mechanical memorization and overgeneralazation

Abstract

The paper presents the results of the analysis of experimental research data in this area. Over a long period of observation, the author studied two groups of subjects of different age categories with diverse social characteristics, using the oral interview as a way of obtaining research material. It was found that both mechanical memorization and overgeneralization are distinct features characteristic of the process of foreign language acquisition. Specifically, the manifestations of mechanical memorization were observed in the use of is not it (she, he, etc.) as a universal means to form disjunctive questions in sentences with can, have (got), going to, and is/are, as well as the simultaneous use of several of these verb forms; the use of what/where is as a universal question word; the use of I am instead of I or my; the use of going to or go to as one word; the use of it is as a universal formula and is as a universal operator to form general questions; simultaneous use of two operators, accompanied by the wrong word order, as well as the use of ‘empty’ forms. Overgeneralization was manifested in the use of are (is) as a universal operator, in particular in its simultaneous use with other operators (modal verbs, have (got) and do); use of articles with possessive pronouns, proper names, quantitative numerals, uncountable nouns or with countable nouns in the plural, or with other parts of speech (not nouns); the use of the long plural ending (-es) and the simple past tense (-ed) with already marked plural and past forms; the use of the -er marker to form the comparative degree of polysyllable adjectives; the use of the operator do in special questions to the subject; the double marking of the same grammatical feature, in particular the past tense, definiteness, negation, auxiliary verbs, and possessiveness. The author states that there is no reason to believe that the functioning of mechanical memorization and overgeneralization in the process of learning a foreign language is fundamentally different from the acquisition of the native language.