Universal Grammar as a Model of Second Language Learning

This paper provides an overview of the role of Universal Grammar as a model in second language learning. Universal Grammar is part of an innate biologically endowed language faculty (also called LAD) built into the human mind consisting of principles and parameters. Principles are unvarying and apply to all natural language; in contrast, parameters possess a limited number of open values which characterize differences between languages. Grammar is knowledge in the mind, not rules in a book; students should know the knowledge of language in an unconscious sense so that they can put it to good use. The core of human language is the lexicon (lexical categories and functional categories). Classroom teaching application is limited