A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

2.3.4 Maturational Constraints and Lexical Development

Chomsky's Universal Grammar did not concern itself directly with the acquisition
Ofvocabulary. However, vocabulary is a crucial aspect of language knowledge
and vocabulary knowledge is fundamental in developing competence in a
language. Nevertheless, findings in this domain of language are very limited
probably due to the fact that it is difficult to define what exactly it is that
constitutes the lexicon. Lewis (1993), for example, adopts the view of Pawley &
Syder (1983) of lexis as both words and chunks Orsemi-Iexicalised sentences.
Structure, in this view, is regarded as secondary, based on the assumption that
lexis can carry meaning without structure. For Lewis (1993: vi) language
consists of 'grammatical lexis and not Iexicalised grammar¹. However, as
Singleton argues, 'a partitioning-off of lexis from grammar is less than
straightforward' and:

"...actually defining the domain of the lexi∞n - and in particular defining the line
of demarcation between lexis and morphosyntax - is no easy matter."
(Singleton, 1995: 10)

Interestingly, most studies in the area of lexical development seem to come
from the foreign language classroom, presumably as input is easier to control
and output more easily measured at least in ∞ntexts where learners do not
receive additional exposure to the target language outside the classroom.

In an already cited study Ekstrand (1976) showed adults and adolescent
beginners progressing more rapidly than younger children in acquiring

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