First and Second Language Acquisition | Marjo Mitsutomi, Minna Kirjavainen [ACLL2014]

Their Featured Presentation looks at the process of first and second language acquisition and introduces some of their latest findings in the course of doing their research. Language acquisition is a process that has recently been described as “chaotic.” Many factors contribute to the learners’ ultimate level of language mastery, and no single theory can exhaustively explain the processes in the learners’ brain. Not only second language learners but also native speakers show clear differences in their ability to express themselves and produce meaning in written and spoken form.