Neural Dissociation within Language: Lexical Memory is Part of Declarative Memory Grammatical Rules are Processed by Procedural System

Late learners do not usually attain native-like levels

But some aspects of L2 easier to learn than others

• Relatively easy:

• learning words

• Difficult: not just pronunciation, but also

• grammar (morphology, syntax)

•

Nevertheless, evidence suggests that native-like abilities in L2 can indeed be attained, even for grammar

(Birdsong, 1999; Doughty and Long, 2003; Ullman, 2001b, 2005)

Learning an L2 is Hard