Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1995

DR. Gladys Tang (right) and Dr. Virginia Yip (left) Dr. Gladys Tang received her Ph.D. in applied linguisticsfrom the University of Edinburgh in 1990 and is currently lecturer of linguistics in the English Department of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests include linguistic theory and second language acquisition, classroom processes and peda- gogical g r a mm a r , curriculum development and planning, language testing theories and techniques, as well as Hong Kong sign language grammar. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Hong Kong Linguistics Society. Dr. Virginia Yip received her Ph.D. in applied linguistics from the University of Southern California in 1989. Lecturer in linguistics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, she is also reviewer/reader of two international journals, Second Language Research and Language Learning, and a book reviewer for Cambridge University Press. Her recent publications include a book on Cantonese grammar and one on acquisition of English by Chinese learners. Possibl e Implication s Can w e infer f r om these findings that for those aspects of grammar that are instantiated i n b o t h English a nd Cantonese, reflexive p r o n o u ns for example, the mo t h er t ongue w i l l exert a greater influence o n the learners, as evidenced b y the transfer o f subject-orientation f r om Cantonese to English? Co u ld they also me an that UG still plays a part i n the acquisition of a second language here, as t he s u b j e c ts d emo n s t r a te t he a b i l i ty t o gradually grasp the mo re subtle properties o f English such as subjacency (or constraints o n syntactic mo v eme nt i n wh-questions), w h i c h has n o equivalent i n Cantonese questions? A n d can w e d r aw any definitive conclusion as to wh e t h er UG w i l l d i m i n i sh w i t h age, as even the most proficient subjects fail to reach the level of native speakers i n appreciating such subtleties o f the English language? On e t h i ng that's certain is that these findings w i l l contribute to the o n - g o i ng debate about the role o f UG a nd o f the mo t h er t ongue i n the acquisition o f a second language. But other than this, d o they have any significant bearing o n secondary school language teaching? Dr. Y i p and Dr. Tang believe that they serve to let teachers k n o w that language instruction is not as simple as they may t h i nk a nd that, i n fact, they s h o u ld be aware of certain subtleties i n the g r ammar o f the language they teach. ' I t 'd be a ma r ve l l ous thing for language teachers i n H o n g K o ng if these types of study o n second language acquisition research can be incorporated into the c u r r i c u l um of teacher education. It w o u l d ma ke t h em better teachers than they are n ow ,' Dr. Tang says. Results o f the research have already b e en presented at local a nd international conferences o n second language acquisition, a nd w i l l s o on be published. Research 20