lying, deep structure into the surface structure of a sentence and proposed that people understand sentences by transforming the surface structure into a basic, deep structure or kernel form. Also, they use transformational rules to convert deep structure to surface structure ding speech production or writing. What is learned, therefore, is not a string of words but transformational rules that enable the speaker to generate an infinite variety of novel sentences and enable a listener to understand the infinite variety of sentences heard.
In summary then, Chomsky suggests that the transition in language learning from the simple stages of comprehension and expression to the stage at which the child uses a complex mechanism of language is so complex that some important aspects of language cannot be learned but are innate within the brain. His theory views language learning as similar to learning to walk; rather than being completely acquired, some aspects of spoken language "unfold" under appropriate developmental and environmental circumstances.
Application of Chomsky's Notions to Foreign Language Learning
Chomsky's ideas about transformational grammar inspired dozens of studies during the 1960s and 1970s. For example, Mehler (1963) found that people recalled kernel sentences much more accurately than sentences involving several transformations. However, not all of the evidence resulting from studies investigating Chomsky's views has been favorable. Slobin's (1966) research, for example, demonstrated that sentence processing times did not meet some of the requirements of Chomsky's views. By the 1980s, the general consensus was that research supports Chomsky's notion of the distinction between surface and deep structure but that there was less support for the notion of a close correspondence between the number of transformations and psychological complexity (Prideaux, 1985; Tartter, 1986).
Nonetheless, because of th...