"Learners have two kinds of linguistic information at their disposal. The first is known as positive eveidence and refers to that limited set of (generally) well-formed utterances to which learners are exposed. The second, negative evidence, consist of information provided to a learner that her or his utterance is deviant in some way." p.346 of Second Language Acquisition - Gass, Selinker
Without first positive input ie. the ideal form, there is nothing to target, therefore no target form to acquire. Negative input can only come after one has first heard a target form to attempt.
jb
Sunday, April 19, 2009
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