Theoretical and empirical research on the acquisition of English article use and tense by Japanese learners after the sensitive period

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This study provides the behavioral and neuroimaging data to show that(1) two distinct regions of the left frontal gyrus explain individual differences in second language(L2) proficiency ;(2) post-puberty Japanese leaners of English can acquire more knowledge of syntax than is instructed, suggesting the interweaving of nature(universal principles of human language) and nurture(instruction) in L2 acquisition ;(3) at least the core principle(i. e., structure-dependence) in the computational system still functions after the critical or sensitive periods, suggesting plasticity for neural circuits for language in adult L2 learners ;(4) the acquisition of article use and tense can be explained in a principled way by the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis ;(5) explicit instruction can improve at the very least the performance of L2 learners ;(6) results here provide useful insights into the pedagogical grammar of English.