For example: The mother is dressing her little boy, and she put her clothes, her pant, her coat, and then she finish.

Stage 3 -- Post-emergence; differentiated use of 'his' and 'her' but not correctly when the possessed object has gender.

For example: The girl fell on her bicycle. She look his father and cry.

Stage 4 -- Error free use of 'his' and 'her' in all contexts.

For example; The little girl with her dad play together. And the dad take his girl on his shoulder and he hurts his back (Lightbown and Spada 89-90).

In examining the developmental sequence of relative clauses, Lightbown and Spada (90) report a definitive sequence, presented below.

Subject -- The girl who was sick went home.

Direct object -- The story that I read was long.

Indirect object -- The man who (m) Susan gave the present to was happy.

Object of preposition -- I found the book that John was talking about.

Possessive -- I know the woman whose father is visiting.

Object of comparison -- The person that Susan is taller than is Mary. (Lightbown and Spada 90).

They also explain that the acquisition of relative clauses is highly influenced by the first language.

As second language learners acquire the ability to use past tense verbs, they pass through a developmental sequence similar to young children acquiring knowledge. Additionally, the process seems to be similar regardless of the first language (Lightbown and Spada 91). The first stage involves no reference to time (My son come. He work in a restaurant.) The second stage involves the addition of a grammatical morpheme (Me working long time). Second language learners typically acquire past tense of irregular verbs before regular verbs.

Lightbown and Spada (96) outline three other areas of communicative competence. These include vocabulary, pragmatics, and pronunciation. Vocabulary is an important skill for second language learner; however, it is an area that is often neglected. Additionally, Lightbown and Spada (96) explain that while vocabulary development for first language learners is almost effortless, second language learners do not have as much exposure to vocabulary. Therefore, development becomes more difficult. Lightbown and Spada (99) add that exposure to frequently used...

Lightbown and Spada (100) explain that pragmatics includes elements such as directness, politeness, and deference. Second language learners must develop skills such as "interpreting requests, responding politely to compliments or apologies, recognizing humour, and managing conversations" (Lightbown and Spada 101). According to Lightbown and Spada (103-104), pragmatics should be integrated into classroom instruction by using communicative, content-based, and task-based approaches to second language acquisition.
Lightbown and Spada (104) explain that when behaviorism and audiolingualism fell out of favor, so did the teaching of pronunciation. Additionally, very little research has been conducted in this area.

Although, more is now understood about second language acquisition, still not all learners are successful in acquiring a second language. Erlam (147) explains that it is important to consider learner aptitude when selecting instructional methods for second language learners. Gardner identified a link between student motivation and success with second language acquisition. Lightbown and Spada (194) add "language learning is affected by many factors. Among these are the personal characteristics and experiences of the learner, the social and cultural environment both inside and outside the classroom, the structure of the native and target languages, opportunities for interaction with speakers of the target language, and access to correction and form-focused instruction."

Works Cited:

Ellis, Rod. "Measuring Implicit and Explicit Knowledge of a Second Language: A Psychometric Study." Studies in Second Language Acquisition 27.2 (2005): 141,141-172. ProQuest Education Journals. Web. 30 June 2011.

Erlam, R. (2005). Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research, 9(2), 147-147-172. doi:10.1191/1362168805lr161oa

Gardner, R.C. "Correlation, Causation, Motivation and Second Language Acquisition." Canadian Psychology 41.1 (2000): 10-. ProQuest Psychology Journals. Web. 30 June 2011.

Lightbown, Patsy M. And Nina Spada. How Languages Are Learned. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.