Taking Explanation Seriously; or, Let a Couple of Flowers Bloom

概要

論文の詳細を見る
It is usually (although not always; cf. eg van Fraassen 1980) thought that one goal of a theory is to explain the phenomena within the theory's domain. Hence one criterion for assessing a putative theory of second language acquisition (SLA), for instance, or for assessing SLA research conducted within a given theoretical perspective, is the degree to which it can be seen as a successful contribution to such an explanation. Unfortunately, a good deal of SLA research has been less than thoroughgoing in its commitment to explanatory goals, making it harder to judge the value of the research in question. This paper discusses some of the issues and problems involved in scientific explanation in general, and their relevance to SLA theory in particular. The relation between SLA and the property theory/transition theory distinction (Cummins 1983) is examined, the inadequacies of the 'Received View' -Hempel's deductive-nomological model (1965)-are detailed, and an approach is outlined toward using Lipton's (1991) account of inference to the best explanation as a guide to evaluating SLA theoretical frameworks.
桃山学院大学の論文
1992-03-31