It is well known that children utilize linguistic rules and make overgeneralization errors. The purpose of this paper is to show how second language learners differ from first language learners in this regard. We investigated Korean children s use of English causative alternation rule by examining learner corpus data and concluded that many errors have nothing to do with the overgeneralization. Our investigation revealed that Korean young learners of English make hardly any overgeneralization errors in writing sentences headed by causative or inchoative verbs. This rarity of errors can best be explained by the general tendency toward conservatism on the part of second language learners (cf. Baker 1979).
1. Introduction
2. Overgeneralization Errors in First Language Acquisition
3. Overgeneralization Errors in Second Language Acquisition
4. Conclusion