This edited volume dealing with formal features in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is defined within current generative grammatical theory, such as the Principles and Parameters Theory and the Minimalist Program. Formal features are essential to any account of language acquisition because they are basic components of lexical and functional categories. This is a subject of much current research as evidenced by the number of published articles in journals and in conference proceedings. This is what the editors say: While L2 acquisition is the focus of our volume, the papers address the role of features in the current versions of generative grammar and explore the role of features for learnability theory as it relates to native and non-native acquisition. To our knowledge, the volume represents the first scholarly contribution specifiacally devoted to features in language acquisition.

There are many generativists in SLA, including our two series editors, Susan Gass and Jacquelyn Schacther. When asked if the formalist bias will be a big detraction, Jacquelyn said, "The formal features book will definitely be formalist in tone, and within the latest framework. But what I see the formalists doing big time is becoming cognitive neuroscientists. This is a good idea, I think because they're forced to deal with psycholinguistics and biological matters, like it or not. And I see that a number of the proposed authors for this volume are in fact working with psychologists and neuroscientists, especially the European authors, of which there are many. And I like the book for ...the expansion beyond SLA to agrammaticism, SLKI, bilingualism, the similarities between SLA and linguistic defects, etc."