In order to attain further insight into the nature of the human language faculty, this linguistic and psycholinguistic research involves integration of results from basic cross-linguistic research in the area of first language acquisition with results from parallel research in the area of second language acquisition. The is being led by hypotheses and methods deriving from current linguistic theory, and typological cross-linguistic studies as well as by insights from current studies of language pedagogy. Interactive activities involve: mentoring graduate students and undergraduates; teaching a graduate seminar; and developing a workshop at the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Summer Institute 1997, a symposium for the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, and a workshop on female mentorship in linguistics at the LSA Institute.