List of language acquisition researchers explained

Below are some notable researchers in language acquisition listed by intellectual orientation and research topic.

Nativists

• Eric Lenneberg
• Steven Pinker
• Stephen Crain
• Thomas Bever
• Susan Gelman
• Susan Carey
• Elizabeth Spelke
• Lila R. Gleitman

Empiricists

• Elizabeth Bates
• Michael Tomasello
• Brian MacWhinney
• Elissa L. Newport
• Linda B. Smith
• Jenny Saffran
• Elena Lieven
• Dan Slobin
• Barbara Landau
• Melissa Bowerman
• Adele Goldberg
• Richard N. Aslin
• Janet Werker
• Roger Brown
• LouAnn Gerken
• Jean Berko Gleason
• Edward Klima
• Ursula Bellugi
• Gary Marcus
• Paul Bloom
• Eve V. Clark

Generative Language Acquisition

• Lydia White
• Luigi Rizzi
• Thomas Bever
• Nina Hyams
• Rosemarie Tracy

Second language acquisition researchers

• H. Douglas Brown
• Martin Bygate
• John Bissell Carroll
• Pit Corder
• Alister Cumming
• Nick Ellis
• Rod Ellis
• Susan Gass
• Fred Genesee
• François Grosjean
• Luke Harding
• Keith Johnson
• Judit Kormos
• Stephen Krashen
• Judith F. Kroll
• Alison Mackey
• Rosa Manchón
• Paul Kei Matsuda
• Lourdes Ortega
• Teresa Pica
• Paul Pimsleur
• Richard Schmidt
• Norbert Schmitt
• Larry Selinker
• Merrill Swain
• Elaine Tarone
• Jyotsna Vaid
• Bill VanPatten
• Lydia White
• Alison Wray
• Michael T. Ullman

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory approach

• Kees de Bot
• Marijn van Dijk
• Zoltán Dörnyei
• Paul van Geert
• Nick Ellis
• Diane Larsen-Freeman
• Wander Lowie
• Sarah Mercer
• Marjolijn Verspoor