running the risk of losing the position he had sought so hard to win", p. 53).

Overuse of the Monitor can also stem from a simple lack of acquisition. Those trained only in foreign language classrooms, where the emphasis was on conscious grammar, may develop extensive formal knowledge of the target language, with very little acquisition, and consequently have no choice but to be overusers. Such performers may utilize the first language as an utterance initiator when forced to speak, since they lack acquired competence in the second language.

Overusers, regardless of type, will typically self-correct "by rule", that is, when correcting errors, they will often be consciously aware of the rule that was broken and be able to verbalize it. (Such reactions are documented in the literature: Cohen and Robbins, 1976; Krashen, 1978a; Krashen and Pon, 1975; Krashen, Robertson, Loop, and Rietmann, 1977.)

Overusers also typically have a hesitant, overcareful style of speaking, thanks to their overconcern with correctness and constant rule-searching.

The Underuser

At the other extreme are adult second language performers who do not seem to use a monitor to any extent, even when conditions encourage it. Such performers, like first language acquirers, appear to be uninfluenced by most error correction and do not usually utilize conscious linguistic knowledge in second language performance.

The Monitor underuser does not seem to use the conscious grammar at all. The underuser typically judges grammaticality "by feel", that is, he uses his subconsciously acquired system, rather than a conscious grammar. Several performers described in the literature appear to be underusers, such as Hung, described by Cohen and Robbins. Hung was quoted as saying:

I never taught any grammars. I guess I just never learned the rules that well. I know that every time I speak it's pretty correct, so I never think about grammars. I just write down whatever I feel like it. Everytime I write something I just stop thinking. I don't know which (rule) to apply...(p.59).

The underuser may be living in the country where the target

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