L2 German Research Articles

The effects of deductive versus inductive pronunciation instruction in combination with captioned video on the acquisition of incongruent grapheme‐phoneme correspondences in L2 German

AbstractPrior research indicates that first language (L1) orthography can adversely affect second language (L2) phonological acquisition, yet studies on orthographic interference and pedagogical strategies to mitigate these effects remain sparse. Addressing these research gaps, this study investigates the impact of orthographic interference on L2 German pronunciation among L1 English speakers, employing a technology‐based homework intervention with EdPuzzle, an educational video platform, in three beginner courses. Students in two experimental groups engaged with captioned video clips and were guided through questions using either an inductive or deductive approach, while a control group focused solely on meaning. Analysis of a pre‐intervention production task revealed German grapheme‐phoneme correspondences < v > ‐ /f/, < s > ‐ /z/, and < z > ‐ /ts/ were most frequently mispronounced. Comprehensibility ratings by native German speakers suggest that both experimental groups significantly improved in their word‐level productions, with the inductive group also significantly improving in their sentence‐level productions. This study also sheds light on student perceptions of these instructional activities, enhancing our understanding of engaging L2 German pronunciation pedagogy. This research underscores the potential of integrating technology and accessible content in homework assignments to enrich and supplement L2 German pronunciation instruction in the classroom.

Phrase Frame Use in EFL Learners’ Argumentative Essays: A Corpus-Based Comparative Study

Recently, there has been a growing interest in the features and development of multi-word formulaic sequences for foreign language learners in the field of second language acquisition. While considerable amount of research has been conducted on continuous formulaic sequences both domestically and abroad, scant attention has been rendered to discontinuous phrase frames. Adopting a corpus linguistic perspective, the current study compares and analyses second language learners from different backgrounds with native speakers, focusing on the phrase frame features identified in the argumentative essays written by Chinese and German EFL learners. With a corpus-based approach, the four-word phrase frames are extracted from the English TOEFL essay texts of Chinese and German students using AntConc 4.1.4 corpus analysis software. The top 100 most frequently occurring phrase frames are manually filtered and then classified according to their structural and functional features to identify similarities and differences in terms of overall frequency, structure, and function features of phrase frames between two groups of learners and with those of native writers. The findings reveal that L2 learners significantly employ more fixed and predictable phrase frames than their native writers, with German L2 learners using more phrase frames than their Chinese L2 counterparts. In terms of functional features, German L2 learners use more stance and discourse organizing expressions than Chinese L2 learners. Awareness of the essay genre, English proficiency, and the time-limited writing environment are contributing factors to these features. Therefore, the study suggests that the accuracy and variety of phrase frame usage are more representative of L2 learners’ acquisition and writing quality than their quantity of use. This study facilitates an understanding of different EFL learners’ phraseological competence through the lens of their p-frame use and provides pedagogical insights accordingly into teaching and learning argumentative essays in EFL contexts.

The MuLeCo Project: A learner corpus of L1 German learners of Romance languages

The MuLeCo Project: A learner corpus of L1 German learners of Romance languages

Pragmatic competence and pragmatic tolerance in foreign language acquisition—revisiting the case of scalar implicatures

Abstract Previous L2 studies used binary Truth-Value-Judgment (TVJ) tasks to investigate L1–L2 differences in scalar implicature derivation (some X implicates some but not all X). They examined participants’ judgments of sentences with weak scalar expressions (“Timothy ate some of the pretzels”) when stronger ones are true (“Timothy ate all of the pretzels”). Some studies indicate adult L2 learners are less likely than L1 users to accept such statements while others found the opposite, concluding that implicature derivation is “costly” for L2 learners, rendering them less pragmatically competent than L1 users. Importantly, related L1 research suggests that TVJ tasks only capture sensitivity to under-informativeness. This sensitivity might be completely overridden by metalinguistic attitudes in binary tasks, whereas graded tasks reveal nuanced judgment patterns. Exploring L2 response behaviors, we tested English L1 speakers and competent German L2 English learners using binary and graded tasks. In both tasks, we found evidence of pragmatic responding with no evidence of differences between groups. Bayes factor analyses of the graded data favored H0 over the hypotheses that L2 learners provide fewer or more rejections to under-informative input than L1 learners. We explore implications for L2 learners’ pragmatic abilities, differences with previous studies, and the role of TVJ tasks in under-informative contexts.

The Impact of ChatGPT on Vocabulary Learning in L3 German Class

Although technology is an established issue in applied linguistics, integrating chatbots, particularly ChatGPT into language learning, especially third-language (L3) learning, is a novel and mystic issue. To demystify this integration, the current study explores the role of ChatGPT in enhancing vocabulary learning, which makes up the skeleton of language, in L3 German class since multilingualism is becoming a norm nowadays. The participants of this exploratory qualitative case study, who are A1-level German learners, are three university students. They read and analyse five different ChatGPT-created texts and adapt the topic of texts to themselves via ChatGPT in which they are supposed to incorporate theme-related keywords throughout five weeks. Data is gathered through semi-structured interviews, vocabulary tests, and reflective journals. Grounded theory was conducted to analyse the data. The findings provide insights into the participants’ academic achievement through cognitive and affective dimensions. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

How do constructions with modal verbs develop in second language learners of English?

Abstract The study reported on in this paper uses data from a large, pseudolongitudinal corpus of second language (L2) learner writing to investigate how L2 knowledge of verb-argument constructions (VACs) develops from low-beginner to upper-intermediate proficiency levels. The focus is on learners from two L1 backgrounds (L1 German and L1 Spanish) and on a subset of VACs that contain modal auxiliaries in combination with lexical verbs (e.g., subject-modal-verb, as in I can cook). For each VAC, L1, and proficiency level, frequency lists of verbs were created and compared across datasets. Reference data on the same constructions was extracted from a corpus of L1 writing. Results suggest that modal VACs become more frequent, less predictable, more productive, and more aligned with L1 production as learner proficiency increases. The findings of this study help to expand our understanding of the processes that underlie L2 construction acquisition.

„... dass sich halt keiner ausgeschlossen fühlt.“ Wahrnehmungen von und Einstellungen zur Verwendung nicht-deutscher Erstsprachen im Unterricht

Abstract This article examines perceptions of and attitudes towards the use of non-German languages in Austrian schools from the perspective of students and teachers. By differentiating between teachers, students with exclusively German L1 and students with a non-German L1, different perspectives on code-switching in group work situations are examined. For this purpose, data was collected via online questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions between students. The results show that switching to another language in group work settings is perceived as inappropriate, in particular by those students who have no competence in a language other than German. Moreover, they associate switching with poorer performance in class and interpret the use of a language other than German in class to be antagonistic or talking behind the back of people who do not speak that language (“gossiping”). In contrast, – and contrary to the assumption that they evaluate language switches in the classroom more negatively due to stricter normative views – teachers show a consistently more positive perception of code switching behaviour and its multilingual speakers. It can be concluded from the findings that multilingualism in the school context and its overall benefits should not only be addressed in teacher training, but that it would also be useful to raise students’ awareness of multilingual practices.

Assessment of Interactional Competence in L2 German: Integrating an innovative rubric to help language teachers effectively evaluate pragmatics

Research on the development of second language (L2) interactional competence (IC) has shown that IC is vital for L2 speakers' participation in the social world of the L2 and thus an important aspect of pragmatic competence. To date, however, there is little work on the education of future language teachers in the assessment of their learners' IC. More specifically, there is no research on language teachers' experiences using a rubric that focuses on specific interactional sequential features. We address this gap by presenting a study on training L2 German instructors to assess German response tokens — e.g., achso or echt. Building on a prior study on L2 German students' use of response tokens, this paper presents a study on devising a new, specific IC rubric on response tokens. By having L2 instructors use this new IC rubric, we show the advantages and disadvantages of the rubric concentrated around response tokens. Moreover, by collecting L2 instructors’ feedback via survey data on their experience, opinions, and concerns, we illustrate the importance of integrating response tokens into rubrics. We conclude the paper by considering pedagogical implications for language teacher education. The findings show that language instructors need input on the interactional function of response tokens and that instructors view assessing L2 interaction using a sequentially focused rubric as generally positive.

Preliminary findings and research perspectives on the German modal sollen in L2 written assessments

Modal verbs represent a special verb category and constitute an essential component of L2 German semantics. While Abrams and Rott (2017) suggest that German learner texts depict a 90% accuracy in the correct use of modal verbs in integrative writing tasks, the correct semantic use of the modal sollen (‘supposed to’; ‘should’) seems to pose a particular challenge (Jentges 2016), especially in an assessment context. In this corpus analysis, 1,032 L2 German assessment texts across all CEFR levels were analyzed with respect to the L2 semantic use of sollen against the backdrop of the assessment prompts. 68% of instances of all uses of sollen in A1 texts and 53% of all uses of sollen in A2 texts showed an inappropriate semantic use of sollen. The discrepancy between these results and Abrams and Rott (2017) can be attributed to the prompts used in the assessments analyzed in this paper: They do not take into consideration the semantic mismatch between the use of the modal in the prompt and its inappropriate use in the texts produced.

Subphonemic Detail and Foreign Language Learning: Word-final Sibilants in Korean Learners of L2 English and L3 German

Subphonemic Detail and Foreign Language Learning: Word-final Sibilants in Korean Learners of L2 English and L3 German

The effect of linguistic and extralinguistic features on EFL adverb placement

Abstract Larsson et al. (2020) emphasize the importance of taking linguistic variables (e.g., verb type) into consideration in studies of adverb placement. This study looks at the positional distribution of 15 epistemic adverbs from texts written by L1 Turkish, German, and English students, with the aim of testing whether the findings from Larsson et al. can be generalized to a different register (argumentative writing) and a typologically more distant language (Turkish). We also revisit the question of whether there is L1 transfer. The results confirm Larsson et al.’s finding that the main predictors of adverb placement are linguistic, although some register differences were noted, such as higher frequencies of adverbs in the argumentative texts. Furthermore, the L1 Turkish students made especially frequent use of the clause-initial position (e.g., probably she is here).

Old Problems, New Challenges

Although comparative studies on L1 education are facing many new challenges today, two ‘old’ issues should not be forgotten: the professional qualification of teachers as part of their academic training, and elementary language education in primary schools. These issues need a theoretical foundation to make L1 education part of the professional practical knowledge of teachers. In Germany, there is a gap between the subject-related qualification of prospective teachers on the one hand, and their didactic qualification for their professional field of action in schools on the other. What is perceived today as L1 German teaching from school year 1 to 12/13 goes back to two different traditions for which, until a few decades ago, educational institutions of varying prestige were responsible: the Volksschulen (elementary education for the lower classes) initially focusing on "mother-tongue" monolingualism, and the Latin schools (grammar schools for the higher classes) focusing on multilingual education, preparing for academic careers. It was not until the Weimar Constitution in 1919 that Germany also introduced academic qualifications for teachers in elementary education. However, also seminars, pedagogical academies, and colleges that focused on teaching didactics mainly, were established to circumvent university qualifications. What was developed in the last third of the 20th century in the context of a scientific foundation for the didactics of L1 German has since fallen into oblivion. This contribution aims at presenting a critically reflected continuation of these developments.

On the relationship between complexity of primary occupation and L2 varietal behavior in adult migrants in Austria

Abstract This article explores for the first time the relationship between occupational complexity (operationalized using the complexity measures indicated in the Dictionary of occupational titles) and adult migrants’ second language (L2) sociolinguistic repertoires in the Austro-Bavarian naturalistic context. We analyze the data of 36 adult migrant L2 German speakers who participated in a virtual reality experiment involving interactions with a dialect-speaking and standard German-speaking interlocutor, the goal being to capture participants’ interpersonal varietal behavior, that is, their addressee-relational, differential use of standard German, Austro-Bavarian dialect, and mixture varieties. Bayesian multinomial mixed-effects models reveal that participants with occupations requiring more handling and physical precision work are predicted to employ dialect varieties more often, but exclusively in interaction with the standard German-speaking interlocutor. A person-centered visual-quantitative analysis additionally facilitates insights concerning which migrants deviate most notably from group-level patterns, and how these deviations may relate to the complexity of their primary occupation. More generally, this study paves new ground with respect to how we can operationally define and capture the complexity of occupational status, and moreover sets out a new direction for research questions investigating how career-related differences impact on (L2) language variation and use.

A Cross-Language Comparative Study of English and German Vowel Space Area in Swiss German L1 Speakers

It is conventional to examine vowel systems by their acoustic correlates, specifically formants. In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) vowel chart, vowels are placed according to their relative positions determined by the first two formant values. This two-dimensional plane makes possible the calculation of the articulatory working space of vowels. Variations in the size and shape of the vowel space exist across gender, dialects, and languages. The present study focuses on comparing the vowel space area (VSA) in English and German produced by native Swiss German speakers, attempting to shed light on whether VSAs differ significantly with different calculation methods cross-linguistically. Given the fact that absolute formant values vary tremendously across gender, Hertz values are converted to z-scores, allowing for more direct and meaningful comparisons. While vowel normalization mitigates gender-related differences within specific languages to a large extent, there remains a significant cross-linguistic gender difference. The results reveal that for 3- and 4-vowel space there is no significant effect in language but an effect is observed in gender and vowel combination on VSA, specifically in terms of individual area and overlapping ratio. This suggests that Swiss German speakers tend to utilize the same amount of vowel space in both languages, with the only difference being the expansion of English VSA in higher F2 dimension and lower F1 dimension, as observed across all calculation methods.

Morphosyntactic underspecification affects the processing of verbal forms at different levels of abstraction in L1 and L2 German

Abstract Using a priming paradigm, we investigated the processing of overtly identical verb forms with different sets of morphosyntactic features in L1 and L2 German. We found that more specific functions of a verb (inflected verbs) were better primes for less specific verb functions (past participles) than vice versa. For L1 speakers, these priming asymmetries were observed regardless of whether the lexical verb was repeated in prime and target or not (i.e., priming also for abstract configurations). For L2 learners, a similar but not native-like asymmetric priming pattern was seen only with repetition of the lexical verb. It was absent when the verb was not repeated. We conclude that in L2, morphosyntactic information is processed more on a lexical, item-based level compared to L1. We discuss our results in the context of several accounts, e.g., Shallow Structure Hypothesis, Declarative Procedural Model and the Ontogenesis Model of the L2 Lexical Representation.

Document language moderates the text-belief consistency effect

ABSTRACT When researching socioscientific topics, particularly on the Internet, readers face multiple texts that they must integrate into a coherent mental model. Previous research in monolingual settings has found that comprehension is biased toward readers’ prior beliefs (text-belief consistency effect). Considering that the Internet is multilingual, this experiment focused on the influence of document language on the text-belief consistency effect. Assuming differences in epistemic prestige among languages, we hypothesized that document language would act as a credibility cue and moderate the text-belief consistency effect. Seventy-four German university students read two conflicting texts either in their L2 English (higher epistemic prestige) or in their L1 German (lower epistemic prestige). Participants constructed stronger situation models for the belief-consistent text than for the belief-inconsistent text only when they read the texts in German. These results indicate that document language can act as a source characteristic that may reduce belief biases in comprehension.

From doing work on your own talk to doing work on others’ talk

Abstract Research on L2 interactional competence (IC) has become increasingly focused on how L2 speakers develop and recalibrate linguistic resources to do interactional work, i.e., how L2 speakers develop a grammar-for-interaction (Pekarek Doehler 2018). In this paper, I use interactional linguistics to track one L2 German speaker’s IC development over 11 months by analyzing her use of German also (English ‘so’) in formulations (see Deppermann 2011; Heritage & Watson 1979, 1980). In initial months, the L2 speaker uses also exclusively to do work on her own prior talk, e.g., in upshots, consequences, and unpackings. The L2 speaker’s initial also uses contribute to moves that maintain intersubjectivity by ensuring her co-interactant’s understanding of her own talk. In later months, the L2 speaker diversifies her uses of also, including uses oriented to co-interactants’ prior talk that address manifest problems of intersubjectivity: to preface an other-correction of an incorrect candidate understanding, and to preface turns addressing a co-interactant’s problem of understanding. The L2 speaker’s changing also uses demonstrate her ability to contribute to interactional organization in increasingly diverse ways, evidencing a developing grammar-for-interaction. I end by calling for more research on the L2 development of linguistic resources that primarily serve interactional functions, such as particles.

Adopting ChatGPT as a writing buddy in the advanced L2 writing class

Since its release, ChatGPT has raised concerns in many teaching contexts given its threat to reliably evaluating learners’ knowledge and skills. Within task-based pedagogy, however, this technology opens new avenues for second language (L2) teaching when adopting the technology as a writing buddy. Our study explores how ChatGPT as a model impacts the revision process of advanced L2 writers of German. Twenty-two university students participated in a two-week classroom-based intervention, producing two summaries of popular-scientific texts in L2 German. After writing a first draft, they compared their summaries with texts produced by ChatGPT (3.5) and revised, where necessary, their own text. In this paper, we analyze all students’ rubrics-based ratings of the ChatGPT models and present data of six focus students’ screen-recorded revision processes that we coded for revision focus, source, and success. Results reveal students’ growing awareness of characteristics of ChatGPT-output, such as linguistic accuracy and fluency, as well as its flaws in content provision. Revision data demonstrate that students skillfully made use of the models to improve their own texts. To conclude, our study provides evidence that using ChatGPT as models in writing and revision processes can stimulate higher-order thinking in the revision process of advanced L2 students.

Erwerbstrajektorien von Varietätenkompetenz in der Zweitsprache: Eine temporal-relationale Perspektive auf das Aneignungsverhältnis standardsprachlicher und bairisch-dialektaler Merkmale

Abstract To date, no studies exist attempting to capture the temporal-relational emergence of dialect and standard German features in the second language (L2) across residence time in the Austro-Bavarian naturalistic context. In order to address this desideratum, 40 migrants with L2 German completed translation tasks assessing their ability to translate from standard German into dialect and vice versa. Taking a cross-sectional developmental perspective, our goal is to examine when dialect features (e. g., a-darkening, l-vocalization) manifest in participants’ multivarietal repertoires during residence in Austria over a timespan of approximately 13 years. The results of Bayesian binary logistic multilevel modeling reveal that participants quickly acquire dialect features such as negation particles (e. g., standard nicht vs. dialectal ned), fricative reduction (e. g., standard ich vs. dialectal i:), and Bavarian article use (e. g., standard das vs. dialectal des), but, even after over a decade of residence, do not produce morphological or syntactic dialectal features such as 2. person plural -s (e. g., standard braucht vs. dialectal brauchts) or relative clause connectors (e. g., standard die vs. dialectal de wos). Our results add to discussions concerning how the Austro-Bavarian naturalistic context impacts on patterns of L2 language variation and use and lend key insights into inquiries concerning which dialect features L2 learners acquire and when.

The role of linguistic factors in the retention of verbatim information in reading: An eye-tracking study on L1 and L2 German

AbstractWe investigated the retention of surface linguistic information during reading using eye-tracking. Departing from a research tradition that examines differences between meaning retention and verbatim memory, we focused on how different linguistic factors affect the retention of surface linguistic information. We examined three grammatical alternations in German that differed in involvement of changes in morpho-syntax and/or information structure, while their propositional meaning is unaffected: voice (active vs. passive), adverb positioning, different realizations of conditional clauses. Single sentences were presented and repeated, either identical or modified according to the grammatical alternation (with controlled interval between them). Results for native (N = 60) and non-native (N = 58) German participants show longer fixation durations for modified versus unmodified sentences when information structural changes are involved (voice, adverb position). In contrast, mere surface grammatical changes without a functional component (conditional clauses) did not lead to different reading behavior. Sensitivity to the manipulation was not influenced by language (L1, L2) or repetition interval. The study provides novel evidence that linguistic factors affect verbatim retention and highlights the importance of eye-tracking as a sensitive measure of implicit memory.