Second Language Learners Of German Research Articles

Signature Dynamics of Development in Second Language Sociolinguistic Competence: Evidence From an Intensive Microlongitudinal Study

AbstractThis study is the first to explore microdevelopment in sociolinguistic evaluative judgments of standard German and Austro‐Bavarian dialect by adult second language learners of German by using dense time serial measurements. Intensive longitudinal data (10 observations per participant) were collected from four learners at approximately weekly intervals over 3 months. We employed generalized additive models with superimposed periods of significant change to identify rapid developmental phases in individual developmental trajectories. By triangulating these models with qualitative introspective and retrodictive interview data, we identified environmental and psychological stimuli for change. Learners evinced increasing and decreasing periods of significant change, independent of length of residence. Dynamic constellations of identity‐ and agency‐related variables alongside more intensive social interaction with target‐variety speakers contributed to significant changes. We discuss findings from a complexity perspective and advocate for microlongitudinal studies in variationist second language acquisition to better capture stimuli for change in learners’ emerging multivarietal repertoires.

Identifying Language Disorder Within a Migration Context: Development and Performance of a Pre-school Screening Tool for Children With German as a Second Language.

BackgroundThere is a lack of accurate and practicable instruments for identifying language disorders in multilingual children in pre-school settings.ObjectiveTo develop a language screening instrument for pre-school children who are growing up with German as their second language.DesignAfter the development and initial validation of a language screening tool, the new instrument (LOGiK-S) was administered to three cohorts of children (2014, 2015, 2017) with a non-German first language attending a variety of public pre-schools in Upper Austria. The screening instrument measures expressive and receptive grammatical skills in German. The final validation study included the results for 270 children for the screening measure and reference tests. A combination of a standardized comprehensive language test of grammatical skills developed for children acquiring German as a second language and a test of expressive vocabulary with the use of specific cutoffs for second language learners was applied as the gold standard for identifying language disorders.ResultsThe LOGiK-S screening of expressive grammar demonstrated excellent accuracy (AUC.953). The screening subscale of receptive grammar did not improve the prediction of language disorders. Using an optimized cutoff yielded a fail rate of 17%, excellent sensitivity (0.940), and specificity (0.936). Time economy and acceptance of the screening by children and screeners were mostly rated as high.ConclusionThe LOGiK-S language screening instrument assessing expressive German grammar development using bilingual norms is a valid and feasible instrument for the identification of language disorders in second language learners of German at the pre-school age.

German discourse particles in the second language classroom

Abstract One of the main pedagogical objectives for language learners at high proficiency levels is to use ‘cohesive devices’ when writing a text or conducting a conversation. Usually, curricula stress the importance of clause-internal cohesion (by means such as connectives: and, but, when, because, etc.). By contrast, we stress the importance of cohesion at the level of the dialogue and in this context focus on discourse (aka ‘modal’) particles as a means to yield cohesion at that level. In this domain, German discourse particles represent a challenging learning objective for second language learners of German. This paper explores some production patterns of German discourse particles in L2 German by L1 Italian learners. We show that looking at those elements can provide new insights because these elements allow us to tease apart problems within syntax as compared to the lexicon-pragmatics interface in second language learning.

The Age Factor Revisited: Timing in Acquisition Interacts With Age of Onset in Bilingual Acquisition

In this paper, we investigate whether timing in monolingual acquisition interacts with age of onset and input effects in child bilingualism. Six different morpho-syntactic and semantic phenomena acquired early, late or very late are considered, with their timing in L1 acquisition varying between age 3 (subject-verb agreement) and after age 6 (case marking). Data from simultaneous bilingual children (2L1) whose mean age of onset to German was 3 months are compared with data from early second language learners of German (eL2) whose mean age of onset to German was 35 months as well as with data from monolingual children. To explore change over time, children were tested twice at the ages of 4;4 and 5;8 years. The main findings were that 2L1 children had an advantage over their eL2 peers in early acquired phenomena, which disappeared with time, whereas in late acquired phenomena 2L1 and eL2 children did not differ. Moreover, 2L1 children performed like monolingual children in early acquired phenomena but had a disadvantage in the late acquired phenomena with the amount of delay decreasing with time. We conclude that age of onset effects are modulated by effects of timing in monolingual acquisition. Contrary to expectation, input in terms of language dominance, measured as the dominant language used at home, did not affect simultaneous bilingual children’s performance in any of the phenomena. We discuss the implications of our findings for the hypothesis that acquisition of late phenomena is determined by input alone and suggest an alternative concept: the learner’s internal need for time to master a phenomenon, which is determined by its complexity and cross-linguistic robustness.

How strong is the ban on non-finite verbs in V2? Evidence from early second language learners of German with and without SLI

Abstract Using the standardized test LiSe-DaZ across four test rounds, we collected elicited production data from 22 typically developing early second language learners (eL2 TD) of German (mean age at T1: 3;7) and 11 older eL2 children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (mean age at T1: 7;1). Focusing on the relation between verb placement and verbal inflectional morphology two questions were addressed: Do eL2 children obey the ban on non-finite verbs in verb-second position (V2) in German, and do eL2 SLI children differ from their eL2 TD peers in their morpho-syntactic behavior? This is the first study on this issue to systematically differentiate between V2 and verb-final position (Vf) and between bare verb forms and infinitives, based on a large sample of elicited production data. Results show that from the first test round onwards verbal inflectional morphology and verb placement were strongly related in the TD and the SLI group. Bare verb forms occurred in V2 only and are argued to be finite; en-infinitives were restricted to Vf. We conclude that a) the restrictions for morphological markings are inextricably tied to specific syntactic positions, b) that this knowledge is still accessible when L2 acquisition starts around age 3, and c) that the ban on non-finite verbs in V2 is invulnerable in eL2 TD and in SLI, indicating that SLI is matter of severe delay.

Additive Linking in Second Language Discourse: Lexical, Syntactic and Discourse Organizational Choices in Intermediate and Advanced Learners of L2 German with L1 French

This paper reports results from a study on the acquisition of additive scope particles as a means to enhance discourse coherence by French learners of German as a second language. It addresses the questions of which additive devices intermediate and advanced learners produce; which possibilities of syntactic integration in relation to the added constituent they use; and whether they choose target-like information units in order to establish additive relations across utterances. Oral production data from an elicited discourse production study reveal that the form of the additive expressions among advanced learners nearly always corresponds to the pattern preferred in the target language without, however, tapping its full potential. Rather, learners overuse options that are formally but not functionally similar in both languages. This uniform behavior at the utterance level does not go hand in hand with target-like preferences for discourse organization. Native speakers of German tend to construe stretches of discourse as an answer to an implicit YES/NO question. They focus on the occurrence of events and use the assertion component to establish links and comparisons across utterances. Native speakers of French, on the other hand, prefer to construe utterances as answering implicit Wh-questions, thereby focusing discourse entities and establishing contrasts between them. Based on their first language’s entity-based utterance organization, even advanced second language learners of German are shown to use a hybrid system, establishing mainly entity-based and only a few assertion-based discourse relations.

Perceptual dialectology in second language learners of German

Abstract The goal of this research is to investigate how classroom second language learners of German living in Western Canada perceive language variation in terms of dialects of German. A three-part linguistic experiment was carried out over the course of one semester with twenty university students of German, most of whom were native speakers of English. The first task required participants to discriminate dialects from the standard language. Secondly, they completed an intelligibility task to demonstrate their understanding of dialects. In the final task participants indicated their attitudes towards dialects. We found that the discrimination ability of participants was generally high, and that language proficiency predicted their ability to discriminate. That is, the most proficient learners were best able to determine whether speech samples are spoken in dialect or in standard German. Intelligibility (i.e., the ability to understand what was being said) was generally poor and was unaffected by language proficiency. Participants found certain dialects to be more pleasant than others. The results of the study point to the importance of exposing students to—and valuing the legitimacy of—non-standard language varieties.

¿Qué es un buen ejemplo? La ejemplificación en la teoría lexicográfica alemana

El propósito de este artículo es ofrecer una perspectiva general de la teoría del ejemplo desarrollada por la lexicografía didáctica alemana reciente. Una revisión cronológica de las contribuciones más relevantes de los lingüistas germanoparlantes de los últimos treinta años nos permitirá realizar una descripción bastante aproximada de este componente fundamental del artículo lexicográfico e identificar sus rasgos constitutivos desde el punto de vista de su composición, estructura y funciones. La principal conclusión a la que han llegado los autores alemanes es que la forma del ejemplo de uso (así como el resto de elementos del diccionario) debe adaptarse a las necesidades del alumno de alemán como primera o segunda lengua. Esto condicionará la selección del vocabulario, la sintaxis y el estilo de los ejemplos, así como la información de tipo cultural o pragmático transmitida por el ejemplo sobre los contextos comunicativos en los que el uso de una palabra o expresión es más habitual.

Argumentative Discourse in L2 German: A Sociocognitive Perspective on the Development of Facework Strategies

This study contributes to the growing field of research on interlanguage pragmatic development with a study on the development of argumentative discourse ability by second-language learners of German. I will be focusing on facework—that is, the use of verbal strategies that allow the speaker to have his or her social identities, particular personal qualities, and attributes validated by others. The study approaches the data, which were gathered from learners of German at 3 levels of proficiency, from the perspective of sequential and preference organisation. The analysis shows that argumentative sequences develop from a simple 2- or 3-turn structure, which consists of merely 1 “core” adjacency pair (assessment/opinion–agreement/disagreement), to being extended by postsequences and insertion sequences. It is only for learners of higher proficiency, however, that these extensions serve to further the argument rather than merely building on agreement. When disagreeing, learners increasingly use agreement turns to sharpen forthcoming disagreement or use their interlocutors’ turns to serve that purpose. These developments are then explained from a sociocognitive perspective. I will argue that developments are due to learners overcoming processing constraints as proficiency progresses as well as their changing frames of reference for the task.

Prompting in CALL: A Longitudinal Study of Learner Uptake

This research presents a longitudinal study of learner uptake in a computer‐assisted language learning (CALL) environment. Over the course of 3 semesters, 10 second language learners of German at a Canadian university used an online, parser‐based CALL program that, for the purpose of this research, provided 2 different types of feedback of varying degrees of specificity: Metalinguistic explanations (ME) and metalinguistic clues (MC). Results indicate that feedback specificity affects learner uptake in different ways. Cross‐sectionally, the study reveals significant differences in learner uptake for the 2 more advanced courses, German 103 and 201, whereas for the introductory course, German 102, no significant difference for the 2 feedback types and their effect on learner uptake was found. Results of the longitudinal data indicate that there is a significant increase in learner uptake from German 102 to 201 for the error‐specific feedback (ME), whereas learner uptake for the generic feedback type (MC) varies insignificantly across the 3 courses. Finally, the study shows a significant impact of the 2 feedback types on learner uptake independent of error type (grammar and spelling).

Acquisition of German Word Order in Tutored Learners: A Cross‐Sectional Study in a Wider Theoretical Context

This article presents the results from a cross‐sectional study that tests predictions of processability theory (PT) regarding the acquisition of German word order. Spontaneous production data were elicited from 21 tutored second language learners of German who are native speakers of English. Each learner engaged in a 45‐min informal conversation with a native speaker of German. The conversations were transcribed, analyzed, and implicationally scaled with respect to stages in the acquisition of German word order as predicted by PT. Applying the emergence criterion for acquisition set by PT, the implicational scale strongly confirmed the predictions with a 100% fit. The study focused on four subhypotheses drawn from PT. Two (the order and cumulative nature of predicted stages) were strongly supported. Support for the third hypothesis on the sequential nature of the stages was less clear. The final hypothesis on universality was assessed through a comparison with previous studies on different learner groups and appeared to be supported with one exception. Because PT focuses on procedural knowledge, the study's empirical findings were also viewed in the light of the theory of modulated structure building (MSB), which seeks to explain the acquisition of representational knowledge. Three differences between stages predicted by PT versus MSB were identified and examined. The data did not support the different MSB‐specific predictions, but it contained some counterevidence for all three hypotheses.

Measuring Written Syntactic Patterns of Second Language Learners of German

The present study was designed to analyze by quantitative methods a corpus of writing produced by four levels of American college students and by one group of professional German writers. Analysis was undertaken to (a) determine whether or not significant quantitative differences in the use of selected syntactic structures exist between the five groups; and (b) test the validity of the Hunt method of measuring syntactic maturity when applied to the writing of second language learners and native Germans. Basically, the Hunt method measures syntactic acquisition by quantifying the rate of occurrence of sentence-embedding transformation in writing samples. The findings indicate that developmental stages in the acquisition of written German syntax did exist in this study and that these stages were most clearly definable between every other level. Hunt's method of measuring syntactic maturity was successfully applied to measuring second language acquisition. In addition, some comparisons were made between this study and other first language acquisition studies and suggestions for further research were given.