Sackgasse oder Autobahn? Deutsch in Deutschland erweben. Zu Fortgeschrittenenvarietäten in L3 Deutsch erwachsener Schweden

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to investigate the acquisition of L3 German by adult native speakers of Swedish living in Germany for 3 to >30 years (AO>18 years). These learners have different professions or study other subjects than languages at German universities. All of them learnt L2 English and all but one L3 German in upper secondary schools in Sweden.This thesis is a holistic study, the ambition of which is to answer the following questions:- What are the common characteristics, if any, of the interlanguages of these Swedish learners? - In what language domains could adult learners attain near-native or native-like proficiency?- What factors contribute to successful foreign language acquisition?Five tests were presented to the Swedish participants and to a group of native Germans:- a multiple-choice lexicon test- a grammaticality judgement test- an oral production test (retelling a story and commenting on demographic pyramid graphs)- a test of modal particles (also elicited in oral production)- a test of speech act performanceA highly significant correlation between length of residence/quantity of input and the result of the lexicon test was found. Thus some of the tested non-native speakers should be able to attain native-like proficiency in this domain. In morphosyntax difficulties lie in the use of case rather than in word-order, tense and subjunctive. In pragmatics Swedish learners are able to insert modal particles into sentences, although they make scarce use of them in oral production. Common characteristics are Swedish information structure and the use of verbal phrases instead of German information structure and nominal style. In speech act performance Swedish learners often choose unmarked IFIDs instead of more difficult marked ones. Cognitive and affective factors could not be quantified, but have been considered in the elicitation of successful ultimate attainment.Results from a self assessment of language skills, based on the Council of Europe scale, was compared with the test results of the Swedish participants. Two participants were considered native-like in all tested domains.Title: Sackgasse oder Autobahn? Deutsch in Deutschland erwerben - Zu Fortgeschrittenenvarietäten in L3 Deutsch erwachsener Schweden (Cul-de-sac or motorway? Acquisition of German in Germany - Swedish learners' advanced varieties of L3 German)Language: GermanWritten by: Inger Trollstad, Department of German, University of Göteborg, Sweden, 2008Keywords: German, Swedish, lexicon, morphosyntax, oral production, modal particles, speech act performance, verbal style, nominal style, information structure, self assessment, ultimate attainment, near-natives.