Language learning environment and acquisition of the German word order and article system: a longitudinal study

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370713
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Hoshii Makiko 早稲田大学, 法学学術院, 教授 (90339656)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): LIPSKY Angela 上智大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (90348194)
• Research Collaborator: SCHU-MACHER Nicole ベルリン・フンボルト大学
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 第二言語習得 / 学習者言語 / 文法習得 / ドイツ語教育

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research investigated how the German word order and article system are learned by Japanese learners of German as a foreign language. Writing and speaking samples produced by university students who learned German at the intermediate level during their one-year study were collected and analysed. Regarding the word order, the XVS structure with the non-subjectable element (X) in the sentence-initial prefield remains unstable even after the subjects have spent a year in Germany. The findings indicate that it is necessary for learners to distinguish between the elements that are eligible for prefield positioning from those that are not. As for as the article system, the omission of articles was observed overall during the research period, which suggests the influence of the learners’ L1 (Japanese), an articleless language. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the participants’ language production indicates more individual differences than generalisable developmental sequences.

Free Research Field

外国語教育