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Chapter 9. Can explicit instruction help L2 learners overcome persistent L1 interference?

The case of free inversion in L2 English
  • Joana Teixeira
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L1 Acquisition and L2 Learning
This chapter is in the book L1 Acquisition and L2 Learning

Abstract

The present work investigates whether free inversion is difficult to eliminate from the L2 English grammars of L1 speakers of a null subject Romance language, European Portuguese (EP), and whether L1 interference can be overcome as a result of explicit instruction. The work comprises two interrelated studies: a study on subject placement in L2 English, which was conducted with advanced and near-native learners, using timed and untimed tasks, and a teaching intervention study, which was conducted with intermediate and advanced learners, using a pre-test/post-test design. Results reveal that, typically, free inversion is only fully eliminated from L1 EP – L2 English grammars at a near-native level and that instruction can help learners overcome L1 interference, but its effectiveness depends on learners’ proficiency level.

Abstract

The present work investigates whether free inversion is difficult to eliminate from the L2 English grammars of L1 speakers of a null subject Romance language, European Portuguese (EP), and whether L1 interference can be overcome as a result of explicit instruction. The work comprises two interrelated studies: a study on subject placement in L2 English, which was conducted with advanced and near-native learners, using timed and untimed tasks, and a teaching intervention study, which was conducted with intermediate and advanced learners, using a pre-test/post-test design. Results reveal that, typically, free inversion is only fully eliminated from L1 EP – L2 English grammars at a near-native level and that instruction can help learners overcome L1 interference, but its effectiveness depends on learners’ proficiency level.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part 1. Syntactic complexity and intervention effects in the L1 acquisition of Romance
  5. Chapter 1. Acquisition of clitic climbing by European Portuguese children 13
  6. Chapter 2. Strategies in the production of PP relative clauses in Brazilian Portuguese 39
  7. Chapter 3. Cost-reducing strategies in the production of Brazilian Portuguese relative clauses 67
  8. Chapter 4. Some thoughts on (the acquisition of) control 83
  9. Chapter 5. The production of variable number agreement in Brazilian Portuguese 109
  10. Chapter 6. Assessing children’s syntactic proficiency through a sentence repetition task 133
  11. Part 2. Crosslinguistic influence in 2L1 acquisition and L2 learning
  12. Chapter 7. L1 effects in the L2 acquisition of long-distance binding in European Portuguese 173
  13. Chapter 8. On the nature of crosslinguistic influence 203
  14. Chapter 9. Can explicit instruction help L2 learners overcome persistent L1 interference? 229
  15. Part 3. Language acquisition at the interface in various learning settings
  16. Chapter 10. Combining Focus VS and Topic constructions 259
  17. Chapter 11. Gender marking in L1 and L2 French 289
  18. Chapter 12. The acquisition of disjunction under negation and recursive ni in French 315
  19. Chapter 13. Deriving scalar implicatures with quantifiers by Romanian children 331
  20. Chapter 14. The acquisition of mood in child Spanish 355
  21. Index 379
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.65.09tei

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part 1. Syntactic complexity and intervention effects in the L1 acquisition of Romance
  5. Chapter 1. Acquisition of clitic climbing by European Portuguese children 13
  6. Chapter 2. Strategies in the production of PP relative clauses in Brazilian Portuguese 39
  7. Chapter 3. Cost-reducing strategies in the production of Brazilian Portuguese relative clauses 67
  8. Chapter 4. Some thoughts on (the acquisition of) control 83
  9. Chapter 5. The production of variable number agreement in Brazilian Portuguese 109
  10. Chapter 6. Assessing children’s syntactic proficiency through a sentence repetition task 133
  11. Part 2. Crosslinguistic influence in 2L1 acquisition and L2 learning
  12. Chapter 7. L1 effects in the L2 acquisition of long-distance binding in European Portuguese 173
  13. Chapter 8. On the nature of crosslinguistic influence 203
  14. Chapter 9. Can explicit instruction help L2 learners overcome persistent L1 interference? 229
  15. Part 3. Language acquisition at the interface in various learning settings
  16. Chapter 10. Combining Focus VS and Topic constructions 259
  17. Chapter 11. Gender marking in L1 and L2 French 289
  18. Chapter 12. The acquisition of disjunction under negation and recursive ni in French 315
  19. Chapter 13. Deriving scalar implicatures with quantifiers by Romanian children 331
  20. Chapter 14. The acquisition of mood in child Spanish 355
  21. Index 379
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