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L1 Acquisition and L2 Learning: The view from Romance
Edited by Larisa Avram, Anca Sevcenco and Veronica Tomescu
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 65] 2021
► pp. 229–256

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

The case of free inversion in L2 English

 | CLUNL – Universidade Nova de Lisboa
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.
Keywords: generative second language acquisition, free inversion, near-nativeness, explicit instruction, timing of instruction
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research on explicit grammar instruction
  • 3.The target structure
    • 3.1Free inversion in (non-) null subject languages
    • 3.2Previous SLA studies on free inversion
  • 4.Study 1: Free inversion in advanced and near-native English
    • 4.1Research questions
    • 4.2Methodology
      • 4.2.1Participants
      • 4.2.2Tasks
      • 4.2.3Data analysis
    • 4.3Results
    • 4.4Discussion
  • 5.Study 2: The impact of explicit instruction on subject placement in English
    • 5.1Research question
    • 5.2Methodology
      • 5.2.1Participants
      • 5.2.2Timetable and tasks
      • 5.2.3Teaching materials
      • 5.2.4Data analysis
    • 5.3Results
    • 5.4Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 17 November 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.65.09tei
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