What's Hard in German

This project seeks to systematically identify linguistic structures of German that pose a specific difficulty for the acquisition of German as a foreign language (GFL). Conventionally, this is done by observing Lerner errors. However, if learners avoid difficult elements, this method fails. We claim that the relative underrepresentation of structures in learner data implies that these structures are difficult to acquire.
Therefore, we propose a systematic study of underrepresented structures.
Work Package 1 (WPl) attempts to identify learner difficulties regardless of the learner's mother tongue (Ll), i.e. problems that do not result from interferences of the learner's Ll. WPl relies on written data from the learner corpus FALKO-A (see Section 2.2). We aim to develop a method of retrieving the systematic demise of particular structures in the learner data.
These findings are then further evaluated by a qualitative analysis.
The method offers new insights into the perceived complexity of German and the learnability of GFL. More generally, this method will help to evaluate theories of foreign language acquisition and open up new research perspectives in this field.
Building on and incorporating the results of WPl, WP2 examines the structural acquisition process for these difficulties in British learners of GFL. The question is to what extent the difficulties apply to British learners and in what order difficult structures are acquired. To this effect, a learner corpus of British GFL learners (FALKO-B) will be compiled and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively, triangulating the method mentioned above with further learner surveys. Insights gained in WP2 aim - in the long run at the development of didactic concepts and materials in Great Britain that particularly take into account the identified acquisition problems.