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Developmental Dynamics in Acquiring Existential there in L2 English
Jelena Mihaljević Djigunović
Sažetak
Prompted by the lack of research into acquisition of existential there by young learners
of L2 English, in the study described below we looked into how Croatian learners
acquire this grammatical construction, which is very relevant both from the theoretical
perspective and for pragmatic reasons. We addressed the issue from a longitudinal
perspective and took into consideration some individual and contextual factors that we
found relevant for understanding acquisition of existential there. The study was carried
out as part of the Croatian national research project entitled Acquisition of English as a
foreign language from an early age: Analysis of learner language. Our fi ndings suggest that
there are patt erns that young learners display during mastering this important construction.
It seems that these acquisitional patt erns may develop in dynamic ways and
are infl uenced by a number of factors (such as L1, amount of exposure to English). We
conclude that it is not only very important to expose learners as early as possible to the
pragmatic use of there construction that does not involve only the immediate context,
but also to the function of bringing existence of something to mind, as both pragmatic
functions share the same conceptual representation. The insights we obtained can be
useful to curriculum and material designers, as well as practicing teachers.
Ključne riječi
existential there; acquisition patt erns; young learners of L2 English; longitudinal perspective
Hrčak ID:
112261
URI
Datum izdavanja:
9.5.2013.
Posjeta: 1.309 *