[The mastery of German subordinate clause syntax: is there a correlation with learning strategies?]

Abstract:

The aim of this quantitative study is to determine the correlation between German learners' L2 learning strategies and their mastery of German verb subordinate clause syntax. To measure learning strategies, version 7 of the Oxford SILL (Oxford, 2003) was used. Catasso's (2004) forced-choice tests were used to assess knowledge of subordinate clause syntax. The subjects in this study were 55 students from a German school in Chile. The analysis carried out with R shows that the most frequently used learning strategy was the compensatory strategies. The data showed that there is no statistically significant positive correlation between frequent learning strategy use and better mastery of verb position. However, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between the use of metacognitive strategies and the mastery of subordinate clause syntax in male learners. Personal variables in language learning could have positive effects. In the future, it would be useful to extend this type of correlational study to other aspects of German language acquisition such as declension.

Keywords:
language acquisition; L2 learning strategies; German syntax; verb position; subordinate clause