Factors Affecting Grammatical and Lexical Complexity of Long-Term L2 Speakers' Oral Proficiency

TY - JOUR

T1 - Factors Affecting Grammatical and Lexical Complexity of Long-Term L2 Speakers' Oral Proficiency

AU - Lahmann, Cornelia

AU - Steinkrauss, Rasmus

AU - Schmid, Monika S.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Language Learning Research Club, University of Michigan.

PY - 2016/3/1

Y1 - 2016/3/1

N2 - There remains considerable disagreement about which factors drive second language (L2) ultimate attainment. Age of onset (AO) appears to be a robust factor, lending support to theories of maturational constraints on L2 acquisition. The present study is an investigation of factors that influence grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment. Grammatical and lexical complexity were assessed in 102 spontaneous oral interviews. Interviewees' AOs ranged from 7 to 17 years old. Multifactorial analyses yielded consistently significant effects of gender and level of education for grammatical and lexical complexity. Additionally, native language use at work was a significant predictor for lexical complexity; conversely, AO did not emerge as a significant factor. We conclude that grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment is the result of a complex interplay of variables that are general to language learning and performance rather than L2 specific.

AB - There remains considerable disagreement about which factors drive second language (L2) ultimate attainment. Age of onset (AO) appears to be a robust factor, lending support to theories of maturational constraints on L2 acquisition. The present study is an investigation of factors that influence grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment. Grammatical and lexical complexity were assessed in 102 spontaneous oral interviews. Interviewees' AOs ranged from 7 to 17 years old. Multifactorial analyses yielded consistently significant effects of gender and level of education for grammatical and lexical complexity. Additionally, native language use at work was a significant predictor for lexical complexity; conversely, AO did not emerge as a significant factor. We conclude that grammatical and lexical complexity at the stage of L2 ultimate attainment is the result of a complex interplay of variables that are general to language learning and performance rather than L2 specific.

KW - Grammatical complexity

KW - Lexical complexity

KW - Naturalistic L2 attainment

KW - Spontaneous speech

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963900707&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/lang.12151

DO - 10.1111/lang.12151

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84963900707

SN - 0023-8333

VL - 66

SP - 354

EP - 385

JO - Language Learning

JF - Language Learning

IS - 2

ER -