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Catrin Norrby, Gisela Hkansson

The interaction of complexity and grammatical processability: The case of Swedish as a foreign language

The aim of this study is to discuss the interaction of linguistic complexity and morpho-syntactic development in foreign language learners. The analysis of morpho-syntactic structures was carried out within the framework of Processability Theory (Pienemann 1998). To capture the level of complexity we investigate the following: sentence length, subordination and nominal vs. verbal style. Oral and written data from four adult learners were collected over a period of one year. The analysis of complexity and morpho-syntax suggests that learners can be divided into different types, such as: The Risk-taker, The Recycler and The Careful and Thorough.

IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, Walter de Gruyter

Print ISSN: 0019-042X
Volume: 45, 03/2007
Pages: 45 - 68

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