This study is the first to investigate subject-level variability in sociolinguistic evaluative judgements by 30 adult L2 German learners and explore whether the observed variability is characterizable as a function of individual differences in proficiency, exposure, and motivation. Because group-level estimates did not paint an accurate picture of…

Previous research has established a connection between Standard Language Ideology (SLI) and prestige and power and has highlighted the existence of a dominant cultural narrative that idealizes Standard High German as a provider of cultural elevation and unity, viewing nonstandard Germanic varieties as exotic. Nevertheless, scholars have likewise…

This study examines the production of third language (L3) German consonant clusters by 26 L1 Cantonese-L2 English bilinguals, with the aim of uncovering the possible cross-linguistic influences on L3 pronunciation. Learners' production of 17 onset and 21 coda German consonant clusters were auditorily analysed with respect to accuracy and error…

Given that societies across the globe are increasingly multicultural and multilingual, the notion of communicative competence grounded in constricting definitions of national cultures and languages reflects neither our instructional realities nor the sociolinguistic reality of the languages and cultures we teach. To foster students' development of…

German is a pluricentric language with many standard and nonstandard varieties. Students of German are usually unaware of its rich regional variation, and studies attribute this to limited resources and instructional time (van Kerckvoorde, 2012). The "DACH" model of teaching German, which includes linguistic and cultural elements from…

Sign languages present particular challenges to language assessors in relation to variation in signs, weakly defined citation forms, and a general lack of standard-setting work even in long-established measures of productive sign proficiency. The present article addresses and explores these issues via a mixed-methods study of a human-rated…

Developing young learners' language awareness is becoming an important educational goal in a rapidly globalised world characterised by linguistic and cultural diversity. Drawing upon previous research in the field, the article highlights the importance of promoting language diversity and nurturing language awareness from an early age. We present a…

The book offers new insights into linguistics by focusing on a range of fast-developing research areas. These include research into language contact, which is represented by some original chapters discussing less-frequently studied language pairs and phenomena. Moreover, it presents new findings in syntax and semantics as well as up-to-date…

The starting point for this research is an eTandem initiative between learners of Mandarin Chinese and German. The participants mainly learnt the dominant variety of their target languages (German Standard German, Mainland Chinese Standard Mandarin), however, their tandem partners are speakers of a non-dominant variety (Austrian Standard German,…

Grammar competition has been proposed as a model for second language (L2) acquisition. Variational Learning provides a framework within which to investigate the idea of grammar competition as the model requires a marriage of quantitative properties of the input with Universal Grammar. A diachronic variational model of grammar competition is…

The many permutations of spoken English have called for an interrogation into the notions of 'standard English' and 'native accents'. Despite their problematic nature, these terms remain commonly used, and familiarity with 'standard', inner-circle varieties of English is typical among L2 English speakers, differences in education and language…

In two-way interactive listening, listeners are expected to use interactional skills or strategies to understand meaning, recognize interlocutors' intentions, make responses, and establish common ground. However, strategy use can be affected by learner differences and affective factors. The present study investigated the effects of group…

This paper investigates the phonology of L2 speech and its impact on intelligibility in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) contexts. Many studies have considered speaker-related characteristics, such as speech styles and pronunciation features, that influence the intelligibility of L2 speech for both nonnative speakers (NNS) and native speakers…

This paper argues for bringing insights from linguistics into the world language classroom. At any level of study, such insights can add intellectual interest to the study of a target language (TL), and can also help students accept and acquire aspects of the TL that are different from their first language or that are inherently challenging. As a…

German is a language with multiple standard and non-standard varieties (Fagan, 2009). Yet L2 textbooks still favor one standard form, offering little information about other varieties of the language. In particular, Austrian and Swiss Standard German are underrepresented, and even when present, the language is often in a mixture of dialect and…