SOME EFFECT OF A FOREIGN-LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN NEGATION

This paper investigates the development of German negation by 42 Scott ish classroom learners aged 10-16. The purpose of the study is to esta blish whether there are any differences between naturalistic and class room course of development which can be related to the nature of the c lassroom. In particular, we are interested in the effects of form-focu sed practice activities in the first few months of instruction which r equire learners to produce complex target-language forms which in natu ralistic development emerge with frequency only at later stages. The r esults of our study suggest that learners are able to produce early co mplex target-like negation through memorization of complex forms in co nfined linguistic contexts. Target-like production decreases in lingui stically more open contexts and over time, but there is some indicatio n that a certain number of complex forms are retained and possibly use d as a basis for extension of patterns. The results also suggest that the early production of complex forms leads to the first stage of natu ralistic development being more or less skipped. A side-effect of form ally constrained practice and emphasis on correct target-like producti on is the learners' reluctance to use communicative negative formulas. Finally, this paper raises a number of questions regarding the relati onship between the memorization of complex forms and language developm ent in classroom SLA on the one hand, and the renewed interest in the role of formulaic language in SLA in general.