Profile analysis (second language acquisition)

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The method of profile analysis of syntactic progression in second language acquisition is an analytical method that goes back to Harald Clahsen (1985). He was able to empirically determine 6 levels in the acquisition of the German sentence structure in Italian primary school children, which are run through in a fixed order.

Syntax progression in children

The necessity of ascertaining the syntax progression in children with a migration background is based on the results that Pienemann was able to determine in a study in 1986 in which he examined the influence of targeted language promotion on the employment sequences. It could be shown that the promotion of syntactic structures is progressive . There is no point in skipping exercises at a profile level; this could not only be useless, but even lead to a slowdown or stagnation of language development. Exercises only make sense if they are at the level of the next development (cf. Zellerhoff, 2011)

Progression stages according to Wilhelm Grießhaber

Wilhelm Grießhaber simplifies the analysis of the acquisition sequence or reduces the six Pienemann found to four:

The first level contains utterances that correspond to the word order in the simple German main clause with subject-verb-object sequence.

In the second stage, the separation of the finite verb and infinite verb parts , which is very characteristic of German, is acquired. A multitude of differentiated statements are thus possible: Modification of an utterance according to the modality (with modal verbs ) or the non- actuality ( auxiliary verb to form the perfect ) and finally the lamented separation of verb stem and prefix that is necessary when one Want to express actions with separable prefixes in a more differentiated and precise manner. The German word order requires the speaker (and the listener) to separate information that actually belongs together (e.g. auxiliary verb and main verb in the perfect) and which in most languages ​​are also realized in contact. The speaker has to divide this compact information into several words and then pack information between the spread words that 'logically' only follows after the compact predicate. For this operation to work in free speech, elementary operations must have been acquired and automated beforehand.

In the third stage, verb and subject are swapped after the preceding adverbial. This is also a peculiarity of German. The prefix opens up new expressive possibilities for the speaker by fronting information at the beginning of the sentence. In childish narratives, it enables the simple chaining of individual statements to form a series that belongs together (other means of chaining are only acquired later). The grammatically conditioned inversion of subject and finite also represents a change in the canonical sequence of utterance units. A violation is very sensitively registered as an error by German native speakers. When adverbials are placed in front, the focus shifts to the subject following the verb, which would not be stressed in the normal position. Obviously this position exchange is only acquired if the predicate has already been separated into different words.

In the fourth stage, the subordinate clause with the final position of the finite is acquired. This word order rule with the variation of the finite depending on the status of the sentence is also a German peculiarity. Here the learner acquires the whole range of differentiated expression possibilities that open up subordinate clauses. He has to learn that after subordinating conjunctions ( that, if, ... ) the finite moves to the end of the utterance. Again, this places high demands on mental planning. The canonical sequence of actor, action (verb) and object is fundamentally changed. The type of action (the verb) has to be somehow created when the utterance is planned, but it is necessary to wait with its implementation until the object logically affected by the action is already verbalized. Obviously, this operation is only acquired when the interchanging of subject and finite has been mastered.

literature

  • H. Clahsen: The profile analysis. A ling. Procedure for language diagnosis in preschool age . Berlin 1976.
  • H. Clahsen: Normal and disturbed children's language . 1988.
  • H. Clahsen: Profiling second language development: A procedure for assessing L2 proficiency . Clevedon 1985.
  • W. Grießhaber: Language level diagnosis in child second language acquisition: Functional-pragmatic foundation of profile analysis . Munster 2006.
  • R. Zellerhoff: Diagnostics of multilingualism as a process. In: K. Bräu, U. Carle, I. Kunze (Eds.): Differentiation, Integration, Inclusion. What can we learn from dealing with heterogeneity at kindergartens and schools in South Tyrol? Schneider, Hohengehren 2011, ISBN 978-3-8340-0882-4 , pp. 213-234.

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