| Popis: |
In the present study, the linguistic performance of 11 Swedish high-school students of Spanish as second language (L2)/foreign language (FL) of 3 different levels, between 16-18 years old, has been measured through analysis of experimental elicited speech samples from a picture description task, designed to elicit placement of adjectives and dimensional adjectives in Spanish. The task provided 3 images with phrases in the source language and the participants were asked to translate it into the target language (TL). Subsequently, 9 images without text were presented and the students were asked to describe the images in the TL. The intention was to measure the grammatical accuracy concerning the placement of adjectives and the possible transfer –from Swedish to Spanish– of semantical markers regarding dimensional adjectives. The results from the performance analysis of the learners responses indicate that in beginner learners of Spanish, the semantic markers of dimensional adjectives have been transferred from Swedish to Spanish. One example that reflects this is the predominant use of the form largo ‘long’ instead of alto ’high/tall’ regarding the height of a person. The beginners also exhibit transfer in the placement of adjectives. These types of errors found in the speech of beginner students were not salient to the same extent in more advanced students. |
