3.1.1. Objectives and research questions

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Objectives and research questions

The objective of this project is to compare the intuitions of German learners of English about datives with those of native speakers. Two scenarios are possible, as far as the degree of the differences between the two groups is concerned:

  1. The differences between pupils and native speakers are far greater than those between students and native speakers. This proves that intuitions about datives become more and more native speaker-like with an academic education in English studies.
  2. The differences between pupils and native speakers roughly match those between students and native speakers. This implies that the native language is the key influencing factor, surpassing the effect of academic education.

Therefore, the first research question is: to what degree do native language and education influence intuitions about the dative choice? The second question arises from a closer examination of the individual results: which of the factors determined by Bresnan and Ford impact on the participants’ choices of the datives? Besides, applying the method offers an opportunity to reflect on its usefulness.


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