"I am years seven old." Acquisition of English word order by Bosnian and Turkish children

Azamat Akbarov; Larisa Äapo

doi:10.33919/esnbu.16.1.5

"I am years seven old." Acquisition of English word order by Bosnian and Turkish children

Authors

Azamat Akbarov International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Larisa Äapo International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.16.1.5

Keywords:

language acquisition, word order, EFL

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate differences in the acquisition of English word order between Bosnian and Turkish students resulting from word order in these two languages (Bosnian and Turkish). In second language acquisition, the knowledge of the native language (L1) in acquisition of a foreign language (L2) can indeed have a facilitating or inhibiting effect on the learnerâ€™s progress in mastering a new language. Thirty children from the first grade at the International School of Sarajevo were tested. Some of them attended the kindergarten where English was a language of communication and the rest of them had six months of exposure of English in school settings. We wanted to find possible differences in acquiring word order in English in these groups of children as well. This study offers new results for acquiring correct word order in English.

Author Biographies

Azamat Akbarov, International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Azamat Akbarov is Professor of Linguistics at the International Burch University in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has extensive experience in several areas of Applied Linguistics, in which he has published widely. Professor Akbarov has also presented at numerous international conferences and his research interests include linguistics, cognitive grammar, and cross-linguistic features of SLA, TESL, Discourse Analysis, and Bilingualism. He is the President of the Association for Applied Linguistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Chairman and Editor-in-chief of the Foreign Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Conference (FLTAL), and regularly organises international events in the field of language education.

Larisa Äapo, International Burch University, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Larisa Äapo is a PhD student at International Burch University in Sarajevo. She is interested in researching effective techniques in teaching vocabulary to young learners in ESL classrooms and vocabulary acquisition by young learners.

References

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Plunkett, B., Westergaard, M.(2011). The acquisition of word order: Micro-cues, information structure, and economy. Journal of Linguistics. 47(3), 756-753.

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English Studies at NBU, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2016

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Published

2016-08-20

How to Cite

Akbarov, A., & Äapo, L. (2016). "I am years seven old." Acquisition of English word order by Bosnian and Turkish children. English Studies at NBU, 2(1), 59–73. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.16.1.5

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Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Doctoral Section

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