This chapter introduces the multilingual Swiss learner corpus SWIKO while also exploring effects of contextual factors on teenage learner productions in instructed foreign language settings. Corpus-based language acquisition research relies on learner language data usually elicited through a range of tasks. However, task characteristics and conditions may influence the extent to which learners can demonstrate their language competences. To tackle this challenge, careful attention was devoted to the systematic variation of parameters (eight different tasks, solved orally or by writing, in the language of schooling or one or two foreign languages, or paper- or computer-based). These are first discussed in light of the overall composition of our corpus. We then focus on the German sub-corpus, reporting findings regarding text length, lexical diversity, and cross-linguistic influence. Our analyses reveal both quantitative and qualitative differences depending on task type and modality, and show large intra- as well as interindividual variation among learners. Despite the limitation of a (currently) small oral data set, these initial findings emphasize the crucial role of contextual factors in data collection and raise concerns about the generalizability and comparability of basic-level learner productions.

This study explores whether middle-school students can exploit explicitly addressed crosslinguistic lexical similarities between German and English to learn vocabulary more efficiently. Across six weeks, 260 Swiss German learners of English as a foreign language (17 classes) completed three vocabulary learning tests (T1, T2 and T3). Additionally, 7 of these 17 classes attended a 90-minute intervention between the first and second test: During a 45-minute introductory lesson students discovered four systematic orthographic correspondence rules (e.g. <p> to <f> as in ship and Schiff), followed by three 15-minute sessions to consolidate their knowledge. The intervention group’s improvement in cognate learning was significantly larger in comparison to the control group. The difference was observed across both test modes and all rules introduced. While learners’ initial English vocabulary size correlated with their overall performance, it did not affect intervention uptake. This suggests that these younger learners benefitted from form-focused instruction, independent of proficiency and type of correspondence.