Cover -- Preface -- Vorwort -- Acknowledgments -- Table of Contents -- Index of charts -- Index of examples -- Index of pictures -- Index of tables -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Motivation for the study -- 1.2 Aims of the study -- 1.3 Theoretical framework and outline of the study -- 2 Functional features in language acquisition: The state of the art -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Theory development in language acquisition -- 2.2.1 Where language acquisition starts -- 2.2.2 How language acquisition develops -- 2.2.3 Types of language acquisition -- 2.2.4 Functional features in L2 acquisition: morphological variability in L2 grammar -- 2.2.5 Second language acquisition: variables and contexts -- 2.3 Articles in first and second language acquisition -- 2.3.1 Articles in German and English: a contrastive analysis -- 2.3.2 First language acquisition of the nominal system in German and English -- 2.3.3 Second language acquisition of the German nominal system -- 2.4 Summary -- 3 Empirical evidence -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Research questions and hypotheses -- 3.2.1 The development of nominal accuracy in child L2 German -- 3.2.2 The role of transfer -- 3.2.3 Task effects -- 3.3 Methodology -- 3.3.1 Immersion education -- 3.3.2 Data collection -- 3.3.2.1 Participants -- 3.3.2.2 Spontaneous production: story retelling -- 3.3.2.3 Spontaneous production: picture description -- 3.3.2.4 Spontaneous production: written retelling -- 3.3.2.5 Controlled production: cloze task -- 3.3.2.6 Controlled production: untimed oral grammaticality judgment task -- 3.3.2.7 Controlled production: untimed written grammaticality judgment task -- 3.3.2.8 Controlled production: timed grammaticality judgment task I -- 3.3.2.9 Controlled production: timed oral grammaticality judgment task II -- 3.3.3 Data analysis -- 3.3.3.1 Data transcription -- 3.3.3.2 Data coding (TAMS).

3.3.3.3 Statistical analyses -- 3.4 Summary -- 4 Findings -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Results -- 4.2.1 Measuring proficiency: SOPA results -- 4.2.2 Describing development: analyzing spontaneous production data -- 4.2.3 Investigating the development of nominal accuracy in child L2 German -- 4.2.4 Investigating the role of L1 transfer in the acquisition of L2 grammar -- 4.2.5 Investigating task effects in L2 production -- 4.3 Revisiting the research questions and hypotheses -- 4.4 Summary -- 5 Discussion -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Contributing to theory development in L2A research -- 5.3 The German determiner system in second language acquisition -- 5.3.1 Explaining morphological variability in L2A -- 5.4 Quality management in language learning -- 5.4.1 Input modifications -- 5.4.2 Task design, attention to speech and focus on form -- 5.5 Outlook and research desiderates -- 5.6 Summary -- 6 Conclusion -- 7 References -- 8 Appendix -- 8.1 German gender paradigms -- 8.2 Experiments and testing materials -- 8.3 Results and statistics.