On rule complexity: a structural approach

  • It is widely acknowledged by second language researchers that whether pedagogical rules should or can be explicitly taught is largely dependent on their complexity. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on what rule complexity exactly means. This paper first examines existing accounts of rule complexity and presents a conceptual analysis of the term ‘rule’. It then proposes that ‘complex’ should not be equated with ‘difficult’, but used in a purely structural sense. Specifically a conditional formulation is proposed in which the number of concepts in the antecedent and the consequent, the number of subconditions, and the number of ‘if-then’ connections (subrules) within a given rule domain govern complexity. Finally, a classification of strategies of complexity reduction in foreign language pedagogy is sketched. Throughout, examples will be given from the field of German as a foreign language.

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Metadaten
Author:Gunther DietzORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-672027
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/67202
ISSN:1568-1491OPAC
ISSN:1569-9749OPAC
Parent Title (English):EUROSLA Yearbook
Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Company
Type:Article
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2002
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2019/12/17
Volume:2
Issue:1
First Page:263
Last Page:286
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.2.16die
Institutes:Philologisch-Historische Fakultät
Philologisch-Historische Fakultät / Germanistik
Philologisch-Historische Fakultät / Germanistik / Lehrstuhl für Deutsch als Zweit- und Fremdsprache und seine Didaktik
Dewey Decimal Classification:4 Sprache / 43 Deutsch, germanische Sprachen allgemein / 430 Germanische Sprachen; Deutsch
Licence (German):Deutsches Urheberrecht