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Abstract
Little is known about the link between Second Language Acquisition (SLA) developmental stages (Pienemann 1998) and the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) proficiency levels. Therefore, this study examines the inversion (INV) and verb-end (VEND) stages in L2 German MERLIN texts rated B1 (N = 104) or A2 (N = 32). Two acquisition criteria are applied to individual texts (emergence, Pienemann 1998; 75%-correct, Ellis 1989) and combined with analyses of texts grouped at CEFR levels. Results suggest links between developmental stages and CEFR levels: VEND was emerged in 44% of B1 texts, while most A2 texts did not contain VEND. Many B1 texts (61.5%), but only 37.5% of A2 texts showed emergence of INV. However, analyses also revealed persisting problems with INV accuracy at B1. More generally, the study points out shared challenges for Learner Corpus Research, SLA, and proficiency/assessment research related to the availability of linguistic evidence in learner texts.
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