The acquisition of grammatical possession: The influence of English (L1) in students of Spanish (L2)

Abstract

Possession is fundamental in human life since our childhood, a time in which it is very important to inform the world about the things that belong to us. The present study will analyze the acquisition of the Spanish possession structure (L2) by a group of students at the beginner level whose L1 is English. The main difficulties that the students may face when learning the structure will be shown, as well as analyzing whether instruction may influence positively or negatively this acquisition. The students will tend to be carried along by their L1 when expressing the possession in their L2, producing interlanguage errors. It is worth enquiring what the nature of these errors is: whether these errors are just one more step towards a correct acquisition, or fossilization; whether a guided instruction can benefit this acquisition or, on the contrary, a wrong instruction is the responsible of these errors.