Kuidas uurida esimese ja teise keele omandamist?

The main objective of the research is to compare the linguistic development of first (L1) and second language (L2) learners from a dual perspective: 1) stages of acquisition (young children - pre-schoolers - primary school pupils - basic school pupils - upper-secondary school students - adults) and 2) levels of proficiency (A1 - A2 - B1 - B2 - C1 - C2). Th e intersection of these two coordinate systems forms the general framework on the basis of which one can describe the written and oral language use and linguistic development of L1 and L2 learners of Estonian performing similar communicative tasks. Th e results of the research should give an overview of the similarities and diff erences in the stages and proficiency levels of language acquisition in the L1 and L2. Th ey should help researchers understand in what order and in what manner language learners create and use new linguistic structures; whether L1 and L2 are acquired in parallel, and if yes, then to what extent this is so; what is the role of the frequency, transparency, grammaticality and acceptability of linguistic elements and (idiomatic) constructions in language acquisition; and to what extent learners rely on rules or analogy in language acquisition