The article is concerned with the language practices and the linguistic
outcomes of a foreign language classroom in which young learners
acquire the English language according to the principles of autonomous
language learning. The data derive from the LAALE project (Language
Acquisition in an Autonomous Learning Environment) whose
aim it was to systematically observe the linguistic progress of a Danish
mixed ability class over a period of four years. In this classroom the
learners were not exposed to any grammar instruction, but had to work
out the syntactic rules of the foreign language themselves. In order to
facilitate the interpretation of the data, they are compared with data
from traditionally taught learners of the same age.
