The Effect of Explicit Grammar Instruction on the Acquisition of German Subjunctive Mood Among Nigerian Postgraduate Students

This study empirically investigates the effect of explicit grammar instruction on the acquisition of the German subjunctive mood (Konjunktiv II) among postgraduate students of German at the University of Lagos, South West Nigeria. The subjunctive mood represents a significant grammatical challenge for Nigerian learners, given its limited structural equivalent in English and the absence of analogous mood systems in the major Nigerian languages. Despite the importance of the subjunctive in formal and academic German writing, research examining the most effective instructional approach to its acquisition in Nigerian contexts is lacking. The study employs a mixed quasi-experimental design, randomly assigning 80 postgraduate German students to an explicit instruction group and a meaning-focused instruction group over a ten-week period. Pre-tests, immediate post-tests, and delayed retention tests assess subjunctive production accuracy and comprehension. Error analysis is applied to written samples, and think-aloud protocols provide insight into learner cognitive processes. Findings indicate that the explicit instruction group demonstrates significantly greater accuracy on both immediate and delayed tests, with the advantage being most pronounced in formal writing tasks. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of form-focused instruction in second language acquisition and provides empirically grounded guidance for German language programme design in Nigerian postgraduate contexts. Keywords: explicit grammar instruction, German subjunctive, postgraduate students, University of Lagos, second language acquisition.