Measuring something that cannot be grasped – Reflections about Methodology in Elicitation of Spoken Competence

The focus of this article is on reflections about methodology and themethodical choices in empirical research into the role of consciousness inthe acquisition of spoken competence in German as second or third foreignlanguage. Seeing language as a complex, dynamic system, I want to showhow learning fluctuates. I would like to demonstrate that there is acontinuous fluctuation between nonlinearity and stability which depends onparticular driving forces. These forces have to be captured by methodswhose aim is to increase the certainty of data. These reflections were provedby a case that wants to demonstrate how a multi-methodical approach worksin this direction.