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- Volume 4, Issue, 2013
Language, Interaction and Acquisition - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013
Volume 4, Issue 2, 2013
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In faint praise of folly: A critical review of native/non-native speaker comparisons, with examples from native and bilingual processing of French complex syntax
Author(s): David Birdsong and Libby M. Gertkenpp.: 107–133 (27)More LessThis study critically examines the widespread practice of comparing the linguistic processes and representations of non-native speakers with those of natives. We argue that, in some respects, the method yields benefits, while in others it does not serve the interests of research into the nature of second language acquisition and bilingualism. We go on to consider certain analytical approaches that skirt the hazards of the method. The potential payoffs of native/non-native comparisons are illustrated in a priming study of monolingual and bilingual processing of ambiguity in complex French syntax (Gertken 2013).
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Social-interactional approaches to SLA: A state of the art and some future perspectives
Author(s): Simona Pekarek Doehlerpp.: 134–160 (27)More LessIn this paper I address the current state of the art in social-interactional research on SLA. I first provide a brief outline of the historical development of those lines of research that are commonly subsumed under the (broad) heading of ‘social-interactional approaches’, and I discuss their conceptual underpinnings as well as some of their research results. I then focus specifically on current research in what has become a major driving force in socially oriented research on SLA, namely conversation analysis (CA-SLA). I discuss some of the empirical evidence CA-SLA has offered for L2 learning as a socio-cognitive process bound up with the moment-to-moment unfolding of L2 speakers’ social practices. I also review its contribution to our understanding of L2 interactional competence and its development over time. I conclude by sketching avenues for future research.
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Convergence and divergence in the acquisition of French liaison by native and non-native speakers: A review of existing data and avenues for future research
Author(s): Sophie Wauquier and Ellenor M. Shoemakerpp.: 161–189 (29)More LessThis article presents an overview of empirical findings to date concerning the acquisition of liaison in French as a first and second language (L1 and L2, respectively). We present data culled from production studies as well as from psycholinguistic experimentation involving various paradigms. Our aim is to highlight both the similarities and differences in the learning strategies and developmental paths followed by these two groups of learners, including particular examination of how representations of liaison in a learner’s phonological grammar may develop and change throughout the course of development. We conclude with a discussion of areas where existing data are lacking and potential avenues for future research.
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La liaison en français langue seconde: Une étude longitudinale préliminaire
Author(s): Martin Howardpp.: 190–231 (42)More LessThis paper presents a longitudinal analysis of French liaison among Irish university learners. Quantitative analysis of their spoken language points to the clear distinction that underlies their use of liaison between obligatory and variable contexts. In the former case, they evidence near-categorical levels of use, while their use of liaison in variable contexts is more frequent than that observed in studies of native speakers in the same age group. Morphosyntactic and lexical analyses indicate that the learners use variable liaison in a small number of morphosyntactic contexts as opposed to the full range within which it is possible, while applying it to a limited number of words within these contexts. The findings are discussed in relation to a number of hypotheses that they raise concerning the acquisition of liaison in L2 French, along with some methodological issues that they evidence concerning the study of liaison in learner language.
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Acquisition of grammatical gender and number agreement in Swedish learners of L2 Italian: Regularity and frequency effects
Author(s): Anna Gudmundsonpp.: 232–255 (24)More LessThis corpus-based study examines gender and number agreement in oral productions of Swedish learners of L2 Italian. The main aim is to investigate how regularity and frequency effects influence learning. The theoretical framework is inspired by a functionalist approach focusing on the role of form–function mappings in the learner’s input. Regularity and frequency are interpreted in terms of the availability, reliability, and validity of the mappings between the different noun endings and their functions: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural. The results show a significant correlation between reliability and accuracy rate, but no statistically significant correlation between availability or validity and accuracy rate. An interaction between longitudinal development and reliability is noted.
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Exploring the upper limits of the Aspect Hypothesis: Tense-aspect morphology in the advanced English L2 variety
Author(s): Alexandra Vraciupp.: 256–290 (35)More LessThis paper explores coalitions between tense-aspect morphology and the aspectual class of predicates in second language acquisition (the Aspect Hypothesis) on the basis of 36 oral narratives elicited with a picture book from French L1 adult learners of English. The observed distributional patterns are analysed in relation to the prototypical inflection/predicate coalitions observed both at early stages of L2 development and in English L1. While advanced learners are expected to make a productive use of tense-aspect morphology within all predicate classes, our data indicate that the prototypical coalition between the progressive form and activity predicates remains strong until very proficient stages of English L2, when the distribution of verb morphology within this class eventually becomes more flexible and activities as a class are predominantly encoded in the non-progressive present or past form. Non-grammaticalisation of the progressive in the learners’ L1 may interfere with the predictions of the Aspect Hypothesis for this form in English L2.
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Fluence et prononciation de phonèmes en L1 et L2: Indices de performance en lecture à voix haute selon l’environnement familial
Author(s): Lucie Vialettes-Basmoreau and Nathalie Spanghero-Gaillardpp.: 291–312 (22)More LessLearning how to read is an important step in a child’s education. Our longitudinal study focuses on four native English-speaking children going to a French immersion school in the United States, as well as their families. These children learn to read in French, which is a foreign language to them. We aimed at finding out whether their home environment could explain good results in reading in the two languages: English, their mother tongue, and French, the foreign language, as Cummins (1981) suggests. To this end, we measured their performance in reading through their pronunciation and their reading fluency, and we had their family complete a questionnaire about their reading habits at home. The results show that the home environment does seem to play a role in the children’s performance but more generalizations must await further research.
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