A Longitudinal Study of Grammatical-Gender Marking in French as an Additional Language

Abstract

This investigation responds to the need for longitudinal data-driven research on additional-language (AL) acquisition by examining grammatical-gender marking among AL learners of French during a 21-month period, which included an academic year abroad (LANGSNAP corpus). The analysis of oral production consists of a generalized linear mixed model that examines a range of linguistic and extralinguistic factors shown to be important for gender marking in previous research, as well as a random effect for participant. Results show evidence of both change across time and consistency in the interlanguage. Drawing on variationism and usage-based approaches, we argue that longitudinal investigations that are focused on how learners use their additional language have much to offer our understanding of AL acquisition processes.

Grammatical and lexical development during study abroad: Research on a corpus of spoken L2 Chinese

“…Despite the recent plethora of research on study abroad, students' morphosyntactic development, especially the development of their grammatical accuracy, is still understudied, and when it is investigated, the results usually contradict each other (Issa et al, 2020). The results of the analyses of the data in the spoken Chinese L2 corpus in this study lend support to the findings in the literature that students made progress in their grammatical accuracy in the spoken language after study abroad (e.g., Edmonds et al, 2020; Howard, 2005; Isabelli & Nishida, 2005). Specifically, at the end of study abroad, the error rate (including underuse) in the students' production of the Chinese perfective aspect marker le —which has been proven notoriously difficult for L2 learners to acquire—was significantly lower than that before the program, and at the same time, the overuse of le also decreased, suggesting overall more accurate use of the marker, closer to the target norm.…”

“…The design of this study is longitudinal in nature, in response to recent calls in the SLA field to conduct more longitudinal studies (e.g., Edmonds et al, 2020; Ortega & Byrnes, 2008; Ortega & Iberri‐Shea, 2005) and data‐driven research, especially on learner corpora (e.g., Hasko, 2013; McEnery et al, 2019). The same 62 students' data were examined once right before or at the beginning of their program in China, and once after or at the end of their program in China, after one semester or 1 year of study in China.…”

“…Most of the research has been on English and other major European languages such as French, German, and Spanish. While some studies found that students made progress in their grammatical accuracy (e.g., Edmonds et al, 2020; Howard, 2005; Isabelli & Nishida, 2005), more seem to have found no significant improvements in this area (e.g., Allen & Herron, 2003; Collentine, 2004; DeKeyser, 2010; Freed et al, 2003; Lindseth, 2010; Walsh, 1994). Studies of students' morphosyntactic development of Chinese during study abroad have been rare, and the results are also mixed, as shown in the following review of the only two studies that the author is aware of.…”

L2 French learning by Eritrean refugee speakers of Tigrinya

“…Finally, regarding the gender feature, in contrast to its early mastery in L1 French, many L2 studies have shown persistent difficulties, particularly when the learners' L1 lacks grammatical gender (Carroll, 1989(Carroll, , 1999Guillelmon & Grosjean, 2001;Hawkins & Franceschina, 2004;Meisel, 2018;Surridge & Lessard, 1984;Wust, 2010). Nevertheless, gender seems to be mastered in high proficiency levels, even when the L1 does not instantiate it (Ayoun, 2007;Bartning, 2000;Edmonds, Gudmestad & Metzger, 2019;Prévost, 2009;Shimanskaya & Slabakova, 2017). Most studies have indicated that the masculine gender is overused (Harley, 1979;Bartning, 2000;Dewaele & Véronique, 2001;Edmonds & Gudmestad, 2018;Edmonds et al, 2019) and that animacy, morphophonological cues as well as noun frequency affect learning (Dewaele, 2015;Edmonds et al, 2019;Hardison, 1992;Shimanskaya & Slabakova, 2017;Surridge & Lessard, 1984).…”

“…Nevertheless, gender seems to be mastered in high proficiency levels, even when the L1 does not instantiate it (Ayoun, 2007;Bartning, 2000;Edmonds, Gudmestad & Metzger, 2019;Prévost, 2009;Shimanskaya & Slabakova, 2017). Most studies have indicated that the masculine gender is overused (Harley, 1979;Bartning, 2000;Dewaele & Véronique, 2001;Edmonds & Gudmestad, 2018;Edmonds et al, 2019) and that animacy, morphophonological cues as well as noun frequency affect learning (Dewaele, 2015;Edmonds et al, 2019;Hardison, 1992;Shimanskaya & Slabakova, 2017;Surridge & Lessard, 1984).…”