Daphnée Simard

Alertness, Orientation, and Detection: The Conceptualization of Attentional Functions in SLA

This paper critically examines Tomlin and Villas (1994) fine-grained analysis of attention and Leows (1998) attempt to operationalize their model. Our position is that whereas Tomlin and Villa have moved the attention research forward by describing the nature of attentional processes and by pointing out that detection is a critical function of SLA, their claim that alertness and orientation are not necessary for detection to occur is currently unsupportable and does not reflect the complex nature of SLA. We argue that Leows efforts to provide empirical support for this model fall short of that goal. Additionally, we cast doubt on Tomlin and Villas position that awareness is not required for the detection of L2 data by arguing that the issue of awareness as well as the role of attentional functions must be viewed from a more interactive perspective in terms of the nature of the task, the nature of the linguistic item, and individual learner differences. We conclude by proposing research orientations that may help advance the discussion on this topic.

Using Diaries to Promote Metalinguistic Reflection among Elementary School Students

This study is part of a larger research project investigating the effects of using metalinguistic reflection integrated into a communicative class as a way of promoting second language acquisition among French-speaking Grade six (i.e. 10-11 year old) ESL learners (n = 81). Even though metalinguistic reflection is thought to promote language development, only a few studies have empirically investigated its effects (Armand, 2000). Different ways of promoting metalinguistic reflection can be identified in the literature. Allison (1998), for instance, used diaries for this purpose. The questions addressed in this article are: Can diary writing promote metalinguistic reflection among grade six ESL learners? If so, what kind of metalinguistic reflection do these learners produce in their reflections? Does this reflection differ according to the type of students who produce it? The data were obtained from diaries and tests of metalinguistic reflection ability. Students were assigned to one of three groups (Enriched, Regular, Control) and were measured at three different periods of measurement (pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test). Enriched students more frequently wrote explicit comments about L2 in their diaries. All students noticed elements of the L2. Differences in their ability to report about language remained the same throughout the study. The amount of metalinguistic reflection produced by the Control group increased dramatically at the delayed post-test.

Measuring metasyntactic ability among heritage language children

Metasyntactic Ability (MSA) refers to the conscious reflection about syntactic aspects of language and the deliberate control of these aspects (Gombert, 1992). It appears from previous studies that heritage-language learners tend to demonstrate lower MSA than their monolingual counterparts (Lesaux & Siegel, 2003). In the present study, we verified whether the same results would be obtained among Portuguese heritage children living in a French-speaking environment when their MSA is measured using two different tasks. The participants were 22 Portuguese heritage children and 22 French monolingual elementary school children (mean age = 10.9 years). Five measurement instruments were used: a reading comprehension task; a language proficiency task; two metasyntactic tasks: a replication task in which the children had to identify and reproduce an error, and a repetition task, in which they had to repeat sentences containing syntactic errors; and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The results showed that when reading comprehension and language proficiency were controlled for, no effect of language background could be observed. However, reading comprehension and language proficiency differently influenced performances on MSA tasks.

Examining the contribution of metasyntactic ability to reading comprehension among native and non-native speakers of French

The particular contribution of metasyntactic ability (i.e., the ability to consciously reflect about the syntactic aspects of language and intentionally to control grammatical rules) to second language reading skills is still not clear. While some studies concluded that metasyntactic ability contributes to reading among non-native speakers (NNS), others did not observe any particular contribution of that specific metalinguistic ability among NNS, despite showing a predictive value for their native speaker control group. Methodological aspects might explain these conflicting results, namely the target population, the measurement of metasyntactic ability, and the reading skill examined. The present study was set out to verify whether the particular contribution of metasyntactic ability to French reading comprehension would be the same among native and non-native upper-elementary children. A cross-sectional study was carried out in which 73 children (37 native and 36 non native speakers of French) were given syntactic, metasyntactic, receptive vocabulary, reading comprehension and phonological memory tasks. As in previous studies, results of the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) first revealed that the NNSs of French participants obtained lower MSA results than the native speaker children. However, results from the multiple regressions showed that MSA accounted for a significant part of variation in L2 reading among the native as well as among the NNS children and that language group was not a significant factor. This indicates that the weight of each variable, including metasyntactic ability, did not vary according to language status.

Measuring Metasyntactic Abilities: On a Classification of Metasyntactic Tasks

Researchers working on metasyntactic abilities (i.e., the metalinguistic ability associated with syntax) face the problem of defining and measuring them. Metasyntactic abilities is a multifaceted concept, which encompasses various types of behaviours, from being able to intentionally manipulate syntactic structures to being able to state syntactic rules, and the way in which it is defined and measured varies greatly from one study to another. The present paper proposes a theoretically informed classification of syntax related tasks. The first part presents previous research defining and distinguishing various types of syntactic and metasyntactic abilities and their interrelations. In the second part, commonly used tasks are described and analyzed in terms of the framework presented, with the aim of better pinpointing the type of ability measured by each task. Ultimately, with this analysis of commonly used tasks, we hope to offer criteria for discriminating between the various measures of metasyntactic abilities.

Et si la capacité de réflexion métalinguistique avait un sexe: Relation entre les réflexions métalinguistiques produites dans une classe dite communicative et le sexe des apprenants de L2

Cette recherche visait à explorer le lien qui existe entre le sexe des apprenants de L2 et le type de réflexions métalinguistiques formulées à propos de l’anglais L2 lors de la réalisation d’une tâche écrite. Au cours d’une période de deux mois, deux groupes d’élèves francophones de sixième année à savoir, un groupe de garçons (n = 30) et un groupe de filles (n = 25) ont, à la fin de chaque cours, écrit ce qu’ils avaient remarqué à propos de leur L2, soit l’anglais. Les résultats des analyses effectuées sur les données recueillies à l’aide d’un test standardisé indiquent que les deux groupes étaient équivalents au départ. Les analyses effectuées sur les réflexions métalinguistiques fournies par les participants indiquent, pour leur part, qu’il existe un lien entre le type de réflexion métalinguistique et le sexe des apprenants.

Factors Influencing L2 Self-repair Behavior: The Role of L2 Proficiency, Attentional Control and L1 Self-repair Behavior

Self-repairs, that is revisions of speech that speakers themselves initiate and complete (Salonen and Laakso in J Child Lang 36:859, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000908009240), are frequently used to observe the cognitive and linguistic processes underlying second language (L2) speech production. Previous research has shown that factors such as L2 proficiency, attentional control and native language (L1) self-repair behavior interact with L2 self-repair behavior. To our knowledge, however, no research has examined how these three factors interact within a cohort of L2 speakers. As such, the present study examined the proficiency scores, attentional control scores and L2 and L1 self-repair frequency data of 58 adult L2 English speakers of various proficiency levels. Regression results showed that while proficiency was not a significant predictor of L2 self-repair behavior, attentional control and L1 repair frequency together explained 40% of the variance. Results suggest that L2 self-repair behavior may be more closely linked to stable cognitive and personality traits than to L2 proficiency.

Exploring the contribution of phonological memory to metasyntactic abilities in bilingual children

ABSTRACT The contribution of phonological memory to syntactic abilities has been demonstrated in various populations, but its relationship to metasyntactic abilities, defined as the ability to control syntactic aspects of language, remains largely unexplored. This study therefore aims to examine the contribution of phonological memory in the completion of two metasyntactic tasks: an ungrammatical sentence repetition and an error replication task. Eighty-three bilingual children (Mage = 10.5) completed the two metasyntactic tasks as well as tasks meant to control for lexical knowledge and syntactic abilities. A nonword repetition task measured phonological memory. Contrary to theoretical arguments which suggest that completion of both these tasks demonstrates the effect of phonological memory on metasyntactic abilities, the results show that phonological memory contributes significantly to metasyntactic abilities, only when measured by the repetition of ungrammatical sentences. Results suggest that different metasyntactic tasks rely differently on underlying linguistic and cognitive abilities.