Kevin McManus

L1 explicit instruction can improve L2 online and offline performance.

This study investigated the effectiveness of providing L1 explicit information (EI) with practice for making more accurate and faster interpretations of L2 French Imparfait (IMP). Two treatments were investigated: (a) “L2-only,” providing EI about the L2 with L2 interpretation practice, and (b) “L2+L1,” providing the exact same L2-only treatment and including EI about the L1 (English) with practice interpreting L1 features that are equivalent to the IMP. Fifty L2 French learners were randomly assigned to either L2-only, L2+L1, or a control group. Online (self-paced reading) and offline (context-sentence matching) measures from pretest, posttest, and delayed posttests showed that providing additional L1 EI and practice improved not only offline L2 accuracy, but also the speed of online L2 processing. To our knowledge, this makes original and significant contributions about the nature of EI with practice and the role of the L1 (Tolentino & Tokowicz, 2014 ), and it extends a recent line of research examining EI effects in online sentence processing (Andringa & Curcic, 2015 ).

L1/L2 Differences in the Acquisition of Form-Meaning Pairings: A Comparison of English and German Learners of French

This paper examines the impact of L1/L2 form-meaning differences in the domain of aspect to investigate whether L2 learners are able to acquire properties of the L2 that are different from the L1. Oral data were collected from English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 (n = 75) at two different levels of proficiency. The results show that appropriate use of aspect morphology at the advanced stages of learning is significantly influenced by differences in L1 background, with significant differences also revealed between French native speakers and L2 learners. The results suggest that an important role must be attributed to L1/L2 form-meaning mapping differences.Cet article examine l’effet sur l’aspect des différences de forme et de sens entre langue première (L1) et langue seconde (L2), dans le but de déterminer si les apprenants d’une L2 peuvent en acquérir les propriétés que leur L1 ne présente pas. Des données orales ont été amassées auprès de locuteurs natifs de l’anglais ou de l’allemand (n = 75) qui étudient le français langue seconde à l’université à deux niveaux de compétence différents. Les résultats montrent que l’usage approprié de la morphologie aspectuelle à des étapes avancées de l’apprentissage est considérablement influencé par des différences dans les L1; ils révèlent aussi d’importantes différences entre les locuteurs natifs du français et les apprenants de L2. Ces résultats suggèrent qu’un rôle important doit être attribué à des différences dans le balisage des associations forme-sens entre la L1 et la L2.

ONLINE AND OFFLINE EFFECTS OF L1 PRACTICE IN L2 GRAMMAR LEARNING

This study partially replicates McManus and Marsden ( 2017 ), who found that providing L1 explicit information (EI) plus task-essential practice led L2 learners to make more accurate and faster interpretations of French morphosyntax. The current study removed the original study’s L1 EI component to examine the role of the L1 practice. This design tested whether providing L1 task-essential practice only (alongside a core treatment of L2 EI plus L2 practice) resulted in similar online and offline learning gains compared to the original study’s L1 EI plus L1 practice. We used the same online and offline tests, with a similar population of English-speaking learners of L2 French (n = 19). For accuracy and speed of online and offline L2 processing, the findings suggest that additional L1 practice without L1 EI was no more beneficial than L2 EI plus L2 practice alone, indicating that the original study’s combination of additional L1 EI with L1 practice appeared to contribute to previously observed learning benefits.