Laura Collins

The Influence of Language Distance and Language Status on the Acquisition of L3 Phonology.

Abstract Research in the field of third language acquisition has consistently identified two key factors which have an effect on the ways in which the two known languages may influence the acquisition of a third. These factors are language distance (typology) and language status (more specifically, second language, L2, or non-native language status). To date, however, the findings have not been conclusive regarding whether one of the two factors has a greater influence than the other. In this study, we investigated whether L2 status or typology would be the stronger predictor in the selection of a source language for phonological influence in L3 acquisition. Two groups of learners of Spanish as an L3, one with English L1 and French L2, the other with French L1 and English L2, were recorded reading word lists containing voiceless stops in onset, stressed position. Paired-samples t-tests were used to compare the rates of presence (English-influenced) or absence (French-influenced) of aspiration (operationalised as voice onset time values). Results point to L2 status as the determining factor in the selection of a source language for the production of voiceless stops in stressed onset position in L3 Spanish for both groups.

‘It's vocabulary’/‘it's gender’: learner awareness and incidental learning

Research has shown that second language (L2) learners that become aware of linguistic features during grammar-based tasks are better able to process these features on a posttest compared to learners that do not focus on these features. However, much L2 input does not come in the form of grammar-based tasks. This study investigates whether learners who become aware of French grammatical gender during a meaning-based task are better able to process these forms than learners whose experience with the same task does not lead to awareness of the feature. Thirty-six Anglophones with low-level French were exposed to reliable noun-ending clues to grammatical gender whilst completing a crossword task. A think-aloud protocol and two probe questions measured awareness. A pre- to posttest design measured accuracy with French nouns ending in eau (e.g. le cadeau). The results revealed no advantage for learners who became aware of the noun-ending clues during exposure: all learners improved in their ability to judge the gender of words encountered during the task (item learning) but none were able to extend this new knowledge to novel items (system learning). The interpretation of the findings considers the choice of linguistic feature, the role of awareness in item learning and the learning conditions that might be necessary for awareness of form to occur during meaning-based exposure.

Accessing Second Language Learners’ Understanding of Temporal Morphology

The purpose of this study was to investigate how retrospective verbal reports can contribute to our understanding of the factors influencing the interlanguage development of tense and grammatical aspect. The goal was to gain insights into (1) the mental representations second language learners hold of tense and grammatical aspect, and (2) the factors influencing how knowledge of temporal morphology develops and is accessed during real-time production. The background data which inform the present investigation come from a series of studies involving over 200 adult learners of English from different L1 backgrounds. The elicitation instruments include controlled written production and timed judgement tasks. This study reports on the findings from the retrospective interview protocols which encouraged learners to reflect on their performance on the controlled tasks. Participants articulated their own hypotheses about how temporal morphology works in English and offered their perceptions of factors influencing how they process and interpret tense-aspect forms. Two key factors emerged from the verbal reports: learners’ awareness of semantic categories and their sensitivity to frequency effects in instructional input. Both appeared to constrain learners’ access to new knowledge that would allow their interlanguage to develop to more advanced levels.