Michel Pierrard

Conceptualizing and measuring the impact of contextual factors in instructed SLA – the role of language prominence

Abstract This paper reports on a study that investigates the impact of learning context on the L2 acquisition of English by German-speaking pupils. Learning context is operationalized in terms of the relative prominence of the L1 and the L2 within the learning context, which in turn reflects the functional roles and domains of use allocated to the L2 and L1. L2 learning outcomes are compared across four different authentic language-learning contexts which represent four distinct positions on the second language (SL) – foreign language (FL) context continuum. The results show that the learners in the learning context most close to the SL end of the continuum (with high L2 prominence and very low L1 prominence in the wider extra-curricular context) outperform the learners in the three other contexts on most aspects of L2 proficiency investigated. Comparisons between the learners in the three other contexts yield less straightforward observations, including better than anticipated results for the learners in the prototypical FL context.

French second language learners’ acquisition of the sequence aller + infinitive: Movement, aspect and tense

Abstract This article reports on the development of a particular TAM (tense, aspect, modality) sequence in L2 French (FL2): aller+infinitive. Studies of the acquisition of FL2 regularly point to the frequency of the structure “aller+ infinitive” in the learners’ interlanguage from a relatively early acquisitional stage onwards. The sequence in question is nonetheless often too readily identified with the futur périphrastique or futur proche, which leads researchers to assume that the futur périphrastique is productive at an early stage of the acquisitional process, even much sooner than the futur simple and approximately at the same developmental stage as the emergence of the passé composé. In this study we analyze the quantitative development of the sequence aller+infinitive in the oral productions of three groups of Dutch-speaking learners of FL2, as well as the semantic value(s) expressed by this sequence. Does it really (only) express the future, from an early acquisitional stage onwards? The FL2 data are also compared to the oral productions of a native speaker benchmark group.

Il saute dehors/ Il grimpe dessus : particules adverbales de trajectoire en français L1 et L2

Les etudes typologiques sur l’expression du mouvement ont souligne une difference radicale entre les langues romanes et germaniques dans la realisation linguistique de tels enonces (Talmy 1985, 2000xa0; Berman & Slobin 1994). Les langues romanes preferent en general les verbes de mouvement qui marquent une direction ou une trajectoire («xa0pathxa0»xa0; par exemple en francais sortir, descendre, monter ou en espagnol salir, bajar, montar), alors que les langues germaniques favorisent les verbes de mouvement qui expriment la maniere de bouger («xa0mannerxa0» ; par exemple en anglais run, roll, creep, en neerlandais rennen, lopen, springen ou en allemand rennen, eilen, schleichen). De plus, les langues romanes sont des V-langues (centrees sur le verbe) dans la mesure ou c’est celui-ci qui exprime l’orientation du mouvement. En revanche, les langues germaniques sont des S-langues (centrees sur le satellite) dans le sens ou la trajectoire y est souvent indiquee par une particule adverbale (donc ajoutee au verbe) comme (en anglais in, out, up, en neerlandais in, uit, buiten, binnen, boven ou en allemand hinaus, hinein, hinauf). Cette premiere etude exploratoire vise a evaluer l’impact du contraste invoque sur la production, par des apprenants germanophones de francais L2, de particules adverbales de trajectoire «xa0excluesxa0» en francais L1, ainsi qu’a relever une eventuelle variation existant dans la production des locuteurs natifs eux-memes. Les donnees examinees font ressortir que, sur le plan de l’exploitation des particules adverbales de trajectoire, l’opposition entre V-langues et S-langues s’impose de maniere moins tranchee que ce que les analyses typologiques laissaient entendre. Si la quantite des particules convoquees est similaire dans le discours des deux groupes, la variete d’emploi et l’apparition de certaines «xa0deviancesxa0» distinguent les deux productions. Enfin, la collocation des particules avec certains verbes s’impose dans la production des deux groupes, mais pas exactement selon les memes modalites.

LES MARQUEURS CADRATIFS ET ARGUMENTATIFS DANS LES RÉCITS D'APPRENANTS NÉERLANDOPHONES DU FRANÇAIS L2 PREMIERS RÉSULTATS D'UNE ÉTUDE SUR CORPUS

This article discusses the presence and frequency of use of framing and argumentative markers in narratives of Dutch learners of French in Brussels and Flanders. These learners are either at the beginning (1st year) or end (6th year) of their secondary school education. First, we provide with an overview of the notions that are analysed in the corpus. Next we describe the corpus and the task used, and then continue with a discussion of the results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses. To conclude, we sum up the main findings of our study.