People often believe that some language varieties are more prestigious than others, which can trigger speech-centered biases and inform social judgments of the speaker. However, it is largely unknown what types of language experience and exposure might mitigate language biases, especially for second language (L2) learners. The goal of this study…

This longitudinal study of 17 American learners of French lies at the intersection of 2 complementary fields of inquiry in second language acquisition (SLA): language variation and change (LVC) and language acquisition during study abroad. Studies in LVC examine the nature and use of linguistic features that have more than 1 possible realization…

Syntactic and linguistic complexity have been studied extensively in applied linguistics as indicators of linguistic performance, development, and proficiency. Recent publications have equally highlighted the reductionist approach taken to syntactic complexity measurement, which often focuses on one or two measures representing complexity at the…

Situated within the recent new wave of second language acquisition studies investigating the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation, this article draws on a longitudinal database of advanced French interlanguage to explore a number of issues that have not yet been extensively investigated. They concern the issue of individual variation in the…

The article discusses the potential of combining learner corpus research with experimental studies in order to fine-tune the understanding of learner language development. It illustrates the complementarity of the two methodological approaches with data from an ongoing study of the acquisition of the English tense and aspect system by French…

The present study examined how American learners of French perceived the influence of instruction on their existing stereotypes about the French people to determine the effects of these stereotypes on their language learning and cultural openness. During a semester, 22 undergraduate students, all native English speakers enrolled in 4 sections of…

Many colleges and universities in North America employ foreign language housing (FLH) as a means of exposing students to a second language (L2). However, little research examines the effectiveness of these houses on L2 use and gains. The purpose of this study was to examine whether L2 learners living in FLH use the L2 more and whether they make…

Although Belgium is officially trilingual (Dutch, French, and German), its legislation does not allow for bilingual education (BE). Recently, concerns about the position of Dutch in the face of French and immigrant languages have politicized the issue in the bilingual capital of Brussels and the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders. Considering…

One fundamental aspect of all educated native speakers' language competence is stylistic variation, or the ability to adjust speech register to situational formality ( Labov, 1972). In this article, we investigate how current introductory and intermediate college French textbooks develop students' sociolinguistic competence and particularly the…

English learners of French whose first language (L1) does not mark the perfective/imperfective distinction have shown verb semantic influence and an overall preference for perfective over imperfective in their use of second language (L2) tense-aspect markers. This study investigated whether learners whose L1 marks the perfective/imperfective…

The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of a curricular intervention on study-abroad students' use of language- and culture-learning strategies and on their acquisition of requests and apologies. The intervention consisted of a brief face-to-face orientation to learning speech acts, a self-study guidebook on language and culture…

Article investigates Frenchpersons' tolerance for grammatical errors typical of Americans learning French and attempts to establish priorities for correcting errors in classroom. Study looks at degree to which errors interfered with comprehensibility, irritation caused by errors, whether errors were more tolerated in speaking or writing, and rank…

Examines the rationale for research into what constitutes sociopragmatic competence; reviews a series of relevant empirical studies; and reports on one such study of requests, thanks, and apologies made by native speakers and non-native learners of French. (23 references) (GLR)

Presents study conducted in France to determine which errors typically made by French-speaking Americans (errors in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar) are most objectionable to the French ear. Concludes grammatical errors were rated least tolerable. (Author/BK)

Investigated the relative importance of various grammatical and discourse features in the evaluation of second-language writing samples produced by college students enrolled in beginning and intermediate French courses. Three native-speaking instructors of French rated 172 essays using a scale that was constructed by a researcher and based on…