Portrait du développement de la compétence orthographique d'élèves créolophones scolarisés au Québec de la maternelle à la troisième année

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Can L2 learners learn new ways to conceptualise events? Evidence from motion event construal among English-speaking learners of French

This study tests Slobin’s (1996) claim that L2 learners struggle with conceptual restructuring in L2 acquisition. We suggest that learners can find themselves in four different reconceptualisation scenarios: the TRANSFER, RESTRUCTURING, CREATIVE/HYBRID and CONVERGENCE SCENARIOS. To test this proposal in the field of event conceptualisation, a comprehensive analysis was made of the frequency distribution of path, manner, caused motion and deictic verbs in narratives elicited from intermediate (N=20) and advanced learners (N=21) of French, as well as native speakers of French (N=23) and English (N=30). The productions of the intermediate level learners were found to correspond to the creative/hybrid scenario because they differed significantly in their motion expressions from English as well as French native speakers, except for path, which was verbalised in target-like ways early on. Advanced learners were found to be able to reconceptualise motion in the L2, as far as manner and path are concerned, but continued to struggle with deictic verbs and caused motion. The clearest evidence for transfer from the L1 was found in verbalisations among intermediate level learners of events which involved a boundary crossing.

An Experimental investigation into the reading ability transfer of Chinese speaking learners of english

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Initial placement methods for Haitian adult ESOL students : the NYS place test plus profile data compared to subjective assessment

Few valid and reliable placement procedures are available to assess the English language proficiency of adults who enroll in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs. Whereas placement material exists for children and university ESOL students, the needs of students in adult community education programs have not been adequately addressed. Furthermore, the research suggests that a number of variables, such as, native language, age, prior schooling, length of residence, and employment are related to second language acquisition. Numerous studies contribute to our understanding of the relationship of these factors to second language acquisition of Spanish-speaking students. Again, there is a void in the research investigating the factors affecting second language acquisition and consequently, appropriate placement of Haitian Creole-speaking students. This study compared a standardized instrument, the NYS Place Test, used alone and in combination with a writing sample in English, to subjective judgement of a department coordinator for initial placement of Haitian adult ESOL students in a community education program. The study also investigated whether or not consideration of student profile data improved the accuracy of the test. Finally, the study sought to determine if a relationship existed between student profile data and those who withdrew from the program or did not enter a class after registering. Analysis of the data by crosstabulation and chi-square revealed that the standardized NYS Place Test was at least as accurate as subjective department coordinator placement and that one procedure could be substituted for li other. Although the writing sample in English improved accuracy of placement by the NYS test, the results were not significant. Of the profile variables, only length of residence was found to be significantly related to accuracy of placement using the NYS Place Test. The number of incorrect placements was higher for those students who lived in the host country from twenty-five to one hundred ten months. A post hoc analysis of NYS test scores according to level showed that those learners who placed in level three also had a significantly higher incidence of incorrect placements. No significant relationship was observed between the profile variables and those who withdrew from the program or registered but did not enter a class.

Receptive Vocabulary of CLIL and Non-CLIL Primary and Secondary School Learners

CLIL instruction has been reported to be beneficial for foreign language vocabulary learning since CLIL students show higher vocabulary profiles than students of their same age in traditional EFL contexts. However, to our knowledge, the receptive vocabulary knowledge of CLIL and non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary education has not been examined yet. Hence, this study aims at comparing the receptive vocabulary size 79 CLIL primary learners with the receptive vocabulary knowledge of 331 non-CLIL learners at the end of primary and secondary school. Sex-based differences were also analysed. The 2k Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) was used for the purposes of the study. Results revealed that learners’ receptive vocabulary sizes lie within the most frequent 1000 words, non-CLIL secondary school students throw better results than primary students but the differences between the secondary group and the CLIL group are not statistically significant. As for sex-based differences, we found no significant differences among the groups. These findings led us to believe that the CLIL approach offers a benefit for vocabulary acquisition since CLIL learners have been exposed to the foreign language for a shorter period of time and the results are quite similar to their non-CLIL secondary school partners.

L’évolution de la production des voyelles du français chez des immigrants adultes hispanophones : une étude de cas

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans le domaine des études visant à documenter le processus d’apprentissage du système phonologique de la langue du pays d’accueil chez des apprenants hispanophones du français en situation d’immigration. Nous avons effectué une étude de cas à l’aide d’enregistrements recueillis à quatre reprises pour documenter l’appropriation de sept nouvelles voyelles françaises à l’intérieur de paires minimales courantes comme vu et vous. Nous avons observé une réorganisation importante de l’inventaire des voyelles suscitée par le passage de l’espagnol au français : création d’une nouvelle catégorie phonétique pour les voyelles antérieures arrondies et distinction des nouveaux contrastes [e/ɛ], [o/ɔ] et [a/ɑ]. Par ailleurs, nous avons noté une amélioration marquée des contrastes vocaliques chez l’un des quatre participants, et une légère amélioration chez les trois autres.

Difficultés d’ordre grammatical rencontrées chez les immigrants adultes allophones dans l’apprentissage du français langue seconde

La présente étude vise à identifier et classer les difficultés d’ordre grammatical rencontrées chez les immigrants adultes allophones dans l’apprentissage du français langue seconde. Nous avons d’une part analysé les examens finaux de 98 apprenants inscrits dans les cours de francisation à l’Université de Montréal afin de décrire leurs erreurs grammaticales fréquentes commises. Nous avons décrit les erreurs grammaticales fréquentes produites par les apprenants de chaque niveau de francisation d’une manière précise afin que les apprenants puissent bien éviter l’usage de formes erronées et bien développer des compétences linguistiques en français langue seconde. D’autre part, nous avons collecté les opinions personnelles de cinq professeurs principaux de francisation à l’égard de l’importance de l’enseignement de la grammaire dans les cours de langue seconde, du traitement des erreurs grammaticales, et de la persistance des erreurs à travers différents niveaux, etc. En précisant les points grammaticaux à apprendre de chaque niveau de francisation et en fusionnant les résultats des apprenants et des professeurs, nous pouvons offrir aux apprenants adultes allophones des tableaux simples des points grammaticaux et des erreurs grammaticales correspondantes de chaque niveau. Ces derniers pourraient les exploiter pour favoriser la maîtrise du français langue seconde ainsi leur intégration à la société québécoise.

Dificultades en el uso de las preposiciones en estudiantes francófonos de ELE

Ce projet de maîtrise se consacre à l’apprentissage des prépositions espagnoles chez les élèves francophones. L’identification et l’analyse des erreurs les plus fréquentes dans l’usage des prépositions par des francophones nous permettrons d’élaborer des exercices pratiques qui rendraient leur apprentissage moins difficile. Nous croyons que la difficulté dans l’utilisation des prépositions chez les étudiants réside en partie dans le fait de ne pas connaître leur emploi exact. Nous commencerons donc par présenter l’emploi des principales prépositions en espagnol à partir du Manual de la Nueva gramática de la lengua española et d’autres études. L’enseignement de la grammaire dans les cours d’espagnol comme langue étrangère (ELE) au Québec suit les règles établies par le Cadre européen commun et le Plan curricular de l’Institut Cervantès. Les étudiants développent leur compétence grammaticale de manière inductive; ils sont amenés à comprendre les règles par eux-mêmes et à créer leurs propres hypothèses qu’ils confirment ou réfutent après grâce à quelques explications formelles de l’enseignant et des exercices de pratique. Par contre, cette tendance à laisser l’apprentissage de la grammaire entre les mains des étudiants peut aussi amener à la fossilisation de leurs erreurs si les explications et la pratique ne sont pas suffisantes. Les erreurs sont perçues comme un point de départ pour comprendre où résident les difficultés des étudiants et permettent aux enseignants d’apporter les changements nécessaires à leurs méthodes d’enseignement. Notre révision de quelques investigations réalisées avec la méthode de l’analyse des erreurs, nous permet de cerner les raisons pour lesquelles les francophones commettent autant d’erreurs dans l’utilisation des prépositions espagnoles. Notre analyse de l’enseignement et de la pratique des prépositions dans trois manuels qui s’utilisent actuellement dans les cégeps et les universités du Québec nous permet de voir que les prépositions ne se pratiquent pas assez, surtout au niveau intermédiaire. Nous proposons donc des exercices pratiques qui permettront aux étudiants de pratiquer les prépositions de manière plus efficace.

What variables condition syntactic transfer? A look at the L3 initial state

This study investigates transfer at the third-language (L3) initial state, testing between the following possibilities: (1) the first language (L1) transfer hypothesis (an L1 effect for all adult acquisition), (2) the second language (L2) transfer hypothesis, where the L2 blocks L1 transfer (often referred to in the recent literature as the ‘L2 status factor’; Williams and Hammarberg, 1998), and (3) the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al., 2004), which proposes selective transfer from all previous linguistic knowledge. We provide data from successful English-speaking learners of L2 Spanish at the initial state of acquiring L3 French and L3 Italian relating to properties of the Null-Subject Parameter (e.g. Chomsky, 1981; Rizzi, 1982). We compare these groups to each other, as well as to groups of English learners of L2 French and L2 Italian at the initial state, and conclude that the data are consistent with the predictions of the ‘L2 status factor’. However, we discuss an alternative possible interpretation based on (psycho)typologically-motivated transfer (borrowing from Kellerman, 1983), providing a methodology for future research in this domain to meaningfully tease apart the ‘L2 status factor’ from this alternative account.

The timing of island effects in nonnative sentence processing

Using the eye-movement monitoring technique in two reading comprehension experiments, we investigated the timing of constraints on wh-dependencies (so-called ‘island’ constraints) in native and nonnative sentence processing. Our results show that both native and nonnative speakers of English are sensitive to extraction islands during processing, suggesting that memory storage limitations affect native and nonnative comprehenders in essentially the same way. Furthermore, our results show that the timing of island effects in native compared to nonnative sentence comprehension is affected differently by the type of cue (semantic fit versus filled gaps) signalling whether dependency formation is possible at a potential gap site. Whereas English native speakers showed immediate sensitivity to filled gaps but not to lack of semantic fit, proficient German-speaking learners of L2 English showed the opposite sensitivity pattern. This indicates that initial wh-dependency formation in nonnative processing is based on semantic feature-matching rather than being structurally mediated as in native comprehension.

Processing reflexives in a second language: the timing of structural and discourse-level information

We report the results from two eye-movement monitoring experiments examining the processing of reflexive pronouns by proficient German-speaking learners of second language (L2) English. Our results show that the nonnative speakers initially tried to link English argument reflexives to a discourse-prominent but structurally inaccessible antecedent, thereby violating binding condition A. Our native speaker controls, in contrast, showed evidence of applying condition A immediately during processing. Together, our findings show that L2 learners’ initial focusing on a structurally inaccessible antecedent cannot be due to first language influence and is also independent of whether the inaccessible antecedent c-commands the reflexive. This suggests that unlike native speakers, nonnative speakers of English initially attempt to interpret reflexives through discourse-based coreference assignment rather than syntactic binding.

The time-course of morphological processing in a second language

We report findings from psycholinguistic experiments investigating the detailed timing of processing morphologically complex words by proficient adult second (L2) language learners of English in comparison to adult native (L1) speakers of English. The first study employed the masked priming technique to investigate -ed forms with a group of advanced Arabic-speaking learners of English. The results replicate previously found L1/L2 differences in morphological priming, even though in the present experiment an extra temporal delay was offered after the presentation of the prime words. The second study examined the timing of constraints against inflected forms inside derived words in English using the eye-movement monitoring technique and an additional acceptability judgment task with highly advanced Dutch L2 learners of English in comparison to adult L1 English controls. Whilst offline the L2 learners performed native-like, the eye-movement data showed that their online processing was not affected by the morphological constraint against regular plurals inside derived words in the same way as in native speakers. Taken together, these findings indicate that L2 learners are not just slower than native speakers in processing morphologically complex words, but that the L2 comprehension system employs real-time grammatical analysis (in this case, morphological information) less than the L1 system.

Examining second language development using event-related potentials: a cross-sectional study on the processing of gender and number agreement

This cross-sectional study examines the role of L1-L2 differences and structural distance in the processing of gender and number agreement by English-speaking learners of Spanish at three different levels of proficiency. Preliminary results show that differences between the L1 and L2 impact L2 development, as sensitivity to gender agreement violations, as opposed to number agreement violations, emerges only in learners at advanced levels of proficiency. Results also show that the establishment of agreement dependencies is impacted by the structural distance between the agreeing elements for native speakers and for learners at intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency but not for low proficiency. The overall pattern of results suggests that the linguistic factors examined here impact development but do not constrain ultimate attainment; for advanced learners, results suggest that second language processing is qualitatively similar to native processing.

Individual differences and the role of the L1 in L2 processing: an ERP investigation

This study used ERP (event-related potentials) to examine both the role of the L1 and the role of individual differences in the processing of agreement violations. Theories of L2 acquisition differ with regard to whether or not native-like acquisition of L2 features is possible (Schwartz and Sprouse, 1994, 1996; Tsimpli and Mastropavlou, 2007), and the results of previous ERP studies are inconsistent when it comes to whether or not native-like processing is observed in response to L2 agreement violations (e.g., Sabourin, 2003; Tokowicz and MacWhinney, 2005). Furthermore, studies of learners in early stages of L2 acquisition have found variability in the emergence of native-like responses (e.g., McLaughlin et al., 2010; Tanner et al., 2009), but sources of variability have not been investigated. The current study examines responses to gender and number agreement violations in English-speaking learners of Spanish (n=24). Stimuli targeted agreement in three conditions: subject-verb agreement (el barco flota/*flotan), which is similar in Spanish and English; number agreement on adjectival predicates (la isla rocosa/*rocosas), a context in which agreement is not instantiated in English; and gender agreement on adjectival predicates (la isla rocosa/*rocoso), which is unique to Spanish. Grammaticality judgments and ERP responses were also tested for correlations with aptitude scores on the Modern Languages Aptitude Test (MLAT; Carroll and Sapon, 1959) and the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices (Raven, 1965). Results are in line with theories that claim native-like processing is acquirable, since learners demonstrated similar ERP responses to a control group of native Spanish-speakers (n=8) with regard to all three agreement types. Additionally, the MLAT (but not the Raven) was significantly correlated with sensitivity to number violations, both in terms of grammaticality judgments and ERP amplitudes, indicating a role for verbal but not nonverbal aptitude in L2 processing.