Chapter 5 The Emergence of Morpho-syntactic Structure in French L2 FLORENCE MYLES lntroduction Th... more Chapter 5 The Emergence of Morpho-syntactic Structure in French L2 FLORENCE MYLES lntroduction The aim of this chapter is to examine the early stages in the emergence of morpho-syntactic structure in classroom learners of French. I will first present a broad-brush picture of the structure of ...
This article argues the case for more widespread adoption of information technology in second lan... more This article argues the case for more widespread adoption of information technology in second language acquisition research. The extent to which electronic datasets and analysis tools such as concordancers and parsers are being adopted across applied linguistics research more widely is briefly reviewed. Reasons for relative lack of adoption of such tools within SLA to date are discussed, and a case is made for use of the CHILDES suite of tools to support SLA research. The background to the CHILDES project in L1 acquisition research is explained, and a detailed account is provided of how CHILDES has been adapted to support a corpus-based programme of research into French L2. The article concludes with a brief assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of CHILDES, and an outline of issues to be addressed if the full benefits of information technology are to be realised in SLA.
Our aim is to offer a broad introduction to the field of French Second Language Acquisition (SLA)... more Our aim is to offer a broad introduction to the field of French Second Language Acquisition (SLA), by providing both overview articles introducing the field (Myles) and assessing its achievements (Towell), and by providing in depth articles adopting specific theoretical approaches in order to study French SLA. We are not aiming to be comprehensive in our choice of theoretical approaches. Rather, we have chosen to include those which have been most significant in furthering our understanding of French SLA. Some influential approaches, such as e.g. Connectionism, Processability Theory, or Input Processing, have not been applied to the study of French to any great extent and are therefore not represented in this volume. Similarly, the field has tended to concentrate primarily on the acquisition of syntax and morphology, and this imbalance is reflected here too.
Young children have often been shown to be highly motivated towards learning foreign languages in... more Young children have often been shown to be highly motivated towards learning foreign languages in primary school, but for their enthusiasm to decrease during secondary schooling. Many reasons have been put forward, such as novelty wearing off, teaching styles, or societal and peer pressure. Little is known about changes in attitudes and motivation in primary school aged children when these factors are kept constant, the only variable being the age of the children. The present study investigated differences in attitudes and motivation at two different ages (5 and 7) in such a setting. Two intact classes in the same school (53 children with no prior knowledge of French), taught the same material by the same teacher, took part in focus groups and one-to-one interviews during the course of a larger longitudinal project investigating the role of age in early classroom learning. Results show that changes in motivation might occur earlier than previously thought, and be shaped by developme...
Journal of French Language Studies is celebrating its 20th birthday! This seems an opportune mome... more Journal of French Language Studies is celebrating its 20th birthday! This seems an opportune moment to give a brief snapshot of its first 20 years, and outline some of the changes it has witnessed over this time. The Association for French Language Studies (AFLS), an international association based in the UK whose goal is to promote research and teaching of French Language and Linguistics in Higher Education, first identified the need for an academic journal devoted solely to research in French language and linguistics. At the time in the UK context, French Studies in Higher Education was heavily dominated by literary studies, and specialists in linguistics felt rather marginalised. Richard Towell and Gertrud Aub-Buscher, the then AFLS President and Secretary, led the creation of the journal, having, first of all, to persuade the membership of AFLS that setting up a journal was a good idea, as it represented a departure from its primary activities, and from its focus on language teaching. The next step involved convincing Cambridge University Press that JFLS was a viable proposition, and this also took time, as they needed reassurance that there would be an audience of library purchasers, and that all 300 AFLS members would subscribe. This is why a subscription to the journal became an integral part of the AFLS membership fee. Once the journal was set up, there was no turning back, and it went from strength to strength. A gap in the market had clearly been identified, and, after a somewhat bumpy start, submissions soon started coming in steadily and the journal quickly gained a strong reputation for the quality of its scholarly articles on all aspects of French linguistics. The fact that the journal publishes in both French and English gave it an international audience that other French linguistics journals might not have had. The first Editors of the journal were Jacques Durand, Anthony Lodge and Carol Sanders, with Richard Towell and Roger Hawkins as Associate Editors and Gertrud Aub-Buscher as Reviews Editor, and the journal was based at Salford University. The editorial team worked tirelessly at making the journal widely known, for example by organising conferences and encouraging participants to put forward submissions. If the 1990s were characterised by the establishment and strengthening of the journal in the UK, the 2000s witnessed the spreading of its wings outside the UK. Bernard Laks (France) was the first editor to be appointed from outside the UK in 1998, and was followed in 2002 by William Ashby (USA). Editors since then have been based in a range of countries: France (Francis Cornish), Canada (Douglas Walker), the USA (Julia Herschensohn; Linda Waugh) and Switzerland (Marie-José Béguelin). This has had a major impact on the geographical distribution of the journal, and the vast majority of submissions nowadays are from outside the UK.
ABSTRACT In this opinion piece we problematise foreign language (FL) learning curricula which are... more ABSTRACT In this opinion piece we problematise foreign language (FL) learning curricula which are rigidly based on carefully sequenced input and constrained learning opportunities. Whilst an important component in language learning, language knowledge constitutes more than phonics vocabulary and grammar. Our stance is premised on the understanding that, whether novice or expert, an FL learner is not a ‘tabula rasa’. In other words, every learner will have existing linguistic, social and cultural knowledge and skills, as well as cognitive and developing metacognitive resources which have the potential to both support and frustrate the language learning process. This, in turn, problematises a structured approach to teaching and learning which rests on carefully sequenced input, constrained learning opportunities and minimal exposure to unfamiliar language. We propose that FL curricula should be centred around opportunities to actively communicate in the language, supported by rich and plentiful input. We suggest that, to foster emotional engagement and intrinsic motivation, young FL learners should engage with cultural artefacts and authentic content in the target language. In addition, learning activities which offer both challenge and enough scaffolding to experience success are likely to support self-efficacy which is linked to motivation.
The Guide to Good Practice for learning and teaching in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, 2002
... of grammar-translation or audiolingual methodologies by teachers, who felt that they did not ... more ... of grammar-translation or audiolingual methodologies by teachers, who felt that they did not prepare learners for real life communication ... For example, recent motivation research has witnessed something of a boom since the nineties, with research questions becoming more ...
Chapter 5 The Emergence of Morpho-syntactic Structure in French L2 FLORENCE MYLES lntroduction Th... more Chapter 5 The Emergence of Morpho-syntactic Structure in French L2 FLORENCE MYLES lntroduction The aim of this chapter is to examine the early stages in the emergence of morpho-syntactic structure in classroom learners of French. I will first present a broad-brush picture of the structure of ...
This article argues the case for more widespread adoption of information technology in second lan... more This article argues the case for more widespread adoption of information technology in second language acquisition research. The extent to which electronic datasets and analysis tools such as concordancers and parsers are being adopted across applied linguistics research more widely is briefly reviewed. Reasons for relative lack of adoption of such tools within SLA to date are discussed, and a case is made for use of the CHILDES suite of tools to support SLA research. The background to the CHILDES project in L1 acquisition research is explained, and a detailed account is provided of how CHILDES has been adapted to support a corpus-based programme of research into French L2. The article concludes with a brief assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of CHILDES, and an outline of issues to be addressed if the full benefits of information technology are to be realised in SLA.
Our aim is to offer a broad introduction to the field of French Second Language Acquisition (SLA)... more Our aim is to offer a broad introduction to the field of French Second Language Acquisition (SLA), by providing both overview articles introducing the field (Myles) and assessing its achievements (Towell), and by providing in depth articles adopting specific theoretical approaches in order to study French SLA. We are not aiming to be comprehensive in our choice of theoretical approaches. Rather, we have chosen to include those which have been most significant in furthering our understanding of French SLA. Some influential approaches, such as e.g. Connectionism, Processability Theory, or Input Processing, have not been applied to the study of French to any great extent and are therefore not represented in this volume. Similarly, the field has tended to concentrate primarily on the acquisition of syntax and morphology, and this imbalance is reflected here too.
Young children have often been shown to be highly motivated towards learning foreign languages in... more Young children have often been shown to be highly motivated towards learning foreign languages in primary school, but for their enthusiasm to decrease during secondary schooling. Many reasons have been put forward, such as novelty wearing off, teaching styles, or societal and peer pressure. Little is known about changes in attitudes and motivation in primary school aged children when these factors are kept constant, the only variable being the age of the children. The present study investigated differences in attitudes and motivation at two different ages (5 and 7) in such a setting. Two intact classes in the same school (53 children with no prior knowledge of French), taught the same material by the same teacher, took part in focus groups and one-to-one interviews during the course of a larger longitudinal project investigating the role of age in early classroom learning. Results show that changes in motivation might occur earlier than previously thought, and be shaped by developme...
Journal of French Language Studies is celebrating its 20th birthday! This seems an opportune mome... more Journal of French Language Studies is celebrating its 20th birthday! This seems an opportune moment to give a brief snapshot of its first 20 years, and outline some of the changes it has witnessed over this time. The Association for French Language Studies (AFLS), an international association based in the UK whose goal is to promote research and teaching of French Language and Linguistics in Higher Education, first identified the need for an academic journal devoted solely to research in French language and linguistics. At the time in the UK context, French Studies in Higher Education was heavily dominated by literary studies, and specialists in linguistics felt rather marginalised. Richard Towell and Gertrud Aub-Buscher, the then AFLS President and Secretary, led the creation of the journal, having, first of all, to persuade the membership of AFLS that setting up a journal was a good idea, as it represented a departure from its primary activities, and from its focus on language teaching. The next step involved convincing Cambridge University Press that JFLS was a viable proposition, and this also took time, as they needed reassurance that there would be an audience of library purchasers, and that all 300 AFLS members would subscribe. This is why a subscription to the journal became an integral part of the AFLS membership fee. Once the journal was set up, there was no turning back, and it went from strength to strength. A gap in the market had clearly been identified, and, after a somewhat bumpy start, submissions soon started coming in steadily and the journal quickly gained a strong reputation for the quality of its scholarly articles on all aspects of French linguistics. The fact that the journal publishes in both French and English gave it an international audience that other French linguistics journals might not have had. The first Editors of the journal were Jacques Durand, Anthony Lodge and Carol Sanders, with Richard Towell and Roger Hawkins as Associate Editors and Gertrud Aub-Buscher as Reviews Editor, and the journal was based at Salford University. The editorial team worked tirelessly at making the journal widely known, for example by organising conferences and encouraging participants to put forward submissions. If the 1990s were characterised by the establishment and strengthening of the journal in the UK, the 2000s witnessed the spreading of its wings outside the UK. Bernard Laks (France) was the first editor to be appointed from outside the UK in 1998, and was followed in 2002 by William Ashby (USA). Editors since then have been based in a range of countries: France (Francis Cornish), Canada (Douglas Walker), the USA (Julia Herschensohn; Linda Waugh) and Switzerland (Marie-José Béguelin). This has had a major impact on the geographical distribution of the journal, and the vast majority of submissions nowadays are from outside the UK.
ABSTRACT In this opinion piece we problematise foreign language (FL) learning curricula which are... more ABSTRACT In this opinion piece we problematise foreign language (FL) learning curricula which are rigidly based on carefully sequenced input and constrained learning opportunities. Whilst an important component in language learning, language knowledge constitutes more than phonics vocabulary and grammar. Our stance is premised on the understanding that, whether novice or expert, an FL learner is not a ‘tabula rasa’. In other words, every learner will have existing linguistic, social and cultural knowledge and skills, as well as cognitive and developing metacognitive resources which have the potential to both support and frustrate the language learning process. This, in turn, problematises a structured approach to teaching and learning which rests on carefully sequenced input, constrained learning opportunities and minimal exposure to unfamiliar language. We propose that FL curricula should be centred around opportunities to actively communicate in the language, supported by rich and plentiful input. We suggest that, to foster emotional engagement and intrinsic motivation, young FL learners should engage with cultural artefacts and authentic content in the target language. In addition, learning activities which offer both challenge and enough scaffolding to experience success are likely to support self-efficacy which is linked to motivation.
The Guide to Good Practice for learning and teaching in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, 2002
... of grammar-translation or audiolingual methodologies by teachers, who felt that they did not ... more ... of grammar-translation or audiolingual methodologies by teachers, who felt that they did not prepare learners for real life communication ... For example, recent motivation research has witnessed something of a boom since the nineties, with research questions becoming more ...
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