L'aspect lexical et le développement du passé composé et de l'imparfait en français L2 : Une étude quantitative auprès d'apprenants hispanophones

Abstract

L'aspect lexical et le développement du passé composé et de l'imparfait en français L2 : Une étude quantitative auprès d'apprenants hispanophones Jesú s Izquierdo Abstract: Lexical aspect and L1-L2 differences are often associated with the perfective and prototypical preference that characterises the development of the L2 French past tense among Anglophones. This study examined whether learners of French with the imperfective in their L1 would exhibit this developmental L2 past tense preference. The overall and appropriate uses of the French perfective and imperfective of 44 Hispanophones from four L2 tense-aspect proficiency levels were documented through a cloze task with 23 prototypical and 23 non-prototypical contexts. ANOVAs of the 2254 tokens generated by the participants revealed that, at low L2 proficiency levels, the participants overrode the perfective preference. Prototypical marking remained a preference across L2 proficiency levels, however. This finding reveals that lexical aspect constitutes a shared L2 acquisition challenge for the use of temporal morphology in L2 nonprototypical contexts even among learners who override verb semantics in their L1.

Multimedia Instruction in Foreign Language Classrooms: Effects on the Acquisition of the French Perfective and Imperfective Distinction

“…Congruent with these predictions, there are four consistent findings in cross-sectional studies with children in French immersion programs in Canada (Harley, 1992;Harley & Swain, 1978) and adults in French foreign language classrooms (Bardovi-Harlig & Bergströ m, 1996;Howard, 2001;Izquierdo, 2009). First, the perfective emerges before the imperfective and its rate of acquisition is higher.…”

“…Learners attempt to use the perfective with atelics, as in 4.1 and 4.2, and imperfective with telics, as in 4.3 and 4.4. The last recurring finding is that the use of the non-prototypical past constitutes a major L2 challenge, even for highly proficient L2 learners after extensive exposure to French in Canadian immersion programs (Harley, 1992;Harley & Swain, 1978); advanced learners in university contexts (Bardovi-Harlig & Bergströ m, 1996); university learners living in French-speaking countries (Howard, 2001); and learners who mark the perfective/imperfective distinction in their L1 (i.e., Spanish; Izquierdo, 2009;Izquierdo & Collins, 2008 Due to this shared developmental challenge, Blyth (2005) and Howard (2002) advocate systematic instruction on non-prototypical past.…”

“…This paper-and-pencil task followed the design of studies examining L2 learners' past-tense productive development with verb types (see Bardovi -Harlig & Reynolds, 1995;Collins, 2004;Izquierdo, 2009;Izquierdo & Collins, 2008). Participants had 50 minutes to complete this task.…”

“…Research shows that L2 learners acquire this distinction through a series of developmental stages, where non-prototypical past emerges after prototypical past-tense use (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig & Bergströ m, 1996;Harley, 1992;Izquierdo, 2009). Building upon this evidence, this study was conducted with university learners of French to answer two research questions (RQ).…”

L1-L2 Differences in the Acquisition of Form-Meaning Pairings in a Second Language

“…A central question in L2 research necessarily concerns, therefore, how and to what extent prior language knowledge affects subsequent language learning. A recent focus of research on L1 influence has been the nature of L1/L2 differences in terms of the connections between meaning and form (Izquierdo & Collins, 2008;Salaberry, 2008;Sugaya & Shirai, 2007). Because languages do not always pair form and meaning consistently, new associations between meaning and form are required when the L1 and the L2 differ in how they express the same meaning.…”