L1–L2 differences in the L2 classroom:: anticipating Anglophone learners’ difficulties with French pronoun interpretation
L1–L2 differences in the L2 classroom:: anticipating Anglophone learners’ difficulties with French pronoun interpretation
In this article, we address the issue of targeted instruction on interpretive contrasts between native and second-language grammatical meanings. Such mismatches are predicted to create challenges for learners. We illustrate this with French and English pronouns. In French, clitic pronouns (le, la) point to human as well as inanimate referents, while English pronouns distinguish between human (him, her) and inanimate (it) referents. While other grammatical differences between English and French pronouns are taught, this interpretive mismatch attracts less attention in instructional materials. We review the pedagogical literature and report the results of a study investigating this knowledge in Anglophone learners of French as a second language (L2). We document that the mismatch is indeed challenging, particularly to beginning learners, and propose ways to overcome this difficulty.
clitics, French as a second language, gender, interpretive mismatch, pronouns
259–277
Shimanskaya, Elena
cfc5e2c8-9797-41fe-a599-26cae645d8f9
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
March 2019
Shimanskaya, Elena
cfc5e2c8-9797-41fe-a599-26cae645d8f9
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
Shimanskaya, Elena and Slabakova, Roumyana
(2019)
L1–L2 differences in the L2 classroom:: anticipating Anglophone learners’ difficulties with French pronoun interpretation.
Language Teaching Research, 23 (2), .
(doi:10.1177/1362168817739650).
Abstract
In this article, we address the issue of targeted instruction on interpretive contrasts between native and second-language grammatical meanings. Such mismatches are predicted to create challenges for learners. We illustrate this with French and English pronouns. In French, clitic pronouns (le, la) point to human as well as inanimate referents, while English pronouns distinguish between human (him, her) and inanimate (it) referents. While other grammatical differences between English and French pronouns are taught, this interpretive mismatch attracts less attention in instructional materials. We review the pedagogical literature and report the results of a study investigating this knowledge in Anglophone learners of French as a second language (L2). We document that the mismatch is indeed challenging, particularly to beginning learners, and propose ways to overcome this difficulty.
Text
LTR2017FINAL accepted copy 2
- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 1 October 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 November 2017
Published date: March 2019
Keywords:
clitics, French as a second language, gender, interpretive mismatch, pronouns
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Local EPrints ID: 415468
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/415468
ISSN: 1362-1688
PURE UUID: 4bbcdfb2-7916-4035-9cb6-91e7384d37c8
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Date deposited: 10 Nov 2017 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:53
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Author:
Elena Shimanskaya
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