A Longitudinal Study of Grammatical-Gender Marking in French as an Additional Language. (29th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Edmonds, Amanda; Gudmestad, Aarnes; Metzger, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Applied linguistics. Volume 41:Number 5(2020)
• Page Start: 733
• Page End: 755
• Publication Date: 2019-06-29
• Subjects: Applied linguistics -- Periodicals; 418.005
• DOI: 10.1093/applin/amz036
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-6001

Abstract

Abstract: This investigation responds to the need for longitudinal data-driven research on additional-language (AL) acquisition by examining grammatical-gender marking among AL learners of French during a 21-month period, which included an academic year abroad (LANGSNAP corpus). The analysis of oral production consists of a generalized linear mixed model that examines a range of linguistic and extralinguistic factors shown to be important for gender marking in previous research, as well as a random effect for participant. Results show evidence of both change across time and consistency in the interlanguage. Drawing on variationism and usage-based approaches, we argue that longitudinal investigations that are focused on how learners use their additional language have much to offer our understanding of AL acquisition processes.