This dissertation reports on a multiple-case study documenting the experiences of 23 French as second language learners, most of whom were pre-service teachers, as they worked independently to improve their existing oral/aural competency through the use of the interactive videodisc program À la rencontre de Philippe. The program claims to invite learners into the fictive Parisian world of a young freelance journalist, providing them with the opportunity for immersion in the target language and culture as well as a degree of control over their learning. The study explores learners' experiences as they work with this program, investigates the impact this experience might have on their second language acquisition and reflects on the implications this information might have for second language pedagogy and research. Participants were asked to write a reflective personal language learning history and keep a journal documenting each work session. These work sessions were videotaped. The data collected served as a basis for interviews exploring the participants' interaction with the microworld presented by the program, the program's technological features, learner autonomy, and the learning process and outcomes as perceived by the learners. The experiences of the learners indicate that instead of using technology to bring the second language and culture to learners in the classroom, it is now both possible and desirable to use technology to "transport" learners from the classroom into the second language environment. In other words, participants reported having the experience of subjective personal presence in the microworld. Furthermore, their overall experience suggested that language learning is both an embodied and a situated endeavour, as well as a cognitive one. Therefore, computer technology can enhance second language acquisition by providing learners the opportunity to be immersed in sociolinguistically-rich, simulated communities in which they can engage in everyday activities and interact with target language speakers.

This work presents the results of a study on the development of cultural representations held by students from four public English-speaking colleges (cegeps) in the Montreal area towards the French language and Quebecers whose language of use is French. Our survey instrument aimed at knowing these cultural representations and at identifying different factors likely to influence the development of these representations according to the French level in which students are registered, either beginner or intermediate and advanced. / Our hypothesis is that students registered in the intermediate and advanced levels hold more positive cultural representations than beginners, therefore that there exists a significant difference between participants from both groups. In order to verify this hypothesis, a questionnaire, based on procedural knowledge and the affective domain, has been administered to 449 students from four different cegeps. The analysis of data linked to procedural knowledge demonstrates that there is indeed a significant difference between both groups with regards to the different factors that are likely to influence the development of cultural representations, with the exception of the travelling frequency of members of the participants' family. Furthermore, our analysis for the affective domain partly confirmed that students enrolled in intermediate and advanced courses in French generally hold more positive cultural representations towards the French language and Quebecers whose language of use is French than beginners.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This thesis investigates non-native language acquisition of the verbal and nominal functional domains in Second language (L2) English and second/third language (L2/L3) French by Chinese and Vietnamese speakers. Six experimental studies are reported. Two current competing theories in the field of theoretical second language acquisition (L2A), namely, the Failed Features Hypothesis (FFH) and the Full Transfer Full Access (FTFA) model are compared and their applicability to third language acquisition (L3A) evaluated in the light of our data. / A version of the Minimalist Program is assumed in this work. Predictions based on FFH and FTFA are as follows: As far as L2A is concerned, both FFH and FTFA predict full transfer of L1 in the L2 initial state. With respect to L3A, FFH predicts the initial state to be L1 while FTFA predicts either L1 or L2. The two models diverge regarding their predictions on the L2/L3 transitional and steady states. In particular, FFH hypothesizes permanent "failure" and persistent L1 influence in L2/L3 interlanguage while FTFA hypothesizes full access and acquirability of target structures. / Three L2/L3 experimental studies on the verbal functional domain (i.e. tense and agreement) and another three on the nominal functional domain (i.e. the Determiner Phrase) were conducted. Subjects include Chinese monolingual learners of English, Vietnamese monolingual learners of French as well as Chinese-English bilingual learners of French. A variety of tasks were used to test the predictions made by the two models. Results demonstrate partial transfer of L1 in the L2 initial state and of L2 in the L3 initial state, and point towards full access in the L2/L3 steady states. These findings do not seem to be consistent with FFH. It appears that FTFA is a more viable theory for non-native language acquisition. We also contend that L3A is not simply another case of L2A.

This dissertation reports on a multiple-case study documenting the experiences of 23 French as second language learners, most of whom were pre-service teachers, as they worked independently to improve their existing oral/aural competency through the use of the interactive videodisc program À la rencontre de Philippe. The program claims to invite learners into the fictive Parisian world of a young freelance journalist, providing them with the opportunity for immersion in the target language and culture as well as a degree of control over their learning. The study explores learners' experiences as they work with this program, investigates the impact this experience might have on their second language acquisition and reflects on the implications this information might have for second language pedagogy and research. Participants were asked to write a reflective personal language learning history and keep a journal documenting each work session. These work sessions were videotaped. The data collected served as a basis for interviews exploring the participants' interaction with the microworld presented by the program, the program's technological features, learner autonomy, and the learning process and outcomes as perceived by the learners. The experiences of the learners indicate that instead of using technology to bring the second language and culture to learners in the classroom, it is now both possible and desirable to use technology to "transport" learners from the classroom into the second language environment. In other words, participants reported having the experience of subjective personal presence in the microworld. Furthermore, their overall experience suggested that language learning is both an embodied and a situated endeavour, as well as a cognitive one. Therefore, computer technology can enhance second language acquisition by providing learners the opportunity to be immersed in sociolinguistically-rich, simulated communities in which they can engage in everyday activities and interact with target language speakers. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / A la rencontre de Philippe (Videodisc) / Graduate

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No description available.

Following a review of the literature on French immersion, this thesis considers the implications of the systematic transcription of oral texts for linguistic analysis. In transcribing a corpus of spoken French by children attending a French immersion school and a corpus of children from Quebec (both from tape recordings and included in the appendice), the transcription conventions proposed by the Groupe Aixois de Recherche en Syntaxe were applied. In chapter III, some of the most common deviations from the norm that occur in the French immersion corpus are discussed, and for the most part these aberrations reflect the results of previous error analyses done on second language learners. In chapters IV and V, a study of "slip-ups" is undertaken. Slip-ups are repetitions or self-corrections, referred to as "rates" in this thesis. They occur frequently both in the Francophone and French immersion corpus. The purpose of this study is to analyse the intrinsic structure of these hesitations (that were previously brushed off as un-grammatical) and to discover whether the repetitions or self-corrections produced by the French immersion speakers share characteristics with or differ from the slip-ups identified in the Francophone corpus. Whereas an enumeration of grammatical errors will almost always show that the French spoken by French immersion pupils is not as "good" as that spoken by Francophone children, the analysis of slip-ups is a more objective endeavor. And indeed, the study reveals some unpredicted results. On certain parts of the sentence, such as the predicate, French native speakers surprisingly slip up more often than French immersion children, while the latter tend to hesitate more often on subjects and indirect objects. Further analysis reveals that native French speakers almost always repeat (or correct) entire word groups, or syntagms, although they don't always complete such groups. The French immersion children, on the other hand, do not always repeat the entire word group when they slip up, but they do seem to finish their construction (or sentence), once it has started. Finally, the situation (formal or informal) appeared to only affect the speakers in the Francophone corpus: they hesitated slightly more often in a formal setting, whereas the situation did not seem to affect the results for the French immersion speakers.

Teachers routinely conduct a period of review after a semester or summer holiday break due to expected loss of material learned. In the area of second language (L2) acquisition, this matter is of particular concern to instructors and students because, in general, during the period of disuse students have had little, if any, contact with the language. One factor which has proven to influence the maintenance of an L2 is that of motivation. Gardner and his colleagues’ (1959, 1971, 1973, 1985, 1987, 1988) studies of French as a Second Language (FSL) have highlighted strong correlations between attitude and achievement and achievement and language retention. Research on individual differences among learners (Brounstein, Holahan, William, & Sawyer, 1988; Gardner, 1990) has also contributed to identifying what leads to a successful learner. This study examined the loss of linguistic and reading comprehension skills among learners of all ability levels in FSL, with a focus on high ability learners, following summer vacation. In addition, between-group comparisons of motivational factors, as based upon subjects’ pre-test scores were conducted. Tests performed consisted of an analysis of exam questions and components to confirm an equal level of difficulty of both test versions used, as well as tests of reliability. Pre- and post-test measures were compared to identify any loss incurred, followed by Pearson correlations and t-tests. Ability groupings were then categorized as high, medium, and low according to their pre-test scores. Within these groupings, questionnaire statistics were calculated and contrasted to highlight any motivational differences between them. Findings from this research suggested that language skills among FSL learners of varying abilities deteriorate significantly after a period of disuse. In addition, these findings confirmed that highly proficient FSL learners are more immune to attrition due to their having a more stable language base. With reference to the motivational questionnaires, analyses concluded few significant differences among the three ability levels.

No description available.