The Development of Discourse and Morphological Features in L2 Narratives

A Study with Classroom Spanish-Speaking Learners of French

Bibliographic Data

ID5900825
AuthorsMaria Kihlstedt (0000-0003-3269-5508, Université Paris Nanterre), Jesus Izquierdo (0000-0002-8335-5178), Jesús Izquierdo Martín (0000-0001-5605-2318, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume6
Issue4
Pages191
Publication date2021-11-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages6040191
OpenAlexW3215148457
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited24

Previous research has examined the organization of second-language French narratives through discourse or morphological analyses. At the discourse level, the analyses have investigated the foreground/background relationship. Conversely, at the morphological level, the analyses have examined the role played by verbal morphology and verbal predicates. Different methodological caveats have limited the interpretation of findings in both types of analyses. In order to provide new data, this cross-sectional study examined the evolution of discourse and morphological resources in the written narratives of Mexican Spanish-speaking learners of French whose language learning experience is limited to the classroom. The learners in the cross-sectional sample (n = 11) were selected from a population of 88 participants who completed lexical, past-tense and general proficiency tests. They also generated two written narratives during silent-film retelling tasks. The cross-sectional sample selection was based on the learners' test scores and the results of parametric statistical analyses. The narratives were analyzed for the identification of foreground/background clauses, verbal morphology and verbal predicates. The results reveal that, as learners' past-tense knowledge increases, the organization of narratives consolidates through a developmental path that involves the interrelated growth of discourse and morphological features

Linguistics · Narrative · Population · Sample (material · Sociology · Test (biology · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · French Language Learning Methods · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Psychology

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