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The study reported in this article investigates the development of sociolinguistic competence among second-year (US university-level) L2 learners of French who were given systematic instruction on sociolinguistic variation as part of their normal coursework. We focus on the variable use of the negative morpheme "ne" in verbal negation. Drawing from learners' explanations of "ne" presence versus absence, their analyses of two texts representing different levels of discourse, and their own small-group inter-learner online chat discussions, we examine the link between conceptual understanding of variation in French and these learners' development of conscious control over variation. We show that properly organized pedagogical activity can help learners to develop their understanding of variable features of discourse, which ultimately leads (to) the development of their performance abilities. We present both quantitative and qualitative analyses of learners' performance to illustrate their developing control over variation in French, which begins to emerge as a sociolinguistic resource by the end of the academic term.

This article explores the microgenetic development of learners' understanding of sociolinguistic variation in French during an instructional conversation (IC) that followed a language analysis task in which learners attempted to formulate hypotheses about the nature of language variation. During the IC, the instructor led students toward a conceptual understanding of variation in French by providing appropriate graduated (i.e. from implicit or strategic to explicit) mediation that was sensitive to the class's zone of proximal development (ZPD). Teacher-student collaborative interaction within a group's ZPD has the potential to develop learners' conceptual understanding of variation, which can provide an important orienting basis for the development of their performance abilities. The transcript of the IC is analysed and discussed with regard to the amount and type(s) of mediation the instructor provides and opportunities for development created in this type of collaborative interaction. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table and 9 notes.)

This study analyzes stylistic variation among first-, second-, and third-year instructed learners of French engaged in synchronous French-language computer-mediated communication (CMC) and compares the results with data from nonlearner discourse in a public, noneducational synchronous CMC environment. We focus specifically on variability in "yes/no" question (YNQ) structures and the use of the pronouns "nous" "we" and "on" "one" or "we" for first-person plural reference. The results suggest that whereas first- and second-year learners rarely use informal variants, third-year students approximate--but do not actually reach--native-speaker norms. Contrary to expectations, however, no positive correlation was found between the increased use of the informal pronoun and the informal YNQ structure. Finally, we argue for more in-depth case studies that combine analyses of performance data, competence data, and individual learner histories to determine when, why, and how second language users begin to recognize and emulate native speakers' sociolinguistic norms and variation.

This article reports on the variable omission of the French negative particle "ne" (the first marker of verbal negation) in synchronous (i.e., real-time) electronic communication environments. Patterns of variation in a corpus of non-educational chat (i.e., free, public-access Internet chat) are analyzed and compared to data produced by first-, second-, and third-year American university students of French in an educational setting. First- and second-year students retained "ne" nearly categorically; third-year students used "ne" five times more often than participants in the non-educational context. Considerable inter-individual variation was observed in the third-year student data, although only one student exhibited native-like patterns of variation. The results are discussed within the broader context of teaching and learning sociolinguistic variation in French as a second or foreign language, with a specific focus on using authentic electronic discourse as one way of sensitizing students to sociolinguistic variation.

Abstract: This article presents the results of a study centered on the effect of instruction on second language (L2) learners' sociolinguistic awareness, with specific focus on French negative structures (i.e., presence vs. absence of ne). Drawing on data from a metalinguistic awareness questionnaire completed by 110 US university learners of French in five different groups, we examine the extent to which instruction versus no instruction influences awareness of variation as well as differences among three approaches to instruction (i.e., integrated curriculum vs. one-time explicit instruction vs. one-time nonexplicit intervention). Our results show that some form of instruction is better than no instruction. However, the type of instruction is also a crucial factor. Following the presentation of the results, we discuss the role of sociolinguistic knowledge in relation to L2 performance abilities. Pedagogical implications are also provided. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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The study reported here explores the use of learners' metalinguistic explanations and self-reports of variable language production as triangulation data for interpreting second language (L2) sociolinguistic performance, focusing on the variable retention versus omission of the negative morpheme ne. Our central argument is that performance data alone are not sufficient for evaluating how L2 learners perceive social and stylistic variation in the language they are studying. To this end, an analysis of data from a variety of sources is presented. The results illustrate how multiple data sources can provide a multidimensional view of sociolinguistic performance that is not necessarily revealed when performance data alone are considered as a single source of analysis. Nous explorons l'utilisation d'explications métalinguistiques et d'auto-rapports de production langagière variable d'apprenants en tant que données de triangulation pour l'interprétation de la performance sociolinguistique en langue seconde, tout en nous concentrant sur la rétention et l'omission du morphème de négation ne. Nous proposons que les données de performance ne sont pas suffisantes pour évaluer la compréhension de la variation sociale et stylistique de la part des étudiants dans la langue qu'ils apprennent. À cette fin, une analyse de données provenant de diverses sources est présentée. Les résultats montrent comment plusieurs sources de données peuvent fournir une perspective multidimensionnelle de la performance sociolinguistique, une perspective qui n'aurait pas été révélée si nous n'avions considéré que les données de performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis in the present study examines the variable use of ne in 2,459 tokens of verbal negation from a corpus of electronic French discourse including moderated chat, non-moderated chat, and discussion fora. These data from computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments were analyzed in order to demonstrate that although both non-moderated and moderated chat are essentially synchronous (i.e. involving real-time interaction), they are on opposite ends of a continuum of French sociolinguistic variation. In non-moderated chat, which is clearly less formal, ne is used productively as a discursive-pragmatic marker. However, in moderated chat, which resembles more formal written French discourse, ne deletion rarely occurs. Although discussion fora are somewhere between the two types of chat on the continuum of sociolinguistic variation, there is a clear tendency for them to be slightly closer to the formal/written side, yet this mode of CMC displays the greatest amount of mode-internal variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the variable use of the French pronouns on, tu, and vous with generic-indefinite reference in synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC). The primary objective is to compare the use of these pronouns in CMC, a written/typed form of discourse, and in conversational spoken French as it has been analyzed over the past few decades. A VARBRUL analysis produced results comparable to those reported in previous studies in which such an approach was used. Overall, the results suggest that the use of on versus tu/vous with indefinite reference is influenced by affirmation/negation, syntactic frame (generalizations versus implicatives), discursive-pragmatic effect (situational insertions versus morals/truisms), and type of event (specific versus non-specific). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]