Constructing Metalinguistic Knowledge about Past Tense Form in L2 French

摘要

This dissertation interrogates commonly held beliefs about the nature of metalinguistic knowledge and related practices regarding its operationalization and measurement in studies in second language research. Knowledge regarding how a second language (L2) works is a key part of the instructed second language learning experience given its role in the classroom (Ellis, N., 2005; Ellis, R., 2009; Roehr-Brackin, 2014) and potential link to better learning outcomes (Norris & Ortega, 2001; Spada & Tomita, 2010) and proficiency (Elder & Manwaring, 2004; Roehr, 2008). However, researching metalinguistic knowledge defined strictly as explicit and verbalizable and operationalized from a prescriptive perspective is not sufficient to facilitate a thorough understanding of the intricacies of how second language learners (L2ers) learn and use knowledge about language (KAL) in instructed settings.;The current study focuses on the construction and content of L2ers' KAL: how do learners think about language, whether or not their knowledge is explicit, verbalizable, and domain-specific? This case study depicts how three collegiate French L2ers (with L1 English) understand the morphosyntax of the composed past (passe compose) and imperfect (imparfait) through a cognitive constructivist lens and a learner-centered approach. Each learner participated in two open-ended, task-based, clinical interviews (Ginsburg, 1997) containing a series of 5 tasks (drawing and description of the past tenses in French, sentence interpretation, written production, cloze, and error correction and explanation) selected to encourage participants to display their knowledge about the French past tenses through verbalizations and observable behaviors. Utterances were coded and analyzed to (1) identify the content of knowledge used in constructions, (2) characterize the organization of participants' knowledge, and (3) ascertain whether or not and how the knowledge occurs with (non-)target-like language use.;The results reported show the complexity of metalinguistic thinking and present myriad ways in which using metalinguistic knowledge involves more than the application of pedagogical grammar rules. The relevance and completeness of knowledge are discussed in terms of how they can complement accuracy as useful descriptors of metalinguistic knowledge in use. Implications regarding the operationalization of metalinguistic knowledge and the incorporation of metalinguistic knowledge checks into foreign language teaching are discussed in detail.