Learning Mobility, Language Acquisition and Employability exploring the need to improve the linguistic competence of Irish students 6 December 2012

Professor Vera Regan

UCD School of Languages &

Scoil na dTeangacha agus na

Literatures

Litríochta UCD.

Second Language Learning • not just one big block • for example: talking, reading, pronouncing • In relation to employability, some aspects of language are more important. • sociolinguistics: choice of what is said has social implications • Sociolinguistic competence: – being able to say the right thing in the right way at the right time

examples of native speaker variation • “I was walking to the meeting” • “I was walkin to school”

• ‘tu vas aller au cinéma” • “on ira à la messe demain” • “j’y vas demain matin chez vous”

The differences between these phrases carry social implications that native speakers understand and react to

Is it possible to acquire it? • Yes it is – is the general answer • Two major dimensions: – individual motivation – context in which individual is learning: • • • • • •

naturalistic context an extended period abroad immersion in a school short holiday settings class room instruction individual (isolated) learning

Year Abroad: Irish-English speakers in France • Students in third year of Irish University – French as major, spending one year in France, age 19-21, middle class

• Longitudinal Study, three phases – six students, interviewed before departure, immediately after return, and one year later

• variable studied: variable deletion of ne (Regan 1995, 2005)

Rates of Ne deletion for the three years Varbrul probability figures for deletion rates for the three years: Year 1 .36 Year 2 .59 Year 3 .54

The e ffe ct of a ye ar abroad on % of colloquial le xe m e s

% of lexemes

1.2 1 0.8 Time 1

0.6

Time 2

0.4 0.2 0 %lexemes colloquial lexemes

Dewaele and Regan 2001

implications • Year Abroad works for the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence • contact with native speakers was an important factor in the process • length of time abroad? – even 3 months in France made a big difference

alternative strategies? • Will an extended period abroad always work? – depends on engagement (do they want to be there, do they have a lot of social contact?)

• Is extended time abroad the only strategy that will work? – other strategies have also been studied – answer is other strategies work, but not as well…

Ne deletion in L2 speech • Immersion Classroom • Canadian Anglophone (Canadian Immersion speakers in naturalistic in Ontario) setting in Montreal Mougeon, Rehner and Nadasdi (2001)

– 28% ‘ne’ deletion

Thibault and Sankoff (1997)

– 89% ‘ne’ deletion • Irish Year Abroad speakers Regan (1996)

– .32 deletion rate in preyear abroad speakers – .67 deletion rate post year abroad speakers

Classroom instruction • While less effective, can still help – beneficial but it must be over some time - not just a once off lesson – students gain more from explicit instruction than simple exposure

• Teachers need to make the learner aware of – which features are variable and what the variants are – the sociostylistic values associated with the variants

context matters, but motivation is also important • students on Erasmus programmes who throw themselves into the experience do best – particularly if they seek contact with native speakers

• students’ attitude to the language and the speakers of the language counts also, as well as their own investment in what they think learning the language will mean to them

also true in classroom: 3 groups 1. ‘new Irish’ second level students who were very invested in succeeding in their careers and viewed languages as a means to this end – these were very proficient in the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence

2. ‘traditional’ Irish who viewed French as a pleasurable experience associated with holidays in France – less proficient but still reasonably competent

3. ‘new Irish’ not invested in their academic careers and saw no reason to study French – least proficient

extends to language maintenance • Polish families who want their children to retain Polish – make enormous efforts to organise their lives round complementary schools – classes taught by voluntary teachers – crucially -> send children to grandparents in Poland for the summer

• children benefit from the opportunity to acquire the subtle vernacular patterns from native speakers of Polish (Regan and Nestor 2010, 2011)

Second Language Research • much of the research cited comes from a Second Language Acquisition research group at University College Dublin • this research has been funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences • for further information, see: www.ucd.ie/sllf/Regan_vera_2012profile.html

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References Dewaele, J.-M. and V. Regan (2001). The use of colloquial words in advanced French interlanguage. EUROSLA Yearbook 1. S. Foster-Cohen and A. Nizegorodcew. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, Benjamins: 51-67. Lyster, R. (1994). "The effect of functional-analytic teaching on aspects of French immersion students' sociolinguistic competence." Applied Linguistics 15: 263-287. Ni Chasaide, C. and V. Regan (2010). 'Sociostylistic variation in the L3 French and L2 Irish speech of adolescents in an Irish language immersion school. Language Practices and Identity Construction in French. V. Regan and C. Ni Chasaide. Bern, Peter Lang. Regan, V. (1995). The Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Native Speech Norms: Effects of a Year Abroad on Second Language Learners of French. Second language acquisition in a study abroad context. B. Freed. Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Benjamins Publishing Co: 245-267. Regan, V. (2005). From Speech Community Back to Classroom: What Variation Analysis Can Tell Us About the Role of Context in the Acquisition of French as a Foreign Language. Focus on French as a Foreign Language: Multidisciplinary Approaches. J.-M. Dewaele, Multilingual Matters: 191-210. Regan, V. and N. Nestor (2010). French Poles, language and identity: an intergenerational snapshot. Language practices and identity construction by multlingual speakers of French L2. The acquisition of sociolinguistic variation. V. Regan and C. Ni Chasaide. New York, Peter Lang. 80: 145-158. Regan, V. and N. Nestor (2011). Les Polonnais Français, l’acquisition de langue, le maintien, la perte et l’identité. Le Francais en Contact. F. Martineau and T. Nadasdi. Quebec, Presses de Université Laval: 281-298.