Cover not available
Part of
Critical Reflections on Data in Second Language Acquisition
Edited by Aarnes Gudmestad and Amanda Edmonds
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 51] 2018
► pp. 125–148

Chapter 5
Operationalizing variables

The case of future-time expression in additional-language French

| Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), the importance of and the challenges associated with data-coding decisions often go unaddressed. And yet the operationalization of variables ultimately determines our capacity to both enter into dialogue with previous research and to address new and innovative research questions. In the current chapter, we reflect on the operationalization of variables within the field of SLA, offering two concrete examples from investigations on the expression of future time in additional-language French. We demonstrate how two important independent variables – temporal distance and adverbial specification – have either been defined in numerous ways or underspecified in the literature. We then provide concrete illustrations of the impact of data-coding decisions by presenting reanalyses of these two variables using data from previously published research. We conclude with a discussion of the implications that these critical assessments of data coding have for knowledge of additional-language acquisition.
Keywords: future-time expression, additional-language French, reanalysis, data coding
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Challenges associated with data coding: The example of future-time expression in French
    • Future-time expression in French
    • Future-time reference and temporal distance
    • Future-time reference and LTIs
    • Rationale
  • Reanalyzing temporal distance
    • Presentation of original study
    • Reanalysis
  • Reanalyzing adverbial specification
    • Presentation of original study
    • Reanalysis
  • Conclusion: Reflections on data coding
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.51.06edm
References (47)
References
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2015). One functional approach to SLA: The concept-oriented approach. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (2nd ed., pp.54–74). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blondeau, H. (2006). La trajectoire de l’emploi du futur chez une cohorte de Montréalais francophones entre 1971 et 1995. Revue Canadienne des Langues Vivantes, 9, 73–98.Google Scholar
Blondeau, H., Dion, N., & Ziliak Michel, Z. (2014). Future temporal reference in the bilingual repertoire of Anglo-Montrealers: A twin variable. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(6), 674–692.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blondeau, H., & Labeau, E. (2016). La référence temporelle au futur dans les bulletins météo en France et au Québec : regard variationniste sur l’oral préparé. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61(3), 240–258.Google Scholar
Comeau, P. (2011). A window on the past, a move toward the future: Sociolinguistic and formal perspectives on variation in Acadian French (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). York University, Canada.Google Scholar
Comeau, P., & Villeneuve, A. -J. (2016). Future temporal reference in French: An introduction. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61(3), 231–239.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Donaldson, B. (2012). Syntax and discourse in near-native French: Clefts and focus. Language Learning, 62, 902–930.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Edmonds, A., & Gudmestad, A. (2015). What the present can tell us about the future: A variationist analysis of future-time expression in native and nonnative French. Language, Interaction, Acquisition, 6(1), 15–41.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, A., Gudmestad, A., & Donaldson, B. (2017). A concept-oriented analysis of future-time reference in native and near-native Hexagonal French. Journal of French Language Studies, 27, 381–404.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K. L. (2010). Beyond ‘naturalistic’: On the role of task characteristics and the importance of multiple elicitation methods. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 3, 501–520.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Long, A. (2014). Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition: Learning to use language in context. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Givón, T. (1983). Topic continuity in discourse: A quantitative cross language study. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grimm, D. R. (2010). A real-time study of future temporal reference in spoken Ontarian French. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 16(2), 83–92.Google Scholar
(2015). Grammatical variation and change in spoken Ontario French: The subjunctive mood and the expression of future temporal reference (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). York University, Canada.Google Scholar
(2016). Le présent à valeur de futur en français parlé. Actes du congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique,Google Scholar
Grimm, D. R., & Nadasdi, T. (2011). The future of Ontario French. Journal of French language studies, 21, 173–189.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, A. (2014). Variationist approaches to second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp.80–95). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A., & Edmonds, A. (2016). Variable future-time reference in French: A comparison of learners in a study-abroad and a foreign-language context. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61, 259–285.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, A., Edmonds, A., Donaldson, B., & Carmichael, K. (2018). On the role of the present indicative in variable future-time reference in Hexagonal French. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 63, 42–69.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, A., & Geeslin, K. L. (2013). Second-language development of variable future-time expression in Spanish. In A. Carvalho & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp.63–75). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
King, R., & Nadasdi, T. (2003). Back to the future in Acadian French. Journal of French Language Studies, 13, 323–337.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, W. (1966). The social stratification of English in New York City. Washington, DC: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lambrecht, K. (1994). Information structure and sentence form: Topic, focus, and the mental representations of discourse referents. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leeser, M. J., & Sunderman, G. L. (2016). Methodological implications of working memory tasks for L2 processing research. In G. Granena, D. O. Jackson, & Y. Yilmaz (Eds.), Cognitive individual differences in second language processing and acquisition (pp.89–104). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Le Goffic, P., & Lab, F. (2001). Le présent « pro futuro ». Cahiers Chronos, 7, 77–98.Google Scholar
Mackey, A. (2012). Why (or why not), when, and how to replicate research. In G. Porte (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp.21–46). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Marsden, E., Mackey A., & Plonsky, L. (2016). The IRIS Repository: Advancing research practice and methodology. In A. Mackey & E. Marsden (Eds.), Advancing methodology and practice: The IRIS Repository of Instruments for Research into Second Languages (pp.1–21). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Moses, J. G. (2002). The development of future expression in English-speaking learners of French (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Myles, F., & Cordier, C. (2017). Formulaic sequence (FS) cannot be an umbrella term in SLA. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39, 3–28.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nadasdi, T., Mougeon, R., & Rehner, K. (2003). Emploi du ‘futur’ dans le français parlé des élèves d’immersion française. Journal of French Language Studies, 13, 195–219.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Polio, C., & Gass, S. M. (1997). Replilcation and reporting: A commentary. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 499–508.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poplack, S., & Dion, N. (2009). Prescription vs. praxis: The evolution of future temporal reference in French. Language, 85, 557–587.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poplack, S., & Turpin, D. (1999). Does the futur have a future in (Canadian) French? Probus, 11, 133–164.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ranta, L., & Lyster, R. (2007). A cognitive approach to improving immersion students’ oral language abilities: The Awareness-Practice-Feedback sequence. In R. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology (pp.141–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1981). Pragmatics and linguistics: An analysis of sentence topics. Philosophica, 27, 53–94.Google Scholar
Révész, A. (2012). Coding second language data validly and reliably. In A. Mackey & S. M. Gass (Eds.), Research methods in second language acquisition: A practical guide (pp.203–221). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roberts, N. S. (2012). Future temporal reference in Hexagonal French. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 18(2), 97–106.Google Scholar
(2013). The influence of linguistic factors on the expression of futurity in Martinique French. Newcastle Working Papers in Linguistics, 19(1), 138–151.Google Scholar
(2016). The future of Martinique French: The role of random effects on the variable expression of futurity. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61(3), 285–313.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schilling, N. (2013). Investigating stylistic variation. In J. K. Chambers & N. Schilling (Eds.), The Handbook of language variation and change (pp.327–349). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tagliamonte, S. A. (2012). Variationist sociolinguistics: Change, observation, interpretation. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tremblay, A. (2011). Proficiency assessment standards in second language acquisition research: “Clozing” the gap. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 33, 339–372.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villeneuve, A -J., & Comeau, P. (2016). Breaking down temporal distance in a Continental French variety: Future temporal reference in Vimeu. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61, 314–336.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
von Stutterheim, C., & Klein, W. (1987). A concept-oriented approach to second language studies. In C. W. Pfaff (Ed.), First and second language acquisition processes (pp.191–205). Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar