In four experiments, we investigated the impact of letter case (lower case vs. UPPER CASE) on the processing of sequences of written words. Experiment 1 used the rapid parallel visual presentation (RPVP) paradigm with postcued identification of one word in a five-word sequence. The sequence could be grammatically correct (e.g., "the boy likes…

French teaching in Ottoman Turkey found its actual speed with the Tanzimat period (the political reforms made in the ottoman state in 1839). Until the proclamation of the Republic, and even until the 1950s, French was considered the leading carrier of Western culture and civilization in Turkey, and teaching French was deemed necessary. However, it…

This study investigates whether re-thinking the separation of lexis and grammar in language testing could lead to more valid inferences about proficiency across modes. As argued by Römer, typical scoring rubrics ignore important information about proficiency encoded at the lexis-grammar interface, in particular how the co-selection of lexical and…

This study examined the role of error-type and working memory (WM) in the effectiveness of direct-metalinguistic and indirect written corrective feedback (WCF) on self error-correction in first-language writing. Fifty-one French first-year psychology students volunteered to participate in the experiment. They carried out a first-language…

Understanding discourse connectives is an important step to achieving effective verbal communication. Yet, the ability of adult native speakers to understand the broad range of connectives found in most Indo-European languages has seldom been assessed. In this article we demonstrate that some adults have difficulties recognizing correct and…

Two eye-tracking experiments tested (a) whether L2 learners benefit from the consistency of input modality (auditory instead of written processing instruction [PI] training) and (b) whether they benefit from training using the same voice as the test voice. Results confirmed a robust effect of PI training on picture-selection accuracy, yet the…

The proceedings of the 18th edition of Latin American Conference on Learning Technologies (LACLO) demonstrates the developments in the research of learning science, learning resources, challenges and solutions. This Proceedings book showcases a collection of quality articles that explores and discusses trending topics in education in the upcoming…

The article discusses the potential of combining learner corpus research with experimental studies in order to fine-tune the understanding of learner language development. It illustrates the complementarity of the two methodological approaches with data from an ongoing study of the acquisition of the English tense and aspect system by French…

This study examined syntactic comprehension in French children with dyslexia in both listening and reading. In the first syntactic comprehension task, a partial version of the Epreuve de Comprehension syntaxico-semantique (ECOSSE test; French adaptation of Bishop's test for receptive grammar test) children with dyslexia performed at a lower level…

The present longitudinal case study investigated the development of fluency, complexity and accuracy--and the possible relationships between them--in the written production of L2 French. We assessed fluency and complexity in five intermediate learners by means of conventional indicators for written L2 (cf. Wolfe-Quintero et al. 1998), while…

In this study, framed within a sociocultural theory of mind, we explore the role of languaging in mediating between students' understanding of a grammatical concept and their written production of the forms related to that concept. The development of scientific concepts, in this case of the concept of voice in French, involves the use of language…

Corpus-based research has shown that the frequency of use of particular grammatical structures and lexis in English is not always congruent with the content or ordering of explicit rules in pedagogical materials. The present study provides an additional example from French, focusing on word-order rules related to adjective position and the…

Presents results of a survey carried out in 1977 to determine the attitude of contemporary French writers toward the importance of punctuation. Questionnaire responses, obtained from over half the 80 authors polled, are discussed. (AM)

Discusses the use of the two past tenses in French, specifically in literature and news reporting. (AM)

Lists competing forms in written French selected on the basis of three criteria: (1) expressions which can be written in two equally acceptable ways, (2) those in which the two forms differ slightly in meaning, and (3) those in which one form is considered correct but is now questioned. (MLA)