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…

Informed by Conversation Analysis, this paper examines discursive practices through which nonnative speaker (NNS) identity is constituted in relation to native speaker (NS) identity in naturally occurring English conversations. Drawing on studies of social interaction that view identity as intrinsically a social, dialogic, negotiable entity, I…

Argues that the proceduralization of linguistic knowledge is the most important factor in the development of fluency in advanced second-language learners. Experimental results indicate that learners become more fluent (as measured by speaking rate) after a period of residence abroad. It is concluded that quantitative and qualitative evidence…