L1-L2 differences in the L2 classroom: Anticipating Anglophone learners' difficulties with French pronoun interpretation

Abstract

In this article, we address the issue of targeted instruction on interpretive contrasts between native and second-language grammatical meanings. Such mismatches are predicted to create challenges for learners. We illustrate this with French and English pronouns. In French, clitic pronouns (<i>le, la</i>) point to human as well as inanimate referents, while English pronouns distinguish between human (<i>him, her</i>) and inanimate (<i>it</i>) referents. While other grammatical differences between English and French pronouns are taught, this interpretive mismatch attracts less attention in instructional materials. We review the pedagogical literature and report the results of a study investigating this knowledge in Anglophone learners of French as a second language (L2). We document that the mismatch is indeed challenging, particularly to beginning learners, and propose ways to overcome this difficulty.