Examining Processability Theory's predictions for grammatical gender agreement in intermediate L2 French

Abstract

The current study investigates Processability Theory's PT) predictions for grammatical gender agreement in L2 French. Previous studies examining advanced L2 French learners did not find significant differences in accuracy rates for attributive and predicative adjectives and thus concluded that PT's predictions were not supported. The current study examines adjective agreement in three positions: within a noun phrase, a verb phrase, and a relative clause. Forty‐five intermediate L2 French learners completed a spot‐the‐difference task targeting noun‐adjective agreement. Learners were significantly more accurate with agreement occurring within phrasal boundaries than agreement across phrasal boundaries, in line with PT's predicted order of acquisition.