Processing Strategies in L2 Learners of French: The Role of Transfer

Abstract

This study compared the comprehension processing strategies of 15 monolingual English native speakers and 8 bilingual French native speakers to 112 second language (L2) learners of French, using stimuli containing word order and clitic pronoun (type and agreement) cues in French. Results indicated differential dependence on cue use by the two native speaker groups, with English native speakers depending more on word order for interpretation and French native speaker depending more on clitic pronoun agreement. Interpretations produced by L2 learners of French indicated an immediate abandonment of LI word order strategies with a much later onset of clitic pronoun agreement strategies. Results are discussed within the framework of the Competition Model.