The effect of instruction on language learners' sociolinguistic awareness: An empirical study with pedagogical implications

This article presents the results of a study centered on the effect of instruction on second language (L2) learners' sociolinguistic awareness, with specific focus on French negative structures (i.e., presence vs. absence of ne). Drawing on data from a metalinguistic awareness questionnaire completed by 110 US university learners of French in five different groups, we examine the extent to which instruction versus no instruction influences awareness of variation as well as differences among three approaches to instruction (i.e., integrated curriculum vs. one-time explicit instruction vs. one-time nonexplicit intervention). Our results show that some form of instruction is better than no instruction. However, the type of instruction is also a crucial factor. Following the presentation of the results, we discuss the role of sociolinguistic knowledge in relation to L2 performance abilities. Pedagogical implications are also provided.