The role of formulaic language in beginner learner interlanguage

Previous research has shown that formulaic sequences (or chunks), are prevalent in L2 learner interlanguage, particularly in the early stages of acquisition (Hakuta 1974; Myles et al, 1998; Myles et al. 1999; Myles 2012; Wong-Fillmore 1976). Defined by Myles et al. (1998) formulaic sequences (FS) are: ‘a multimorphemic unit memorised or recalled as a whole, rather then generated from individual items on the basis of linguistic rules’ (p.325) that are used by learners to fulfil their communicative needs in the L2 before they have acquired a sufficient amount of grammatical knowledge:

‘before learners have generated the grammar necessary for producing target L2 structures, they tend to rely on a databank of set phrases and routines they have rote-learned, and which they have not analysed yet into their constituents’ (Myles 2004:215).

Furthermore, the pervasiveness of FS in early learner language has led some researchers to misrepresent the grammatical knowledge of early learners claiming that they are more advanced than they actually are (Myles 2012). Despite the commonality of FS, their function in the development of L2 morpho-syntax still remains unclear: do they just enable communication for learners who have

underdeveloped grammar or do they play an integral role in language acquisition? Several studies of L2 French have examined the oral production of British instructed

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learners of French in order to gain further insights into the role of FS for instructed learners.

Myles, Hooper and Mitchell (1998) studied data from 16 learners of French in a British school across the first two years of French study (from the age of 11-13). The data was elicited with spontaneous oral production tasks focused on meaning rather than form and was collected at the end of six consecutive school terms. The

researchers highlighted three FS that appeared frequently in the learner data and tracked their development over a two year period: j’aime (I like); j’adore (I love) and

j’habite (I live). Their analysis focused on four areas: all the occurrences of the

aforementioned FS, when the verbs aimer, adorer and habiter were used outside of the FS, the use of the contracted form of the 1st person pronoun j’ elsewhere and when the pronoun je (I) was used outside the FS. The results show that the FS

j’aime and j’adore were over-extended, particularly in the first two rounds and j’habite

less so; however this FS was used less overall. School-related differences were also observed with learners from School 1 producing a greater number of verbs which it is suggested is related to differences in the classroom input. As regards the use of the 1st person pronoun, the contracted form j’ appeared frequently in j’ai (I have) but hardly anywhere else. However, the use of the full form je provides insights into how the learners move along the path to segmentation of the FS. The learners who used je creatively outside of the focus FS were the same pupils who used the chunks in a target-like manner and for Myles et al. this suggested evidence of an emerging pronoun system. The same, more advanced, group of learners also produced the 3rd person forms il (he) and elle (she) frequently with a wider range of verbs.

The data shows that the segmentation of chunks was closely linked to the

emergence of the subject pronoun system. When pressed to produce 3rd person forms in one of the tasks the learners demonstrated evidence of self-monitoring and the detailed exchanges show that the learners realise that a clearer reference is required and therefore did not rely solely on the FS but modified them to include a NP or the 3rd person form. They did not abandon the chunks immediately but

modified them in some way in order to fulfil the communicative need. For Myles et al. this constitutes strong evidence to support the claim that the breakdown of FS and the need to establish reference for communication are closely linked. The study has two main findings:

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1. there was a clear developmental path within the group and also great

variation in progress; those who began early and progressed further along the path to segmentation and those who had not started down the path at all. 2. the segmentation of FS is the linked to the emergence of the subject pronoun

system.

Myles at al. conclude that: ‘the use of formulaic language therefore has a role beyond that of facilitating entry into communication and speeding up production….[FS are] a database for hypothesis testing’ (p.358). Moreover, this conclusion is supported by the findings of Myles, Mitchell & Hooper (1999) in their study of French interrogatives.

Myles (2012) expanded upon the original studies by comparing the results of the beginners with cross-sectional data of post-beginner learners in Years 9-11 (13-16 years). The same FS were analysed: j’aime, j’adore, j’habite and the interrogative

comment t’appelles-tu. In contrast to the beginners, the post-beginner learners (Y11)

did not over-generalise 1st person forms to the same extent and they did begin to make much greater use of j’ in other contexts (see table 5.7 below). Notably when these verbs were used outside of the FS they were in the finite form despite the fact that most other verbs were mainly untensed at this stage. This suggests that: ‘the productive verbal system slowly catches up with the more advanced grammar contained in the verb sequences’ (p.86).

Table 5.7: use of of j’ with aime/adore/habite and with other verbs (Myles 2012:78)

Beginners (years 7,8.9) Post-beginners (Y11)

J’+ aime/adore/habite 329 (99.1%) 26 (59.1%)

J’+ other verbs 3 (0.9%) 18 (40.9%)

Total 332 (100%) 44 (100%)

In terms of interrogatives, the beginner learners are heavily reliant on 2nd person forms initially but by Y11 this is reduced to under 25% and learners are more able to produce 3rd person forms; five stages were observed:

1. comment t’appelles-tu

2. comment t’appelles-tu le garçon 3. comment t’appelle la fille

4. comment s’appelle un garçon 5. comment s’appelle-t-il (p.84)

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Not all of the learners had progressed to stage 5 by Y11. Nevertheless, the data shows that the interrogative chunks produced continue to be more complex than other interrogative constructions. The results of the studies discussed imply that beginner learners’ interlanguage is comprised of two components: a database of complex and accurate formulaic sequences and a much less complex and imperfect productive grammar. The FS begin to be broken down in to their constituent parts and these elements remain more complex than their current system and provide the impetus for language development. According toMyles (2012:88):

‘L2 learners will therefore resort to memorising formulaic sequences which will not only enable them to communicate before their productive linguistic system is capable of doing so, but also to give the impression that their language is much more advanced than it really is…’. As learners’ grammatical competence develops, they tend to rely less on formulaic chunks of language and will demonstrate greater creative use of the target language. This in turn may lead to a drop in accuracy as learners test new hypotheses and over-generalise recently acquired rules. Overall, the findings support the view of e.g. N.Ellis (1996, 2008) who maintains that formulae play a significant role in language acquisition and that learners draw upon a repertoire of both memorised chunks and creative language.