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Recent second language acquisition research has demonstrated that language learning is in essence the learning of constructions, or form-meaning pairings. Compared to first language acquisition research, however, our understanding of how constructions in a second language (L2) emerge and develop with proficiency and/or experience is limited. Furthermore, within this developing evidence base of L2 research, investigations have predominantly focused on verb-based constructions (e.g., verb-argument constructions), understood to be a core construction category of sentences. As a result, a large part of L2 speakers' construction inventories remains to be investigated. To address this gap, a corpus-based investigation of the "article + adjective + noun" (AAN) construction in a written corpus of Chinese-speaking learners of English was carried out. Analyses show growth in construction types and developmental changes of adjectives in AANs with increasing amounts of L2 experience, consistent with usage-based understandings of language. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed, including the extent to which previous findings for verb-based constructions apply to AAN constructions.

Replication is a research methodology designed to verify, consolidate, and generalize knowledge and understanding within empirical fields of study. In second language studies, however, reviews share widespread concern about the infrequency of replication. A common but speculative explanation for this situation is that replication studies are not valued because they lack originality and/or innovation. To better understand and respond to the infrequency of replication in our field, 354 researchers were surveyed about their attitudes toward replication and their practices conducting replication studies. Responses included worldwide participation from researchers with and without replication experience. Overall, replications were evaluated as relevant and valuable to the field. Claims that replication studies lack originality/innovation were not supported. However, dissemination issues were identified: half of published replication studies lacked explicit labeling and one quarter of completed replications were unpublished. Explicit labeling of replication studies and training in research methodology and dissemination can address this situation.

Investigations of crosslinguistic effects in second language acquisition (SLA) have contributed rich understandings about the ways in which prior language knowledge and experience can influence additional language learning. Building on this work, one recent line of research has examined the extent to which SLA findings about crosslinguistic influence can be used to improve L2 learning, indicating that explicit instruction tailored to address the nature of the crosslinguistic learning problem can benefit L2 performance. At the same time, however, this line of inquiry is relatively novel and under-researched. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to suggest further research which might advance knowledge and understanding about the ways in which explicit instruction can facilitate second language (L2) learning of crosslinguistically difficult target features. To this end, I lay the ground for a series of close replications designed to understand the role of prior language knowledge and experience in L2 learning: Ellis and Sagarra (2011) and Tolentino and Tokowicz (2014). These studies were selected because they are grounded in empirical SLA research and SLA theory. In addition, the selected studies facilitate replication because they have either (i) made their data collection materials available in digital repositories or (ii) have robustly described their design and provided the stimuli used.

We closely replicated Wu and Ortega (2013), who found that an elicited imitation test (EIT) reliably distinguished low-level from high-level language abilities among instructed second language (L2) learners of Mandarin Chinese. The original study sampled learners: (1) from second-level courses to represent low-level language abilities; and (2) from third-, fourth- and graduate-level courses to represent high-level language abilities. Results showed high-level learners outperformed low-level learners on the Mandarin EIT. Our close replication used Wu and Ortega's (2013) materials and procedures in order to understand: (1) the extent to which this EIT can additionally distinguish between finer-grained language abilities; and (2) the ways in which the broad grouping of language abilities in the high group may have contributed to the findings. Sixty-five instructed L2 learners from four instructional levels were assigned to one of three groups: Beginner (first-level courses), Low (second-level courses), High (third- and fourth-level courses). Consistent with the original study, our results showed clear between-group differences, indicating that the EIT can distinguish between both broad (beginner vs high) and finer-grained (beginner vs low, low vs high) language abilities. These results are discussed in light of the original study's findings with implications for proficiency assessment in second language acquisition (SLA) research.

The current study investigated advanced L2 learners' linguistic development before, during, and after a nine-month stay abroad, the extent to which contextual changes (home-abroad-home) influenced the nature and magnitude of development, and the ways in which relationships among different linguistic elements changed over time. Participants were 56 university learners majoring in French (n = 29) and Spanish (n = 27), who spent an academic year abroad in the middle of a four-year BA degree programme. Oral data were collected six times over 21 months to trace development and change in complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis. Results showed ongoing improvements over time on most measures, including accuracy. Correlations indicated long-term relationships between fluency and vocabulary only and that accuracy-complexity relationships emerged in instructed home contexts only. These findings suggest that the affordances of home and abroad contexts can shape learners' linguistic development and use differently. The role of pre-departure linguistic ability is discussed as critical to understanding the nature and extent of L2 linguistic development in study abroad.

This study advances previous research about the effects of explicit instruction on second language (L2) development by examining learners' use of verbal morphology following different types of explicit information (EI) and comprehension practice. We investigated the extent to which additional EI about the first language (L1) can reduce the effects of crosslinguistic influence in L2 oral production. Sixty-nine English-speaking learners of L2 French undertook either: (a) a 'core' treatment of EI about the L2 with L2 comprehension practice, (b) the same L2 core + L1 comprehension practice, (c) the same L2 core + L1 comprehension practice + EI about L1, or (d) outcome tests only. Results showed that providing additional EI about the L1 benefitted the accuracy of oral production immediately after the instruction and then 6 weeks later. These results suggest that tailoring instruction, specifically the nature of the EI, to the nature of the learning problem can facilitate L2 learning. In particular, EI about L1 can facilitate L2 learning by increasing learners' awareness of similarities and differences in how L1 and L2 express the same meanings.

The current study examined second language (L2) learners' social networks during study abroad and how they changed over time. Participants were 29 British undergraduates majoring in French who were spending an academic year abroad in France. Social network data were collected three times during study abroad (beginning, middle, and end of a nine-month stay) using the Social Networks Questionnaire. Results showed that large proportions of learners' social networks included L1-using contacts, with little change over time. Analysis of social networks according to social context indicated that work/university and organised free time contexts appeared to favour L2 use, whereas virtual contexts (e.g. Facebook, Skype) appeared to favour L1 use. Correlations between aspects of learners' social networks and language development (lexical complexity scores in oral interviews) indicated complex and changing relationships over time, indicating that frequent amounts of L2 use during study abroad were associated with high lexical complexity scores.

The present study examined the extent to which first language (L1) awareness can benefit second language (L2) grammatical learning of the French "Imparfait", a crosslinguistically complex target feature. Sixty-nine English-speaking learners of L2 French received different types of explicit information (EI) about L2 or L2 + L1 form-meaning mappings. A 'core' treatment received by all learners consisted of EI about L2 with L2 comprehension-based practice of French sentences. Two further treatments examined the impact of additional (i) EI about L1 and (ii) comprehension practice of L1 sentences. Results from an online self-paced reading test, offline judgment tests (in reading and listening) and an oral sentence completion test with source of knowledge probes showed that performance immediately after the instruction and then six weeks later improved only for learners exhibiting L1 awareness. These results suggest that awareness of L1 form-meaning mappings can benefit L2 grammar learning of a crosslinguistically complex target feature.

This study partially replicates McManus and Marsden (2017), who found that providing L1 explicit information (EI) plus task-essential practice led L2 learners to make more accurate and faster interpretations of French morphosyntax. The current study removed the original study's L1 EI component to examine the role of the L1 practice. This design tested whether providing L1 task-essential practice only (alongside a core treatment of L2 EI plus L2 practice) resulted in similar online and offline learning gains compared to the original study's L1 EI plus L1 practice. We used the same online and offline tests, with a similar population of English-speaking learners of L2 French (n = 19). For accuracy and speed of online and offline L2 processing, the findings suggest that additional L1 practice without L1 EI was no more beneficial than L2 EI plus L2 practice alone, indicating that the original study's combination of additional L1 EI with L1 practice appeared to contribute to previously observed learning benefits.

This study investigated the effectiveness of providing L1 explicit information (EI) with practice for making more accurate and faster interpretations of L2 French "Imparfait" (IMP). Two treatments were investigated: (a) "L2-only," providing EI about the L2 with L2 interpretation practice, and (b) "L2+L1," providing the exact same L2-only treatment and including EI about the L1 (English) with practice interpreting L1 features that are equivalent to the IMP. Fifty L2 French learners were randomly assigned to either L2-only, L2+L1, or a control group. Online (self-paced reading) and offline (context-sentence matching) measures from pretest, posttest, and delayed posttests showed that providing additional L1 EI and practice improved not only offline L2 accuracy, but also the speed of online L2 processing. To our knowledge, this makes original and significant contributions about the nature of EI with practice and the role of the L1 (Tolentino & Tokowicz, 2014), and it extends a recent line of research examining EI effects in online sentence processing (Andringa & Curcic, 2015).

This paper examines the impact of L1/L2 form-meaning differences in the domain of aspect to investigate whether L2 learners are able to acquire properties of the L2 that are different from the L1. Oral data were collected from English- and German-speaking university learners of French L2 (n = 75) at two different levels of proficiency. The results show that appropriate use of aspect morphology at the advanced stages of learning is significantly influenced by differences in L1 background, with significant differences also revealed between French native speakers and L2 learners. The results suggest that an important role must be attributed to L1/L2 form-meaning mapping differences.