LANGSNAP French 6.0 Corpus

	Nicole Tracy-Ventura Applied Linguistics West Virginia University nicole.tracyventura@mail.wvu.edu
	Amanda Huensch Applied Linguistics University of Pittsburgh amanda.huensch@pitt.edu website
	Rosamund Mitchell Applied Linguistics - Emeritus University of Southampton r.f.mitchell@soton.ac.uk website

Participants:	15
Type of Study:	Longitudinal
Location:	UK, various
Media type:	audio
DOI:	doi:10.21415/QSFF-GZ29

Citation Information

Tracy-Ventura, N., Huensch, A., Katz, J., & Mitchell, R. (accepted). Is L2 attrition inevitable after instruction ends? An exploratory longitudinal study of advanced instructed L2 users. Language Learning.

Mitchell, R., Tracy-Ventura, N., & McManus, K. (2017). Anglophone students abroad: Identity, social relationships and language learning. Abingdon/ New York: Routledge.

Tracy-Ventura, N., Mitchell, R., & McManus, K. (2016). The LANGSNAP longitudinal learner corpus: Design and use. In M. Alonso Ramos (Ed.), Spanish learner corpus research: Current trends and future perspectives (pp. 117-142). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

In accordance with TalkBank rules, any use of data from this corpus must be accompanied by at least one of the above references.

Corpus Description

The LANGSNAP 6.0 L2 French corpus presented here was collected in 2019 as part of the research project “Factors that influence long-term retention of second languages learned through formal instruction and study abroad” (a follow-up study to the original LANGSNAP 2011-2013 study and LANGSNAP 3.0 in 2016). The overall aim of the project was to identify the variables that influence the long-term retention of foreign language proficiency, an important but understudied area of second language acquisition (SLA) research. Previous research in SLA has primarily documented the processes involved in learning additional languages. Yet, little is known about the extent to which language skills are retained or lost over time, specifically after learners make that important transition from student life to the working world. The main group of participants were 28 British young adults who had completed their BA degrees in either French or Spanish in 2013 at a single research-intensive university. Data concerning participants’ L2 retention/attrition/development and also their language use practices and social engagement were gathered by members of the research team. The L2 French data available here were generated by three L2 production tasks:

semi-structured oral interviews
picture-based oral narratives
argumentative writing (a timed 150-word response to a stimulus question).

The corpus includes data from the 2019 administration of these tasks to the L2 French group. Anonymised audio files and linked transcripts in CHAT format are provided for the oral interview and narrative tasks.

The instruments used in LANGSNAP 6.0 for L2 data collection are available at OSF and in the IRIS repository together with the instruments developed for tracking language use (Language Engagement Questionnaire). Further details on LANGSNAP tasks and procedures are available at http://langsnap.soton.ac.uk/ and in our 2017 book.

Acknowledgements

The LANGSNAP 6.0 project was funded by West Virginia University. Principal Investigator was Nicole Tracy-Ventura. Co-Investigators were Amanda Huensch and Rosamond Mitchell.