Focusing on phonology to teach morphological form in French

Much recent research in language pedagogy has advocated a form-focused approach, noting that input can be tailored to promote acquisition of specific phenomena (R. Ellis, 1990; Harley, 1993; Herschensohn, 1990; Lee Valdman, 2000; Leeman, Arteagoitia, Fridman, Doughty, 1995; VanPatten, 1996). In this article, we argue for the importance of phonological form in the second language (L2) classroom, proposing that a thorough grounding in L2 phonological patterns is essential for language learners; we use as evidence for our position the importance of phonological information for the auditory detection of morphological form in French. We offer a pedagogical means by which the morphological rule of gender agreement for adjectives, which involves final consonant alternation, can be imitated in a L2 context through a context-based focus on phonological form. We present empirical evidence that such a focus produces statistically significant results in a classroom experiment that tests listening discrimination of gender alternation in adjectives. Our results also have implications for the effectiveness of an explicit, meaning-oriented focus on form for listening comprehension, inasmuch as the auditory discrimination of contrasts contributes to that process.