Exploring overt cross-linguistic influence in lower secondary learners written texts in English and French as a second or third language

Figures & data

Table 1. Cross-linguistic lexical influences.

	Mean number	G5/7 (N=94)	G3/5 (N=220)	z	p
French	Text length (in clauses)	10.33 (3.38)	11.37 (3.27)	−2.250	.024
	CLI	1.05 (1.37)	1.67 (2.16)	−2.976	.003
	CLI divided by clauses	0.11 (0.16)	0.16 (0.22)	−2.426	.015
	Lexical insertions (INS)	0.71 (1.13)	1.05 (1.85)	−1.882	.060
	INS by clauses	0.08 (0.13)	0.10 (0.16)	−1.579	.114
	INS_GE	0.23 (0.64)	0.40 (0.82)	−0.392	.059
	INS_GE by clauses	0.03 (0.08)	0.04 (0.09)	−0.353	.724
	INS_EN	0.33 (0.88)	0.57 (1.38)	−2.845	.004
	INS_EN by clauses	0.04 (0.09)	0.05 (0.10)	−2.529	.011
	INS_MULT	0.05 (0.22)	0.07 (0.27)	−0.384	.701
	INS_MULT by clauses	0.005 (0.02)	0.007 (0.03)	−0.395	.693
	INS_OTH	–	0.03 (0.24)	−1.882	.060
	INS_OTH by clauses	–	0.004 (0.03)	−1.479	.139
	Lexical creations (CRE)	0.37 (0.69)	0.60 (0.79)	−2.801	.005
	CRE by clauses	0.04 (0.08)	0.06 (0.10)	−2.487	.013
	CRE_GE	0.27 (0.57)	0.40 (0.64)	−1.892	.059
	CRE_GE by clauses	0.03(0.07)	0.04 (0.08)	−1.786	.074
	CRE_EN	0.01 (0.10)	0.10 (0.32)	−2.532	.011
	CRE_EN by clauses	0.001 (0.01)	0.01 (0.04)	−2.516	.012
	CRE_MULT	0.06 (0.29)	0.07 (0.25)	−0.495	.621
	CRE_MULT by clauses	0.006 (0.03)	0.007 (0.03)	−0.501	.617
	CRE_OTH	0.01 (0.10)	0.20 (0.17)	−0.229	.819
	CRE_OTH by clauses	–	0.001 (0.01)	−0.222	.824
English	Text length (in clauses)	12.33 (3.74)	14.32 (4.64)	−3.374	<.001
	CLI	1.11 (1.28)	0.86 (1.41)	−2.677	.007
	CLI divided by clauses	0.11 (0.15)	0.06 (0.12)	−3.262	.001
	INS (Lexical insertions)	0.48 (0.91)	0.42 (0.93)	−1.017	.309
	INS divided by clauses	0.05 (0.13)	0.03 (0.08)	−1.364	.173
	INS_GE	0.23 (0.59)	0.32 (0.81)	−0.360	.719
	INS_GE div. by clauses	0.02 (0.05)	0.02 (0.07)	−0.152	.879
	INS_FR	0.22 (0.66)	0.07 (0.35)	−2.848	.004
	INS_FR div. by clauses	0.03 (0.12)	0.006 (0.03)	−2.897	.004
	INS_MULT	–	–	–	–
	INS_MULT div. by clauses	–	–	–	–
	INS_OTH	–	–	–	–
	INS_OTH div. by clauses	–	–	–	–
	CRE (Lexical creations)	0.63 (0.78)	0.45 (0.88)	−3.076	.002
	CRE divided by clauses	0.05 (0.07)	0.03 (0.07)	−3.433	.001
	CRE_GE	0.59 (0.75)	0.39 (1.83)	−3.258	.001
	CRE_GE div. by clauses	0.05 (0.07)	0.03 (0.06)	−3.633	<.001
	CRE_FR	0.01 (0.10)	0.02 (0.18)	−0.496	.620
	CRE_FR div. by clauses	0.001 (0.01)	0.002 (0.02)	−0.493	.622
	CRE_MULT	0.03 (0.18)	0.06 (0.26)	−0.203	.839
	CRE_MULT div. by clauses	0.002 (0.01)	0.003 (0.02)	−0.192	.848
	CRE_OTH	–	–	–	–
	CRE_OTH div. by clauses	–	–	–	–

Figure 1. Lexical insertions (idiosyncratic borrowings) in English and French texts: A comparison between the two groups.

Figure 2. Lexical creations in English and French texts: a comparison between the two groups.

Table 2. Lexical creations: absolute numbers and percentages.

	Group 5/7 (N=94)	Group 3/5 (N=220)
French texts
Inventions	10 (29%)	55 (42%)
Compounds	5 (15%)	17 (13%)
Literal translation (calque)	19 (56%)	60 (45%)
Total creations	34 (100%)	132 (100%)
English texts
Inventions	15 (25%)	49 (51%)
Compounds	23 (39%)	26 (27%)
Literal translation (calque)	21 (36%)	22 (23%)
Total creations	59 (100%)	97 (100%)

Table 3. Correlations.

	Group 5/7(N = 94)	Group 3/5(N = 220)	Difference
	r	r	z	p
Text length in FR and EN in clauses	0.705***	0.590***	1.597	0.055
CLI in FR and EN	0.223*	0.212**	0.09	0.464
CLI divided by number of clauses, in FR and EN	0.294**	0.213**	0.694	0.244
Lexical insertions in FR and EN	0.352***	0.162*	1.64	0.051
Lexical insertions divided by number of clauses, in FR and EN	0.376***	0.143*	2.013	0.022
Lexical creations FR and EN	0.004 (ns)	0.081 (ns)	−0.64	0.261
Lexical creations divided by number of clauses, in FR and EN	0.067 (ns)	0.101 (ns)	−0.274	0.392

*p < .05; **p < .01; p < .001; ns (not significant).