Second language adquisition and sociollinguistic approaches: The Case of L2 French

French is one of the major target languages on which L2 acquisition research has been carried out. SLA research on French highlights specific aspects of L2 acquisition. Codification and prescriptivism long associated with French have wider implications for L2 language ideology and attitudes. Research on L2 French acquisition which reveals the influence of ‘la norme’ – especially the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation and pragmatics – is discussed. Research methods particularly suited to illuminating these issues are outlined, including variation analysis, mixed-methods research and network analysis. Current research themes include agency, identity and individual variation.