A word about saliency

In this post I’m going to talk about the notion of saliency (aka salience) in language learning and why it’s important for language teachers to understand.

First, the word ‘salient’ itself. When something is salient it  is noticeable, it stands out. It matters. When we hear or read language some language stands out more than other language; it’s more salient. Researchers tell us that, on the whole, words which carry obvious meaning (content words) stand out more than words which carry out a grammatical role (function words). In the sentence ‘An elephant is huge, but a mouse is tiny’, we are more likely to notice the word ‘elephant’ in a sentence, than the word ‘but’. In addition, by the way, we are more likely to notice words at the start of a sentence than than later and we tend to notice longer words more than shorter ones.

As an exercise in thinking about saliency, I’m going to take the example of the word ‘que’ in French when it means ‘only’. For example you might hear or read:

‘Elle n’a que deux frères.’

To English learners the meaning of this sentence is often not picked up. Either it isn’t understood, or a student might notice the ‘ne’ and think the sentence means ‘She doesn’t have two bothers’. Why do students struggle with this? One answer is that the ‘que’ is not salient to many learners.  There are a few reasons for this.

- The word is a short, one syllable word so can easily disappear in the stream of sound when listening or not be noticed in written text.

- They might not have encountered it often in this context.

- The word ‘que’ is very frequent in French, but is used in different ways, fulfilling different functions, e.g.:

‘Le chat que j’aime’ (The cat (which) I like)

‘Il faut que je prenne du carburant’ (I must get some fuel)

‘Que fait-il en ce moment?’ (What’s he doing at the moment?)

‘Je ne fais que rire’ (I’m only laughing)

- When used with the meaning ‘only’ it is often preceded by the word ‘ne’ which itself is short and not very noticeable in the sound stream. The ‘ne’ often omitted by speakers too.

All in all, French teachers will recognise that ‘ne... que’ is one of the harder negative structures to acquire. It is made even less salient by the fact that in English the word ‘only’ stands out more clearly and seems to function as a lexical item rather than a grammatical structure.

As a result of all this, French teachers may be tempted to avoid using ‘ne... que’ by using the word ‘seulement’ instead, e.g.

‘Elle a seulement deux frères’

This is easier for learners since the two syllable word ‘seulement’ stands out more (is more salient) and functions more like ‘only’ in that it has a lexical function, not a grammatical one. In other words, you can tell a class “ ‘seulement’ means only”.

The trouble is, but avoiding using ‘ne... que’ you make it even less salient and less likely to be acquired. How will a student acquire it if they don’t encounter it? And it needs to be acquired because it’s used so often and carries vital meaning.

So how can we make the ‘que’ more salient? Note that the points below apply to other items with low saliency in French, for example adjective agreements, preceding direct object agreements, direct object pronouns (‘le’, ‘la’ ‘les’), the pronouns ‘y’ and ‘en’.

You can make items salient by:

- Using them more frequently (not avoiding them), including ‘flooding input’ with them.

- Do practice drills with the structure. Even if you doubt the value of drilling in general, just doing the drill ensures some repetition and raises the status of the word or pattern.

- Making them stand out, e.g. by highlighting them through stress or repetition in speech, or use of bold, underline, colour or resizing in written text. In the jargon this is called ‘input enhancement’.

- Translating into English. For example, after saying “Elle n’a que deux frères”, pointing out what it means so that there is no confusion. This ensures that the meaning of the language form is clear (known in the jargon as ‘meaning-form mapping’).

- Explaining the grammar behind ‘ne... que’ and what other negative phrases mean.

- Telling students to look out for the pattern. (Foe example, explain that examiners like to use it to distinguish stronger candidates from weaker ones.)

- Tell students it is important - raise the status of the word.

- Explain what saliency is to students so they are aware of the issue in general. This gets them thinking about language learning and puts them in your shoes. It gets them to think like an expert.

- Give students a memorable sentence or phrase to help the meaning stick, e.g. ‘On ne vit que deux fois’ (James Bond). 

- Tell them to watch out when the ‘que’ sounds different, e.g. ‘Elle n’a qu’un frère’.

In sum, if students notice a word, think about it and care about it, they are more likely to remember it. Keep in mind, for the language you teach, what is likely to be more or less salient and how you can deal with it.