Many studies show that the context of acquisition and the degree of
contact with natives is important. Freed (1990) shows that activities and
interaction of a social or oral nature seem to benefit students at the lower
level of proficiency, while students at upper levels appear to profit from
involvement with a variety of media that provides extended discourse in
reading and listening. Dewaele (1992) finds that amount of contact with
native speakers while on holiday in France, as well as frequency of reading,
listening to radio and watching TV, determined variation in the omission of “ne.” In relation to the sociolinguistic aspects of acquisition,
Marriott (1995), Siegal (1995), Lapkin, Hart and Swain (1995), Regan
(1995), and Lafford (1995), all find, to varying degrees, that the amount
of contact with native speakers is an important factor in the acquisition of
sociolinguistic and sociocultural knowledge. This is particularly noteworthy
in the light of the fact that these studies involve very different linguistic
and cultural groups. The second languages involved are as different
as Japanese and French.