From Norm to Use: Romanian as a Foreign Language in Learner Production

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between linguistic norm and actual language use in
learner production of Romanian as a Foreign Language (RFL), focusing on recurrent morphosyntactic
patterns and deviations from the standard norm. Grounded in a descriptive and normative framework,
the research aims to identify the most frequent areas of difficulty encountered by non-native learners
and to analyze the extent to which these difficulties reflect interlanguage development rather than
random error. The empirical analysis is based on a corpus of written and oral learner data collected
from university-level students studying Romanian as a foreign language. The data are examined using
qualitative and quantitative methods, including error analysis and contrastive comparison with standard
Romanian norms as codified in contemporary reference works. Particular attention is paid to
morphosyntactic categories that are known to pose challenges for learners, such as verbal inflection,
agreement, pronominal forms, and the use of prepositions. The findings reveal a systematic divergence
between prescriptive norms and learner usage, highlighting the role of transfer from the learners’ first
language(s), overgeneralization of grammatical rules, and incomplete acquisition of inflectional
paradigms. Rather than treating learner deviations solely as errors, the study interprets them as
indicators of evolving grammatical competence within the interlanguage framework. From a
pedagogical perspective, the results underscore the need for a more usage-based and contrastively
informed approach to teaching Romanian as a foreign language, one that explicitly addresses areas of
persistent difficulty and bridges the gap between normative grammar and communicative practice. By
situating learner production at the intersection of norm and use, this study contributes to a more nuanced
understanding of RFL acquisition and offers practical implications for curriculum design, materials
development, and teacher training in RFL contexts.