Abstract
This article investigates the effects that Mindful Conceptual Engagement (MCE) had on the teaching of the Spanish subjunctive on second (L2) and heritage language learners (HL) of Spanish. A total of 26 university-level undergraduate students participated in the study; 12 were advanced L2 students and 14 were intermediate HL students. The methodology used was MCE, which is based on the principles of Concept-Based Instruction (Negueruela 2003; Negueruela and Lantolf 2006). MCE has its origins in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and it proposes that the creation and manipulation of didactic models by students promotes the internalization of complex grammatical concepts that would otherwise require long grammatical explanations. Models need to be generalizable and informative and can include, for example, flowcharts, pictures, or schemas among others. In the present study, the concept of [±EXPERIENCE] (Bull 1965) was used to teach the variable uses of indicative and subjunctive in adjectival relative clauses (Busco unas tijeras que cortan/corten). Students had to create their own models and use them to complete a series of assignments in class and at home. Production and interpretation exercises were used in pre- and post-test questionnaires to gauge their improvement. Feedback questionnaires were administered three weeks after the intervention to measure the attitudes and perceptions towards the use of didactic models. Results indicate that both groups improved their indicative/subjunctive interpretation and production abilities after MCE. However, statistically significant differences exist between HL and L2 students according to type of task and student group. Feedback questionnaire results also show that MCE was regarded as positive and useful by both groups.
Highlights
The Spanish subjunctive poses one of the biggest challenges for both heritage language learners (HL) and L2 experienced students and its proper use is often regarded as an indicator of proficiency
Previous studies suggest that HL learners tend to produce higher rates of indicative in contexts in which both indicative and subjunctive are accepted (Silva-Corvalán 1994, 2003, 2014), and that HL learners tend to maintain the subjunctive in contexts in which its use is mandatory, as, for example, volition
The results confirm that there was an extensive acceptance of the Mindful Conceptual Engagement (MCE) method and that students regarded the use and creation of models as positive
Summary
The Spanish subjunctive poses one of the biggest challenges for both HL and L2 experienced students and its proper use is often regarded as an indicator of proficiency. Even though it is an important topic in HL and L2 acquisition, the majority of studies have focused on L2 and HL mood distinction abilities either separately or comparatively. Previous studies suggest that HL learners tend to produce higher rates of indicative in contexts in which both indicative and subjunctive are accepted (Silva-Corvalán 1994, 2003, 2014), and that HL learners tend to maintain the subjunctive in contexts in which its use is mandatory, as, for example, volition. Potowski et al.’s (2009) study showed that Processing Instruction and traditional-output instruction (VanPatten 2004) are beneficial for both groups, even though L2 instructional methods might not always be the most beneficial for HL learners. Heritage speakers did not show significant improvement on interpretation and grammaticality judgment tasks, but showed some improvement on the production task
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