Engagement and emerging elementary‐level L2 Spanish: Detailing the status quo and identifying opportunities

Abstract

AbstractWhile many elementary‐level children in the United States still do not have access to a second/additional language (L2), an increasing number are educated via Foreign Language Exposure (FLEX) tracks. Our two‐semester study examines elementary‐level L2 learners' engagement, emerging L2 Spanish vocabulary use, and awareness of the arbitrary nature of the relationship between form and meaning, and if this changes from a fall to a subsequent spring semester. The study examines learners' language engagement as operationalized by use of language‐related episodes, self‐corrections, modified output, turns, and learners' performance on four tasks: two information‐gap picture‐description tasks, one written production task, and one form–meaning relational task. Results indicate that, even with minimal FLEX‐based exposure, learners demonstrate positive gains in terms of L2 engagement, use of L2 Spanish, and understanding of the arbitrary nature of form–meaning relationships.