Abstract
This study aims to clarify whether variation in the target language can influence its acquisition. More specifically, this study describes the acquisition of Spanish as a second language (L2) by examining the learning process based on (a) the first language (L1) of the learner and (b) which Spanish dialect is being learnt (the target). The phenomenon under scrutiny is the use of past tenses in the L2, as it has been proven to adequately measure the competence of the learner. Data from two L2 at-home-classroom student groups in the Netherlands, divided by either a European or Latin American oriented study program, has been collected. The task that they have made is a written narrative that elicits past verb forms in hodiernal and prehodiernal contexts. Our data shows a clear distinction in the preference of the past tense forms that each of the groups has, that can only be explained by looking at the Spanish variety which both program offers
Highlights
The present study focuses on the uses of the Present Perfect and the Preterit, a reference to previous studies which compare the uses of the Preterit and the Imperfect is necessary in order to understand how this research area has been developing in the last decades
This study aims at shedding light to the research area of acquisition and use of grammatical aspect by Dutch learners of L2 Spanish within a language variation perspective, which, as has been previously set forth, has a clear effect on the representation of temporality across two well-known Spanish varieties: the so-called European Spanish and Latin American Spanish
Our initial research goal was to investigate if these two different Spanish varieties, being the input in the classroom, respectively, for each of the two groups of Dutch learners of L2 Spanish involved in our study, influence their production of tense and aspect forms; their expression of past time references in the socalled hodiernal and prehodiernal contexts
Summary
Aspect and modality (TAM) in second language acquisition. A crucial contribution from Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research is the enhancement of understanding how we succeed in learning a second language. This pilot study proposes an original perspective, since in it variation in the target language is studied as a factor that influences the success of its acquisition. By approaching second language acquisition from this perspective, this study brings together sociolinguistic insights and SLA theory. CLAC 87 2021: 39-51 the learning process of students of Spanish as a second language (L2), by investigating the influence of two different Spanish varieties to which the learners are exposed in the classroom
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