Spanish Learners Research Articles

Non-native but not native listeners rely on exemplars for comprehending reduced pronunciation variants

This study investigates the representations of words’ pronunciations in the mental lexicon, and how they are used in spoken word recognition by native (L1) and non-native (L2) listeners. We report two long-term repetition priming lexical decision experiments, each conducted with native English listeners, Dutch learners, and Spanish learners of English. We tested whether the listeners recognized word repetitions more quickly and/or more accurately when the first (‘prime’) and second (‘target’) occurrence of the word shared surface details (e.g., the voice of the speaker) compared to when they did not. If so, this suggests that listeners retain word tokens with their acoustic details in their memories (in the form of an exemplar). We found that in one of the experiments, L2 listeners relied more on exemplar representations than L1 listeners did. Specifically, larger exemplar effects arose for the non-native listeners in the experiment in which we included reduced pronunciation variants resulting from acoustic schwa reduction in English (e.g., balloon). Reduced pronunciation variants are highly difficult to process for non-native but not for native listeners. Our finding suggests that exemplars play a role in spoken word recognition under specific circumstances only, such as under challenging listening conditions for L2 learners.

Assessing the effectiveness of a web-based tutorial for interlanguage pragmatic development prior to studying abroad

This manuscript reports the results of a research study that investigated the effect of a web-based tutorial (WBT) on 13 Spanish language learners’ pragmatic development during the semester prior to studying abroad in Spain. Students who anticipate living abroad with a host family may be particularly motivated to acquire pragmatic competence in order to better assimilate into the target language culture. The WBT was designed to teach the speech acts of complaints and requests to Spanish language learners whose first language is English. The content in the WBT is based upon available empirical evidence at the time of development. Data were collected at pretest and posttest and the analysis employed a mixed methods approach. The results revealed that the WBT was more effective with intermediate- than with novice-level learners of Spanish. In addition, learners’ comprehension gains were greater than their production gains. In other words, learners improved in their ability to recognize appropriate pragmatic strategy use; however, they still had difficulty producing pragmatically appropriate features after completing the WBT. It is possible that pragmatic awareness may precede learners’ ability to use appropriate pragmatic strategies in their linguistic output.

Prior Experience and Student Satisfaction with E-Tandem Language Learning of Spanish and English

Recent literature in the field of foreign language learning has indicated that classroom learning is not necessarily enough for students to acquire proficiency in a foreign language. Learners who achieve a high level in the target language often combine work in the classroom with activities outside it. At the same time, a number of studies indicate that, when foreign language learners do work with their target language beyond the classroom, it is often to practice the receptive skills of reading and listening as opposed to the productive ones of speaking and writing. For this reason, students at The College of New Jersey in the United States and Universidad de Alcalá in Spain were paired up to work in tandem to practice Spanish and English through a private Facebook© page and Skype calls©. This paper discusses the impressions of 195 participating students on both sides of the Atlantic to the activities as determined through a questionnaire. The overall objective was to determine if prior experience with the two applications and in using the foreign language in conversation has an impact on student satisfaction. The results indicate prior experience with the applications and with the target language correlates with a positive estimation of the activities. Additional variations were also found. Language instructors who wish to set up an e-tandem experience are advised to assist students with less experience so that they can benefit from the activity.

The acquisition of voicing assimilation by advanced Hungarian learners of Spanish

AbstractThis study examines the effect of explicit phonological instruction on the acquisition of variable /s/ voicing in Spanish by advanced Hungarian learners. Hungarian and Spanish have very similar, yet not identical, voicing assimilation (VA) systems; the most important difference lies in the pre-sonorant context as sonorant consonants trigger voicing assimilation in Spanish but not in Hungarian. Data were collected in acoustic experiments from 7 native speakers of Northern Peninsular Spanish and 12 Hungarian university students who were advanced learners of Spanish. The latter group was tested twice: before and after a three-monthSpanish phonetics and phonologycourse. Our data reveal that this amount of instruction is not enough for L2 speakers to overcome their first language VA system, which might be attributed, in part, to the variable allophonic nature of the process and the similarity between the two languages’ VA systems.

Does the adapted version of The Amazing Race (AVOTAR) benefit Spanish language learning among technical students?

Abstract Students’ lack of interest and motivation in language learning has long been the focus of language scholars and researchers. In the Malaysian Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) context, this concern has posed many practical challenges particularly to the foreign language teachers. This study proposes a teaching innovation adapted from the popular reality television program, The Amazing Race, to instill and promote interest in learning Spanish among the technical students. The study on the Adapted Version of The Amazing Race (AVOTAR) was conducted using a quantitative dominant mixed methods approach in a technical university where Spanish language is a compulsory subject. The quantitative findings show that AVOTAR improves learners’ linguistic performance especially in the areas of vocabulary and reading comprehension while the qualitative findings indicate that AVOTAR helps increase learners’ motivation. This may contribute useful insights to address the challenges and improve the curriculum and instruction of foreign languages.

Analyzing the relationship and development of proficiency, derivational knowledge, and vocabulary size in Spanish L2 learners

Abstract One dimension of knowing a word is recognizing its structure. Previous research, mostly on L2 English, has revealed a close link between derivational knowledge (DK) and vocabulary size. Nevertheless, the degree of the relationship as well as the effect of the learner’s L1 vary among these studies. The present study analyzes the development of DK in L1 English learners of L2 Spanish (n = 209) taking university level courses from second to seventh semester at a US institution. The measurements explore the complex nature of DK – i.e., relational, syntactic and distributional knowledge – in both receptive and productive mode. Results showed that proficiency rather than vocabulary size, i.e., knowledge of monomorphemic words, contributes to DK. While a full receptive knowledge of some suffixes can be acquired relatively early, this is not the case for productive knowledge. This study also provides some tools to measure DK without resorting to metalanguage.

The use of L3 English articles by Basque-Spanish bilinguals

Abstract In this paper we compare the data from a group of L1 Basque-Spanish bilingual learners of L3 English with a matching group of L1 Spanish learners of L2 English. The results show that the bilinguals omit articles and overuse ‘the’ more than the L1 Spanish group. The pattern of omissions by the bilinguals shows that one subgroup omitted heavily while the other produced only sporadic omissions. With respect to overuse, the bilinguals consistently overused ‘the’ in indefinite contexts, while ‘a’ overuse was practically absent. The results from the bilingual group pattern with findings from [−article] L1 learners, a pattern which would fit with an analysis of Basque as a language without articles (Manterola 2012, 2015). The finding that the bilinguals do not transfer article semantics from Spanish, unlike the learners in the L1 Spanish group, suggests that recency may be determining the language of transfer in the bilingual learners tested.

A teoria Sentido-Texto e suas possibilidades de aplicação em dicionários de aprendizes do espanhol

Estudantes de línguas estrangeiras precisam de ferramentas linguísticas confiáveis que descrevam a língua em uso, por um lado, e que satisfaçam as suas necessidades, por outro lado. Dicionários de aprendizes são ferramentas compiladas para auxiliar esse perfil de usuário em tarefas de compreensão e de produção. As colocações formam parte do conjunto dos principais fenômenos atinentes à produção. Esse tipo de combinatória carece de uma melhor descrição em muitos dicionários de aprendizes, especialmente nos dicionários de aprendizes de espanhol (DAEs) devido ao seu tratamento insatisfatório. O objetivo deste artigo é explorar a possibilidade de aplicação da Teoria Sentido-Texto (TST) para descrever colocações em DAEs. Primeiramente, introduzimos os postulados gerais da TST. Em seguida, listamos e analisamos colocações incluídas em DAEs e dicionários monolíngues de espanhol, comparando-as com dados de corpus. Por fim, aplicamos a TST na descrição das colocações encontradas e propomos uma adaptação da notação da TST. Conclui-se que a TST oferece um método bastante útil para descrever colocações. A próxima etapa desta pesquisa é apresentar as informações linguísticas de maneira ainda mais amigável para o consulente dos DAEs.

Redefining Spanish teaching and learning in the United States

This article describes a pedagogical initiative that identifies opportunities for increased efficiency and functionality in the teaching and learning of Spanish in the context of the United States. At the core of this initiative is the reformulation of curricular and programmatic approaches in terms of current social, cultural, and linguistic practices. More specifically, it combines and builds on insights from current theoretical and practical developments so as to do the following: (1) reconcile the currently conflicting educational goals of Spanish heritage language and foreign language teaching in the United States; (2) create a more sophisticated and efficient educational substructure than what is currently available to language learners of all profiles and levels; and (3) guide the allocation of resources to not only address and support heritage language maintenance and revitalization, but to also encourage a fortified stance on bilingualism and foster cultural richness/diversity among emergent bilinguals in foreign/second language programs. A rationale is offered, and the organization and processes involved in the implementation of this initiative are described, along with the possible beneficial academic, social, and community effects such a reformulation may yield.

Review: Alonso-Ramos (ed.). 2016. Spanish Learner Corpus Research: Current Trends and Future Perspectives

<scp>Review</scp>: Alonso-Ramos (ed.). 2016. <i>Spanish Learner Corpus Research</i>: <i>Current Trends and Future Perspectives</i>

Explorando a possibilidade de atrito linguístico

Neste artigo, com o propósito de investigar efeitos de atrito linguístico, entre porto-alegrenses aprendizes de Espanhol como Segunda Língua (L2), analisamos a produção da vogal átona final /e/ em ambas as línguas desses aprendizes, verificando, mais especificamente, seus padrões acústicos (que dizem respeito à altura e anterioridade da língua, bem como os valores de duração absoluta e relativa) em comparação à produção de monolíngues de Espanhol (variedade de Montevidéu/Uruguai) e de Português (variedade de Porto Alegre/Brasil). Em nossas hipóteses prevíamos: (i) diferenças significativas nos valores das frequências formânticas (F1 e F2) e no padrão duracional das produções da vogal átona final /e/ entre as línguas dos bilíngues (Português/L1 e Espanhol/L2); (ii) diferenças não significativas entre a vogal átona final /e/ do Espanhol produzida pelos bilíngues e a produzida pelos monolíngues de Espanhol; e (iii) diferenças significativas nas frequências formânticas (F1 e F2) e no padrão duracional entre a vogal átona final /e/ do PB produzida pelos bilíngues e a sua contraparte produzida pelos monolíngues de PB. Os dados de fala foram obtidos através de Tarefas de Leitura (leitura de frases-veículo). Os resultados indicaram que os bilíngues distinguem, em suas produções, a vogal átona final /e/ entre a L1 (Português) e a L2 (Espanhol), embora não tenham desenvolvido o padrão nativo de altura e anterioridade/posterioridade na L2. Em relação à L1, as produções vocálicas dos bilíngues não se diferenciam significativamente das dos monolíngues de PB. Entretanto, individualmente, alguns bilíngues apontam para sinais de atrito linguístico em altura e anterioridade/posterioridade vocálica.

Encounters with peripheral individuals and rural communities for cultural competence development: A case study of learners of Spanish in Colombia

Cultural competence (Puren, 2013) has been considered a critical aspect for foreign language (FL) teaching and learning due to the wide range of cultural elements associated with the learning of FLs. Hence, this case study aims to describe and understand how encounters with peripheral individuals and rural communities contribute to developing learners’ cultural competence in a Spanish as a foreign language course. The participants were three learners who got involved with peripheral individuals and rural communities as part of a voluntary program included in the syllabi of their course. The current study provides an emic perspective following the research participants’ views and was guided by the principles of qualitative research. Data were gathered from a variety of sources: an online questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, classroom observation field notes, and audiotaped social interactions. Content and interpretive analyses were carried out on the data. The findings support the importance of social action and experiential learning for cultural competence development. In addition, the outcomes suggest that the studied encounters not only provided learners with opportunities to enhance knowledge about cultures, but also helped them to encounter otherness and to expand understandings of professional cultures.

O ensino dos pretéritos a aprendizes brasileiros de espanhol como língua estrangeira sob o viés da tradução funcionalista

No contexto de tradução e ensino de línguas estrangeiras, alguns estudos têm tido resultados positivos ao unir atividades de tradução com a prática de sequências didáticas (SD) com gêneros textuais autênticos (BARRIENTOS, 2014; DEMÉTRIO, 2014; LAIÑO, 2014; PEREIRA, 2016; PONTES, BRASIL E PEREIRA, 2016; DUARTE, 2017). Neste artigo, objetivamos analisar as contribuições do uso da tradução funcionalista no ensino do Pretérito Perfeito Simples (PPS) e do Pretérito Perfeito Composto (PPC) para aprendizes brasileiros de língua espanhola. Portanto, examinamos os condicionamentos linguísticos e extralinguísticos nos usos desses tempos verbais em espanhol e em português, considerando o fenômeno de variação linguística; e verificamos como o uso da tradução pode contribuir para o ensino da variação linguística dos PPS e PPC do espanhol. Baseamo-nos em fundamentos teóricos da Tradução Funcionalista (NORD, 1994,2009, 2012), Tradução e Sociolinguística (BOLAÑOS-CUELLAR, 2000; MAYORAL, 1998), elaboração de SD (CRISTÓVÃO, 2010; BARROS, 2012) e pesquisas sobre a variação nas formas dos pretéritos do espanhol e português (PONTES (2009), OLIVEIRA (2007, 2010), BARBOSA (2008), DIAS (2004), etc.

Using event-related potentials to track morphosyntactic development in second language learners: The processing of number and gender agreement in Spanish.

We used event-related potentials to investigate morphosyntactic development in 78 adult English-speaking learners of Spanish as a second language (L2) across the proficiency spectrum. We examined how development is modulated by the similarity between the native language (L1) and the L2, by comparing number (a feature present in English) and gender agreement (novel feature). We also investigated how development is impacted by structural distance, manipulating the distance between the agreeing elements by probing both within-phrase (fruta muy jugosa “fruit-FEM-SG very juicy-FEM-SG”) and across-phrase agreement (fresa es ácida “strawberry-FEM-SG is tart-FEM-SG”). Regression analyses revealed that the learners’ overall proficiency, as measured by a standardized test, predicted their accuracy with the target properties in the grammaticality judgment task (GJT), but did not predict P600 magnitude to the violations. However, a relationship emerged between immersion in Spanish-speaking countries and P600 magnitude for gender. Our results also revealed a correlation between accuracy in the GJT and P600 magnitude, suggesting that behavioral sensitivity to the target property predicts neurophysiological sensitivity. Subsequent group analyses revealed that the highest-proficiency learners showed equally robust P600 effects for number and gender. This group also elicited more positive waveforms for within- than across-phrase agreement overall, similar to the native controls. The lowest-proficiency learners showed a P600 for number overall, but no effects for gender. Unlike the highest-proficiency learners, they also showed no sensitivity to structural distance, suggesting that sensitivity to such linguistic factors develops over time. Overall, these results suggest an important role for proficiency in morphosyntactic development, although differences emerged between behavioral and electrophysiological measures. While L2 proficiency predicted behavioral sensitivity to agreement, development with respect to the neurocognitive mechanisms recruited in processing only emerged when comparing the two extremes of the proficiency spectrum. Importantly, while both L1-L2 similarity and hierarchical structure impact development, they do not constrain it.

Inherent Aspect and L1 Transfer in the L2 Acquisition of Spanish Grammatical Aspect

AbstractThe aim of this article is to show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by inherent aspect depending on the learner's first language (L1). It considers both the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH; Andersen, 1986, and his followers) and the L1 Transfer Hypothesis (Izquierdo &amp; Collins, 2008; McManus, 2015), and it compares the use of Spanish past tenses by L1 Dutch and L1 English learners at first stages of acquisition. Differences in grammatical aspect in both L1 and the second language (L2) predict that learners will have difficulties acquiring grammatical differences such as the contrast between the Preterit and the Imperfect. Recent studies claim that not all learners are biased by the traditional Vendlerian lexical aspect typology (Domínguez et al., 2013; González, 2013), which may mean that refinement of the LAH is necessary. For our study, L1 English and Dutch learners of Spanish performed the same written production task, which involved the retelling of a story after watching a muted video. The results, based on an approximate binomial distribution analysis, show that the use of both the Preterit and the Imperfect by English‐speaking learners is biased by dynamicity contrasts. Furthermore, their overuse of Preterit to complete the written task shows L1 transfer from the English past tense, which can be uttered in perfective and imperfective contexts. On the other hand, the results of L1 Dutch speakers show that the use of Spanish grammatical aspect is biased by the terminative‐durative classification, and that they prefer the Present Perfect in perfective contexts, also showing L1 transfer.

Elaboración de un corpus cacográfico desde la disponibilidad léxica en estudiantes sevillanos. Un análisis para la enseñanza de la lengua

&lt;p&gt;The lexical availability arose with a predominantly didactic character: the teaching of a language. However, most research studies do not include among their objectives the study of the orthographic situation of the population studied. In this article, we part from a review of the different investigations of lexical availability that have paid attention to the orthographic aspects –its patterns of analysis and cataloguing– to propose a common procedure that allows future diatopic comparisons. After that, a detailed analysis of the orthographical situation is carried out from a sample of 400 pre-university students that will constitute the cacographic corpus of the most frequent errors of these users. This corpus will be categorized around four categories –accentuation, letters, morphosyntax and lexicon– and forty subcategories. This detailed analysis of spelling errors will be very useful in the field of language teaching in order to plan and develop materials, which could help solving orthographical problems presented by the users and learners of Spanish, both as a mother tongue and as a foreign language.&lt;/p&gt;

Academic peer tutors and academic biliteracy development in students of Spanish as a heritage language

ABSTRACTThis study explores the literacy development of students who speak Spanish as a heritage language and who participate in mandatory, peer-to-peer tutoring sessions outside of the classroom. We explore students’ academic development as well as their self-positioning as heritage speakers in a bilingual academic setting. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), we analyze the written production of seven bilingual students enrolled in a Native Speaker Program at a large, public university. We focus on the development of their academic language through the support of a heritage language tutor and explore the role of the peer tutor as a facilitator in this process. Additionally, we employ Appraisal Theory to analyze interviews in which the same participants explore their bilingual identities and how they position themselves interpersonally as a result of conversations held with a peer mentor, thus demonstrating the benefits of learning Spanish as a heritage language through peer-led learning in academic contexts.

Enseignement et apprentissage de la langue espagnole pour la coopération internationale : le cas des masters en France

Ce travail analyse le cadre de formation des matières d’espagnol intégrées dans des masters français spécialisés en coopération internationale et les besoins des étudiants de ces formations, afin de fournir des informations utiles pour l’élaboration de programmes spécifiques.

Learning Spanish: The best-sellers for home reading classes

The article deals with the learning material for such kind of classes in non-linguistic University as home reading. Best-sellers are considered to be suitable literary material for these purposes. The objective of the study is to prove the inaccuracy of the traditional point of view that defends the so-called canonical texts (classics) as the only basis for learning foreign languages. A separate issue here is the specific nature of the Moscow State University for International Relations that specify the sources for reading in the foreign language when they can differ from those of other universities. On the other hand, student motivation stands out as one of the key points when choosing reading material.Taking examples from the novels of the Spanish authors Arturo Pérez-Reverte and Eduardo Mendoza, we expose their didactic usefulness as they represent cultural, historical and linguistic interest, despite all the pessimism on the subject of the advocates of pure classical literature, the artistic value of which is certainly indisputable.In conclusion we advocate the wider use of high-quality best-selling books to teach the Spanish language in home reading classes.

The category of animacy and its acquisition in the grammars of Russian and Spanish

The category of animacy is the expression in grammar of the opposition between animate and inanimate beings. This category does not grammaticalize in every language and, even if it does, it almost never grammaticalizes in the same way. To show this, I will analyze here the animacy effects in two languages, which seem to grammaticalize in similar ways (Spanish and Russian). In these two languages, animacy mainly affects differential object marking (the so-called DOM). Unlike other European languages, both Russian and Spanish make use of DOM for animate objects (Veo a mi amigo / Я вижу своего друга), but there are independent factors that distinguish the Russian and the Spanish patterns. Having in mind the difficulties that learners of Russian and Spanish must face, I will offer a brief comparative of the acquisition of the DOM in these two languages by different types of speakers (speakers of L1, heritage language speakers and speakers of L2).