Domestic immersion (DI) is an effective context for postsecondary language learning, given that DI's instructor-curated environments promote meaningful second language use while providing abundant support for learners. However, DI is at present understudied within second language acquisition research, especially when compared to its more…

Through either morphological or functional approaches, previous research has examined how instructed second language (L2) learners develop control over a challenging area of French: the use of the "imparfait." In order to better understand this challenge, this cross-sectional study utilized both approaches and examined how 94 university…

Although researchers often acknowledge the importance of linguistically rich interactions in the academic language development of emergent bilingual students, few studies have explicitly examined the role of linguistic peer support and the underlying structure of social relationships in the second language learning experiences and outcomes of…

English learners of French whose first language (L1) does not mark the perfective/imperfective distinction have shown verb semantic influence and an overall preference for perfective over imperfective in their use of second language (L2) tense-aspect markers. This study investigated whether learners whose L1 marks the perfective/imperfective…

Analysis of the reading strategies used by Spanish-speaking students of English as a Second Language (ESL) for ESL reading comprehension tests and academic reading tasks revealed that students' knowledge of how to use a strategy effectively, rather than use of a specific strategy, led to more successful reading comprehension. (38 references) (CB)

Discusses how native speakers of Spanish, accustomed to dealing with nonnative Spanish speakers, evaluated 18 taped nonnative speech samples that provided a wide sample of pronunciation. Comprehensibility, voice agreeability/ disagreeability, and nativeness of accent were rated. (32 references) (LB)

Problems encountered in the teaching of Spanish to bilingual Spanish-speaking students are discussed. The implications of teaching the standard dialect of Spanish are considered, and a normative approach to language instruction is compared to a comprehensive language development program. (CLK)

Spanish-speaking learners of Portuguese often transfer features of Spanish language to Portuguese. Learner errors, including those caused by Spanish interference, are analyzed by contrasting Portuguese and Spanish grammar. (SW)

Contrastive analysis of Spanish and English reveals the importance of giving as much attention to suprasegmentals as to segmentals in the teaching of pronunciation. (CFM)