This longitudinal study tracked ten L1 English-speaking learners' acquisition of Spanish voiceless stops /ptk/ by measuring their voice onset time (VOT) over an academic year in two distinct contexts of learning. Living in a Spanish-speaking dorm, participants in the experimental group experienced a "domestic partial-immersion," in which…

Interacting with native speakers in various types of virtual exchanges is becoming increasingly accessible for language learners and teachers around the world. The present study examined the experiences of beginning and intermediate level learners of Spanish in the United States as they interacted weekly with native Spanish speakers over the…

While mobile devices have become increasingly integral to students' lives, there is an apparent disconnect between this trend and our second language (L2) pedagogy. The present study investigates potential benefits of a nontraditional assignment, texting, on vocabulary acquisition and motivation in adult learners of Spanish. Quantitative results…

Purpose: Situated within a complex social-political and developmental context marked by racialization and identity formation, this research aims to illuminate the nuanced ways Latinx youth navigate their bilingual experience amidst varying educational models and linguistic environments. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to investigate…

This study investigated multiple learning motivation aspects of Chinese university students in Macau majoring in Spanish and Portuguese. A mixed methods research was employed by using questionnaires and interviews. 181 learners (96 Portuguese and 85 Spanish majors) were surveyed about ten language-learning motivation dimensions by using a…

Immersion programs have long been considered the gold standard for school-based language revitalization, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to the quantity and quality of the input that they provide to young language learners. Drawing on new data from three such programs (Kaqchikel, Western Subanon, and Maori), each with its own…

In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the…

This cross-sectional study provides a language learning motivational profile of undergraduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees taking language IWLP courses (language options open to all undergraduates) in a UK institution. Trends were generated through a questionnaire (363 participants) using self-determination…

Very little research has been conducted on the effects of CLIL on L1 competence development. This article compares CLIL and non-CLIL learners' levels of attainment in Spanish Language and Literature in seven public schools in the South of Spain. Learners' verbal intelligence and motivation were previously matched in order to homogenise the sample.…

Research on heritage language (HL) development and education has characterized the unique linguistic, sociocultural, and affective profiles of heritage-language (HL) students, yet foreign-language (FL) education has only begun to understand HL students in relation to non-heritage students (Carreira & Kagan, 2011; Felix, 2008). To deepen our…

Learning a third language (TL) brings with it particular pedagogical demands. In the pedagogy of TL learning now emerging, the development of students' metalinguistic and crosslinguistic awareness is of central importance. In particular, emphasis is placed on the benefits of cross-referencing with supporter languages. While comparisons with…

This dissertation explores how teaching Spanish and English as second languages in the United States has been traditionally defined, the common assumptions that are held about each context, and the influence these assumptions have on instructional practices and student learning. In order to explore how teaching English and Spanish is constructed…

The question going into this action research was, "How can a language teacher encourage more positive attitudes toward language learning while building a learning community?" After incorporating "I Can" statements into the curriculum, more than 100 third grade students were surveyed. The survey asked what they thought they could do in Spanish.…

This article is part of a large-scale project on the study of Spanish in high school that reports on an investigation of the low college enrollments in Spanish courses of students who study Spanish in high school. An online survey was administered to 631 high school students studying Spanish and 19 Spanish teachers, and the results revealed that…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of multimedia as a delivery tool for enhancing vocabulary in second-language classrooms. The mixed method design focused on specific techniques to help students acquire Spanish vocabulary and communication skills. The theoretical framework for this study consisted of second language theories…