Our preferences and evaluations are often affected by contextual factors. One unavoidable context is language. We used an evaluative conditioning (EC) paradigm (pairing neutral stimuli with emotional or neutral stimuli) to investigate whether our evaluations are equally conditioned in a first (L1) and a second language (L2). An EC effect was…

This study investigates the effects of multilingualism and the degree of proficiency in different languages on vocabulary knowledge among Spanish language learners. Participants completed a 160-word meaning recall test designed to measure their knowledge of the 8,000 most frequent Spanish words and a self-assessment questionnaire on their…

ChatGPT employs a deep learning (DL) model constructed using artificial neural networks and designed to analyze input data and extract increasingly complex features (Hu and Buehler 2023). Its chatbot interface makes it easy to use, requiring just a prompt to generate a response from the model. It is capable of producing fluent text in multiple…

The impact of attitudes on the learning process and on the academic results achieved by students has been the object of numerous studies, which have shown a connection between attitudes and learning. Similarly, the impact of students' attitudes towards learning a foreign language (mainly English) has been explored from a wide range of…

Evidence suggests that short-term study abroad experiences can help advance various dimensions of second language (L2) learners' linguistic competence. However, the extent to which gains following a brief sojourn are durable and maintained after immersion remains an open question. The present study examined both the immediate and sustained…

Does saying a novel word help to recognize it later? Previous research on the effect of production on this aspect of word learning is inconclusive, as both facilitatory and detrimental effects of production are reported. In a set of three experiments, we sought to reconcile the seemingly contrasting findings by disentangling the production from…

If maximal exposure were the key to success in language learning, then adult learners at the university level would be doomed to fail. Not only are they presumably too old to learn additional languages effectively, but target language (TL) input appears to be insufficient, especially when other languages are allowed in class. Nevertheless,…

In today's multilingual and multicultural societies, different languages and cultural orientations converge for complex purposes. This study examines how Spanish language students and their native peers (L1 peer = L1P) experiment with dynamic and culturally embedded language uses in higher education. The data included conversation recordings…

The increasing linguistic diversity of the students in schools poses a major challenge for inclusive educational systems in which everyone can learn the language of instruction effectively and, likewise, can have access to contents, being language the necessary tool to the latter end. Research suggests that there is a robust connection between…

The purpose of this study was to investigate sub-lexical segmentation in Spanish-speaking children based on the perception of regular syllables (pseudomorphemes), as well as their association with a visual referent. Both of these skills are the precursors to learning morphology for language acquisition. Twenty-three 12-month-old children…

Reading is regarded as one of the basic learning processes that provides multiple skills and abilities for daily life. The study reported on here arose from evidence of reading comprehension difficulties of middle school students in Colombia, and from reflection on the didactic strategies used for the promotion and teaching of reading. The purpose…

This article presents a research work that is aimed at developing a gamified system and a questionnaire to analyse, in a subsequent phase, how the motivation of university students of Spanish as a second language changes in a gamification context. The article is part of the data-collection phase for a doctoral thesis. Here, we discuss the…

The imagination effect occurs when students learn better from imagining concepts and procedures rather than from studying them. Cognitive load theory explains the effect by better use of available working memory resources and increased productive, intrinsic cognitive load. The effect has been found in numerous empirical studies. However, in the…

Education in Spain and Latin America has been experiencing an ever-increasing use of English as a medium of instruction at all levels and across curricula. Bringing the vast research-literature into a reflective dialogue is paramount to advancing the discipline and to refining English teaching practices. As such, this literature review…

The present work is a historical/linguistic account of an unprecedented fact regarding the existence of two English Speaking Communities [British English and American English], in our country the Dominican Republic, where Spanish is the official and most used language, to the extent of being considered a monolingual nation or country. It is…