This article examines the role of linguistic and sociolinguistic factors in the second language (L2) acquisition of Spanish vibrants. The data consist of 2 sets of recordings from 37 students enrolled in a Spanish pronunciation class. The statistical program VarbRul was used to analyze 7,597 samples. The vibration (simple or multiple) and the…

This study examines how novice foreign language (FL) writers develop their genre awareness, linguistic knowledge, and writing competence in a genre-based writing course that incorporates email-writing tasks. To define genre, the study draws on systemic functional linguistics (SFL) that sees language as a resource for making meaning in a particular…

Krashen's (1981) second language learning monitor model and Labov's (1978) first language acquisition monitor model are compared, and it is concluded that monitoring is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but is variable. It is also suggested that the ability to monitor in formal language styles may improve accuracy in less formal styles, based on…