Task-based language teaching and interaction are facilitative contexts for instructed second language acquisition and include abundant opportunities for learners to receive authentic input, engage in negotiation for meaning and pushed output, and to receive feedback and direct attention to linguistic features (Goo, 2019, p. 247). Individual…

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…

Measures of 31 Latinx students' attitudes in a Grade 5 Spanish dual language bilingual education (DLBE) program were compared with those of the same students four years prior. Twenty-one mainstream English students comprised a comparison group for the same time period. Some statistically significant changes occurred for students in DLBE related to…

Spanish-speaking immigrant students, particularly those from Central America, constitute a rapidly growing subpopulation in U.S. public schools. As primary institutions for socialization, cultural learning, and academic knowledge development, schools often offer immigrant students their first experience of U.S. cultures and the English language.…

This dissertation examines heritage language learners of Spanish enrolled in university Spanish courses, focusing on their strategic use of suprasegmental speech features in two speaking tasks. The research investigates attitudes' influence on heritage language learners' speech production in different task types. Participants engaged in two…

One of the key aspects to learning a language is building good vocabulary knowledge. However, building vocabulary is considered to be as hard a process as developing the language itself in the long term. In second language acquisition (SLA), the larger vocabulary size has been connected to intelligence and as a major determinant of successful…

Reading motivation may elucidate discrepancies in reading achievement among multilingual high school students whose first language is Spanish. Utilizing a person-centered approach to investigate underlying reading motivation profiles among N = 174 adolescent native Spanish speakers (NSS), analyses yielded three latent profiles of reading…

This study investigated classroom interaction through the framework of "stancetaking" (Du Bois, 2007) to understand how Spanish second language (L2) learners positioned themselves when participating in communicative language learning activities. Data came from transcribed audio and video recordings of three 90-minute lessons in one…

This study compares the beliefs and practices of Mexican university students with conventions of resume writing in English. Due to the nonexistence of a single definitive source on resume writing and the differences between conventions in English-speaking countries and in Mexico, students may make incorrect assumptions. Forty up-to-date, credible…

This article investigates the use of culture portfolios in second language Spanish university classes at an American private university as part of an innovation that incorporated an ACTFL standards-based curriculum to a basic language programme. The portfolios required students to complete different types of tasks through interactions with members…

The goal of this paper is to describe a group of adult Mexican English learners' ideologies about different APPRAISAL patterns in English-language scientific texts. APPRAISAL is a descriptive framework of the linguistic resources used to convey feelings and attitudes (Martin & White, 2005). This topic is particularly interesting in EAP…

Since 2002, which marks the end of the Civil War in Angola, a large multilingual and multicultural workforce from various corners of the world has entered the Angolan education system. This paper investigates language barriers experienced in the classroom of Spanish speaking lecturers by Portuguese speaking students. The study focuses on a group…

This dissertation aims to contribute knowledge to the literature about ESOL students' digital literacy practices related to educational purposes. I studied the varied digital literacy practices the students used as mediating tools to perform their university activities (e.g., crossing to come to school, communicate with classmates/instructors…

Despite the increase of Spanish heritage language (HL) courses in response to the linguistic needs of HL learners, these courses often combine this student population with advanced second language (L2) learners. This common scenario presents a challenge to many instructors who lack the training to negotiate intercultural and linguistic issues in…

Increased mobility due to globalization and other geopolitical shifts has changed school demographics worldwide. In the Midwest, much of this new immigrant population is Spanish-speaking and in need of language support. Consequently, schools play an important role in responding to the New Latino Diaspora. In this paper, we describe how unconscious…