The aim of this commentary is to discuss and promote discussion on some linguistic and pedagogical issues around the use of gender inclusive language, particularly the -e morpheme in plural forms, in Spanish. Its speakers are experiencing and becoming aware of language change in real time concerning the use of morphosyntactic choices that seek…

Critical pedagogy surrounding Spanish as a heritage language (SHL) has focused on the student's attitudes regarding their language and culture, specifically as it relates to Spanish and Latinxs in the United States. These heritage language (HL) learners, who were exposed to Spanish in the home, enroll in Spanish classes to further a sense of…

The pedagogies that are currently being put forward within a broad multilingual paradigm in languages education endorse the general principle that learning is a collaborative and dialogic process engaging learners and teachers as partners that bring diverse linguistic, cultural and other knowledge into the classroom. The plurilingual approach to…

This paper studies how transnational children and their distantly located but emotionally close family members recreate their relationship using applications for online video calling. The focus is on the interaction of bodies and language, and if/how proximity of any kind is enabled. A critical posthumanist applied linguistics is embraced and…

Appropriateness-based models of language learning and teaching are rooted in a pervasive neocolonial agenda informed by Eurocentric epistemologies of "standard" or "academic" language (Flores & Rosa, 2015). In examining the normalized limitations of a language program through a raciolinguistic lens, we can better comprehend…

In recent years, the World Languages field has witnessed an increased interest in service-learning (SL) initiatives. Many SL projects focus on the potential that Spanish-speaking communities offer students of Spanish, as a foreign language, to increase their language skills and cultural understanding of these communities. Some authors, however,…

This article draws on an approach that conceptualizes L2 learning difficulty in terms of implicit and explicit knowledge. In a study with first language Mexican Spanish university-level learners (n = 30), their teachers (n = 11), and applied linguistics experts (n = 3), we investigated the relationship between (a) these groups' difficulty…

This case study analyzed data from an asynchronous written mediated exchange between a native speaker and nonnative speaker of English. Three methods of analysis-error analysis, propositional complexity (idea units), and qualitative analysis were used to analyze learner performance over time. The results from these methods were visualized and…

Applied linguistics may benefit from a morphological complexity measure to get a better grip on language learning problems and to better understand what kind of typological differences between languages are more important than others in facilitating or impeding adult learning of an additional language. Using speaking proficiency scores of 9,000…

Adopting an "exploratory action research" design and drawing primarily on a reflective journal and interviews, this study recounts the process of supporting first-year Applied Languages students (learning French, German and Spanish) as they started to engage in language research. Certain challenges they faced in engaging with the…

Among the new and multiple demands from contemporary society, framed in a global context of constant changes and advances, one of the most outstanding needs in recent years is the early acquisition of a second language. It is commonly known that, when starting the process of learning a second language or L2 being in adulthood, the results are not…

In socio- and applied linguistic research, age tends to be accounted for as fixed, biographical information, and individuals in later life have rarely been considered more than marginally. In this paper, I attempt to address this oversight by presenting data from multilingual subjects over the age of 65 as they take part in a language and literacy…

The purpose of the present study is to investigate what miscue analysis, a method described as a "window" into the reading process, can reveal about first and second language reading. Two participants, native English speakers proficient in Spanish, read and retold two folktales: one in English and one in Spanish. The researcher performed…

Many scholars have noted the disjunction between language instruction at the lower- and upper levels of FL study (Byrnes, 2002; Kraemer, 2008; Lord, 2014; Maxim, 2005; Schultz, 2000; Swaffar & Arens, 2005). Whereas lower-division courses tend to focus primarily on learning grammatical patterns and the "four skills," upper-level…

This review presents a broad picture of recent work on L2 Spanish in educational contexts. The thematic and geographic scope of the review is wide, in order to capture the diversity of learners and learning contexts of L2 Spanish, just two decades after teaching and learning the language gained impetus worldwide. Traditional second or foreign…