This multiple case study examines language-focused instruction in 3 university Spanish literature classes to examine the students' and instructors' perspectives on language learning in this context. The classes were studied for a semester through observations, instructor interviews and stimulated recalls, and student questionnaires. Among the…

This study compares descriptive quantitative and qualitative data from 2 beginning, university-level second-language (L2) Spanish classes to demonstrate the benefits of teacher-led discourse organized as collaborative, whole-class tasks. In class, the teacher solicited target L2 forms through conversational questions to individuals with recasted…

The goal of this article is to further our understanding of how learning opportunities are created in interactions. Based on a conversation analysis of peer interactions of foreign language learners, we investigate how the negotiation of expert positions among these learners affects this process. The focus of the analysis is on the relationship…

Research on immersion teaching has consistently shown that immersion teachers tend to focus on subject matter content at the expense of language teaching. The response to that research has often entailed suggestions for teachers on how better to integrate language and content in their instruction. However, missing from the discussion are rich…

This study investigates dominant language transfer (from English) in adult Spanish second language (L2) learners and Spanish heritage speakers. We focus on contrasting properties of English and Spanish definite articles with respect to generic reference ("Elephants have ivory tusks" vs. "Los elefantes tienen colmillos de marfil") and inalienable…

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…

The Spanish subjunctive has been known to pose difficulties for learners of Spanish whose native language is English (e.g., Collentine, 1997, 2003; Terrell, Baycroft, & Perrone, 1987). Investigating the same feature in heritage learners of Spanish can provide more information about the linguistic development of this growing population. This pilot…

In contrast with the field of second language acquisition (SLA), where until recently sociocultural concerns were largely unaddressed (Block, 2007), identity has always been at the core of heritage language (HL) education. The present article highlights this often overlooked history and presents action research centering on a Spanish critical…

In this article we set out to explore and discuss reasons for reading literary texts in university curricula of foreign languages. Our analysis is based on 2 sources of information: 16 syllabi of Spanish as a foreign language and a questionnaire in which 11 university instructors teaching these syllabi express their intentions. We point to a…

This study investigates the case of 7 female heritage learners of Spanish who have chosen, as adults, to enroll in online Spanish language instruction at the postsecondary level. Drawing on symbolic convergence theory, it identifies a cultural fantasy metanarrative that participants collectively constructed as they made sense of their language…

Using a sociocultural theoretical lens, this study examines the nature of student interactions in a dual immersion school to analyze affordances for bilingual language learning, language exchange, and co-construction of language expertise. This article focuses on data from audio- and video-recorded interactions of fifth-grade students engaged in…

Using a quantitative approach, this study explores the use of textual elaboration as a modification option for literary texts in an intermediate-level Spanish as a second language (L2) course. The results suggest that, with elaborative modifications, literary texts could have an expanded role in L2 instruction for lower proficiency students, thus…

This study examines possible connections between second language competency and frequency and type of gesture use (illustrators, compensatory illustrators, adaptors, emblems, regulators, and affect displays). To this end, 75 students enrolled in beginning, intermediate, and advanced college-level Spanish courses were videotaped while conversing in…

This qualitative study provides preliminary insight into the role of the first language (L1) when pairs of intermediate-level college learners of French and Spanish are engaged in consciousness-raising, form-focused grammar tasks. Using conversation analysis of audiotaped interactions and stimulated recall sessions, we explored the ways students…

English learners of French whose first language (L1) does not mark the perfective/imperfective distinction have shown verb semantic influence and an overall preference for perfective over imperfective in their use of second language (L2) tense-aspect markers. This study investigated whether learners whose L1 marks the perfective/imperfective…