On college campuses throughout the United States, classes for decades have been offered to help Spanish speakers learn Portuguese, augmented recently by similar courses in Italian, French, and Catalan. Though there exist numerous commonalities between these innovative course offerings, the pivotal role of Spanish stands out. This essay therefore…

A great deal of research concerning the acquisition of English morphology as a second language has been carried out in order to explain some typical stages in the acquisition of the English-s morphemes and the difficulty confronted by second language learners. According to Siegel (2003), interlanguage and functional transfer both play a crucial…

Previous studies have drawn some results concerning the way in which second language (L2) students use their first language (L1) when producing texts in their L2. Therefore, this study examines the influence L1 written structure has on L2 written structure when students are asked to carry out assignments in the L2. To answer this question, twenty…

Use of the Cognitive Skills Inventory (CSI) in cross-cultural studies was investigated by comparing responses of 348 English-speaking, 142 bilingual Puerto Rican, and 109 monolingual Spanish college students. Analyses illustrate a stable and reliable factor structure across cultures for the CSI and its Spanish translation. (SLD)

A study investigated the stigma associated with not speaking a native language in a Hispanic community. Subjects were 288 male and female university students and staff, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, in the San Diego (California) area. Two forms of a paper-and-pencil survey were administered to the subjects; one gave a stimulus figure, a Mexican…

Drawing on data collected for a larger study of second language learner characteristics at the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), a profile of freshmen taking introductory Spanish in 1990-91 is reported. Subjects were 21 students, 20 female and 1 male. Most were of traditional college age, and a few were in their 30s. Almost half had previous…

A study examined university students' beliefs about the availability and content of Spanish courses designed for heritage speakers. Subjects were 50 students in three classes at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, who were administered a questionnaire on student demographics, prior Spanish language instruction or instruction in…

This paper explores what is meant by "thinking" in a target language. Factors that determine both unplanned and planned use of more than one language for thinking are discussed, and empirical data from a mini-survey and from personal language learning and language using experiences are presented. The role of target-language thinking in improving…

Eight students taking English as a Second Language in a Puerto Rican university kept dialog journals in which they discussed English as a symbol of U.S. colonial domination of Puerto Rico and the erosion of Puerto Rican cultural identity, the relative importance of English and Spanish, and contradictions related to U.S. citizenship and the need…

A study investigated the role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning by administering a semantic differential measure to college students studying Spanish in three different tracks (linguistic, cultural, and bilingual, or native-speaker). The student's track was determined by grades and language experience. Findings suggest that…