Proponents of Processing Instruction (VanPatten, 2005) claim that learners benefit most when presented with both referential and affective structured input activities. Following a classic pretest-posttest design, the present study investigates the role of these two types of activities on the learning of the Spanish subjunctive. Groups differed…

A study of children's structuring of complex sentences requiring mood choices is reported. The objectives were to provide data for an understanding of sentence construction problems and to form a better idea of the acquisition of the intrinsic linguistic contrasts in the Spanish modal system. (MSE)

Although Spanish mood has been taught through a framework of categorical rules, recently attempts have been made to clarify the exact nature of certain rules and to better understand the patterns of rule variability that exist outside the classroom. This article examines the intersection of mood with notions such as habituality, general truths,…

Explores several aspects of Spanish mood use within the single dialect area of the Texas-Mexico border that exhibits two slightly different varieties of Spanish. Findings reveal an overwhelming variability in mood use in every example studied on both sides of the border. Age does not play any role in mood selection for either group. Other findings…

The appearance of English auxiliaries in the speech of five native speakers of Spanish is described, as well as these subjects' acquisition of the negative and interrogative transformations. (Author/RM)

The Spanish tense system was chosen as a starting point to establish the systematic character of the Spanish used in situations of intense code switching between Spanish and English. The tense system was chosen for two reasons: (1) the distinction among past tenses (in particular, the imperfect indicative vs. the preterite and the past continuous)…

Written for probationary patrol inspectors at the Border Patrol Training School, El Paso, Texas, this text presents a concise, traditional analysis of Spanish grammar. Each of the 21 lessons focuses on an aspect of the language including sections on the parts of speech, special verbs, commands, numbers, passive voice, and the subjunctive mood. A…

A study examined the acquisition of negation in English as a Second Language in a 4-year-old Salvadoran girl, a native speaker of Spanish. Specifically, the study looked for evidence of language transfer in bilingual acquisition and the direction of that transfer (Spanish to English, English to Spanish). Over 5 months, spontaneous speech (55…

The research reported in this paper is concerned with three questions. Are the processes of language development complete by the time children begin school? What is the order of the emergence of control of grammatical rules? And is that order similar for first and second language learners? The data used in the analysis come from a project centered…

This memorandum is the third in a series of publications which will ultimately combine to form the basis of a "Syllabus for the Training of Teachers of Standard English as a Second Dialect." Most of the culturally and economically disadvantaged are not native speakers of standard English, but speakers of a nonstandard dialect. The syllabus is…