Chapter published in:
Speaking in a Second Language
Edited by Rosa Alonso Alonso
[AILA Applied Linguistics Series 17] 2018
► pp. 1–24

Chapter 1
Sociolinguistic competence and the acquisition of speaking

In face-to-face spoken interactions, language learners must construct a meaningful message consistent with the L2 grammar, articulate it comprehensibly, and manage the aspects of oral communication that reflect speaker identity, interlocutor identities, and the characteristics of the interactional context. A lack of sociolinguistic competence can lead to a failure to convey formality, politeness, solidarity, friendship, and group membership, and this will negatively affect the communicative outcome. The current chapter examines the social and situational information one conveys through linguistic variants in speech, offering a state-of-the-art account of empirical research, including a discussion of pressing issues in the field, such as the roles of lexical frequency, geographic variation, and language attitudes, as well as the pedagogical implications of this research.

Article outline
  • Introduction and overview
  • Linguistic variation and speaking in learner grammars
    • L2 speaking and the acquisition of sociolinguistically-variable sounds
    • L2 speaking and the acquisition of sociolinguistically variable morphosyntactic structures
  • Current issues in sociolinguistic competence and speaking
    • L2 speaking and the role of lexical frequency
    • L2 speaking and the role of geographic variation
    • L2 speaking and the role of language attitudes
  • Pedagogical implications
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 April 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.17.01gee
References
Adamson, H. D., & Regan, V.
(1991)  The acquisition of community speech norms by Asian immigrants learning English as a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 13, 1–22. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Alford, R. L., & Strother, J. B.
(1990) Attitudes of native and nonnative speakers toward selected regional accents of U.S. English. TESOL Quarterly, 24, 479–495. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bachman, L. F.
(1990) Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bayley, R., & Langman, J.
(2004) Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 42, 303–318. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Canale, M., & Swain, M.
(1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chiba, R., Matsuura, H., & Yamamoto, A.
(1995) Japanese attitudes toward English accents. World Englishes, 14, 77–86. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clark, L., & Schleef, E.
(2010) The acquisition of sociolinguistic evaluations among Polish-born adolescents learning English: Evidence from perception. Language Awareness, 19, 299–322. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clopper, C., & Bradlow, A.
(2009) Free classification of American English dialects by native and nonnative listeners. Journal of Phonetics, 37, 436–451. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dalola, A., & Bullock, B. E.
(2016) On sociophonetic competence: Phrase-final vowel devoicing in native and advanced L2 speakers of French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Advance online publication. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dalton-Puffer, C., Kaltenboeck, G., & Smit, U.
(1997) Learner attitudes and L2 pronunciation in Austria. World Englishes, 16, 115–128. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M.
(2002) Using sociostylistic variants in advanced French IL: The case of nous/on. Eurosla Yearbook, 3, 205–226. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M.
(2006) The effect of style in second language phonology: An analysis of segmental acquisition in study abroad and regular-classroom students. In C. A. Klee & T. L. Face (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 7th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp. 26–39). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Díaz-Campos, M., & Gradoville, M.
(2011) An analysis of frequency as a factor contributing to the diffusion of variable phenomena: Evidence from Spanish data. In L.A. Ortiz López (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 13th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 224–238). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Donaldson, B.
(2016) Negation in near-native French: Variation and sociolinguistic competence. Language Learning, 67, 141–170. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z., Csizer, K., & Nemeth, N.
(2006) Motivation, language attitudes and globalisation: A Hungarian perspective. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z., MacIntyre, P., & Henry, A.
(Eds.) (2015) Motivational dynamics in language learning. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Eckert, P., & Rickford, J. R.
(2001) Style and sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. C.
(1996)  Analyzing language sequence in the sequence of language acquisition: Some comments on Major and Ioup. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18, 361–368. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, N.C., & Collins, L.
(2009) Input and second language acquisition: The roles of frequency, form, and function introduction to the special issue. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 329–335. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R.
(2009) Task-based language teaching: Sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19, 221–246. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Erker, D., & Guy, G. R.
(2012) The role of lexical frequency in syntactic variability: Variable subject personal pronoun expression in Spanish. Language, 88, 526–557. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fafulas, S.
(2015) Progressive constructions in native-speaker and adult-acquired Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 8, 85–133. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K.
(2000) A new approach to the second language acquisition of copula choice in Spanish. In R. P. Leow & C. Sanz (Eds.), Spanish Applied Linguistics at the Turn of the Millennium: Papers from the 1999 Conference on the L1 & L2 Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese, (pp. 50–66). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L.
(2003) A comparison of copula choice: Native Spanish speakers and advanced learners. Language Learning, 53, 703–764. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Gudmestad, A.
(2008a) The acquisition of variation in second language Spanish: An agenda for integrating the studies of the second language sound system. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 5, 137–157.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K.L., & Gudmestad, A.
(2008b) Comparing interview and written elicitation tasks in native and non-native data: Do speakers do what we think they do? In J. Bruhn de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 10th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 64–77). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Long, A. Y.
(2014) Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition: Learning to use language in context. London: Routledge. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K., Linford, B., & Fafulas, S.
(2015) Variable subject expression in second language Spanish. In A.M. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Lapidus Shin (Eds.), Subject pronoun expression in Spanish: A cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 191–209). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L. & Schmidt, L. B.
(2016, October). Does context make the heart grow fonder? Linking language acquisition, language attitudes and language experience. Paper presented at the 2016 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Washington, DC: Georgetown University.Google Scholar
George, A.
(2014) Study abroad in central Spain: The development of regional phonological features. Foreign Language Annals, 47, 97–114. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gudmestad, A.
(2012) Acquiring a variable structure: An interlanguage analysis of second language mood use in Spanish. Language Learning, 62, 373–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gurzynski-Weiss, L., Geeslin, K., Daidone, D., Linford, B., Long, A., Michalski, I., & Solon, M.
(2018) Examining multifaceted sources of input: Variationist and usage-based approaches to understanding the L2 classroom. In A. Tyler, L. Ortega, M. Uno, & H. I. Park (Eds.), Usage-inspired L2 instruction: Researched pedagogy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gutiérrez, M., & Fairclough, M.
(2006) Incorporating linguistic variation into the classroom. In R. Salaberry & B. Lafford (Eds.), The art of teaching Spanish: Second language acquisition from research to praxis (pp. 173–191). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, J.G.
(2001)  Linguistic constraints on the acquisition of English syllable codas by native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. Applied Linguistics, 22, 338–365. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hay, J., & Drager, K.
(2010) Stuffed toys and speech perception. Linguistics, 48, 865–892. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Howard, M.
(2004) Sociolinguistic variation and second language acquisition: A preliminary study of advanced learners of French. SKY Journal of Linguistics, 17, 143–165.Google Scholar
Howard, M., Lemée, I., & Regan, V.
(2006) The L2 acquisition of a phonological variable: The case of /l/ deletion in French. Journal of French Language Studies, 16, 1–24. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hymes, D.
(1971) Sociolinguistics and the ethnography of speaking. In E. Ardener (Ed.), Social anthropology and language (pp. 47–93). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jarvella, R., Bang, E., Jakobsen, A. L., & Mees, I. M.
(2001) Of mouths and men: Non-native listeners’ identification and evaluation of varieties of English. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11, 37–56. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kanwit, M.
(2017) What we gain by combining variationist and concept-oriented approaches: The case of acquiring Spanish future-time expression. Language Learning, 67(2), 461–498. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kanwit, M., Geeslin, K.L., & Fafulas, S.
(2015) Study abroad and the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain. Probus, 27, 307–348. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M.
(2013) Acquiring variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico. In J.E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 206–221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Kennedy Terry, K. M.
(2016) Contact, context, and collocation: The emergence of sociostylistic variation in L2 French learners during study abroad. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. Advance online publication. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kinginger, C., & Farrell, K.
(2004) Assessing development of metapragmatic awareness in study abroad. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10, 19–42. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Knouse, S. M.
(2012) The acquisition of dialectal phonemes in a study abroad context: The case of the Castilian theta. Foreign Language Annals, 45, 512–542. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Labov, W.
(2001) Principles of linguistic change: Social factors (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ladegaard, H.
(1998) National stereotypes and language attitudes: The perception of British, American and Australian language and culture in Denmark. Language and Communication, 18, 251–274. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lafford, B.A., & Uscinski, I.
(2013) Study abroad and second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 386–403). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, W., Hodgson, R., Gardner, R. & Fillenbaum, S.
(1960) Evaluational reactions to spoken languages. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60, 44–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lemée, I.
(2002) Acquisition de la variation socio-stylistique dans l’interlangue d’apprenants hibernophones de franc¸ais: Le cas de on et nous. Marges Linguistiques, 4, 56–67.Google Scholar
Li, X.
(2010) Sociolinguistic variation in the speech of learners of Chinese as a second language. Language Learning, 60, 366–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Linford, B. G.
(2016) The second-language development of dialect-specific morpho-syntactic variation in Spanish during study abroad. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Linford, B., Long, A., Solon, M. & Geeslin, K.
(2016)  Measuring lexical frequency: Comparison groups and subject expression in L2 Spanish. In L. Ortega, A.E. Tyler, H.I. Park, M. Uno (Eds.), The usage-based study of language learning and multilingualism (pp. 137–155). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Linford, B., Long, A. Y., Solon, M., Whatley, M., & Geeslin, K.
(2016) Lexical frequency and subject expression in native and non-native Spanish. In S. Sassarego & F Tejedo-Herrero (Eds.), Spanish language and sociolinguistic analysis (pp. 197–219). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Linford, B., & Shin, N. L.
(2013) Lexical frequency effects on L2 Spanish subject pronoun expression. In J. Amaro, G. Lord, A. de Prada Pérez, & J. Aaron, Selected Proceedings of the of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 175–189). Sommerville, MA: Cascadillia Preceedings Project.Google Scholar
Long, A. Y.
(2016) The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence by Korean learners of Spanish: Development and use of the copula, subject expression, and intervocalic stops. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Long, M. H.
(2015) Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching. Malden, MA: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Lyster, R.
(1994) The effect of functional-analytic teaching on aspects of French immersion students’ sociolinguistic competence. Applied Linguistics, 15, 263–287. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
McIlrath, L., Lyons, A., & Munck, R.
(Eds.) (2012) Higher education and civic engagement: Comparative perspectives. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mougeon R., Nadasdi, T. & Rehner, K.
(2010) The sociolinguistic competence of immersion students. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, N., Blondeau, H., & Auger, J.
(2002) Second language acquisition and “real” French: An investigation of subject doubling in the French of Montreal Anglophones. Language Variation and Change, 15, 73–103.Google Scholar
Ortiz Jiménez, M.
(2013) Stigmatized linguistic identities and Spanish language teaching. International Proceedings of Economics Development & Research, 68, 129–135.Google Scholar
Raish, M.
(2015) The acquisition of an Egyptian phonological variant by U.S. students in Cairo. Foreign Language Annals, 48, 267–283. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ramírez, A.
(1983) Bilingüismo y actitudes hacia variedades del español entre estudiantes de Texas y California. Lingüística Española Actual, 5, 249–268.Google Scholar
Regan, V.
(2004) The relationship between the group and the individual and the acquisition of native speaker variation patterns: A preliminary study. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 42, 335–348. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2010) Sociolinguistic competence, variation patterns and identity construction in L2 and multilingual speakers. Eurosla Yearbook, 10, 21–37. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Regan, V., Howard, M., & Lemée, I.
(2009) The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad context. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rehner, K., Mougeon, R., & Nadasdi, T.
(2003) The learning of sociolinguistic variation by advanced FSL learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25, 127–156. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ringer-Hilfinger, K.
(2012) Learner acquisition of dialect variation in a study abroad context: The case of the Spanish [θ]. Foreign Language Annals, 45, 430–446. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salaberry, M. R.
(2000) The acquisition of English past tense in an instructional setting. System, 28, 135–152. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Salgado-Robles, F.
(2014)  Variación dialectal por aprendientes de español en un contexto de inmersión en el extranjero: Un análisis cuantitativo del uso leísta en el discurso oral y escrito. Lenguas Modernas, 43, 97–112.Google Scholar
Scales, J., Wennerstrom, A., Richard, D. & Wu, S. H.
(2006) Language learners’ perceptions of accent. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 715–738. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, L. B.
(2009) The effect of dialect familiarity via a study abroad experience on L2 comprehension of Spanish. In J. Collentine, M. García, & F. Marcos Marín (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 143–154). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2011) Acquisition of dialectal variation in second language: L2 perception of aspiration of Spanish /s/. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R.
(1990) The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11, 129–158. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Shirai, Y. & Andersen, R. W.
(1995) The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language, 71, 743–762. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Solon, M.
(2017, April). Acquisition of sociophonetic competence: Exploring contexts of acceptance of and preference for /d/ deletion. Paper presented at the Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.Google Scholar
Solon, M., Linford, B., & Geeslin, K.
accepted). Acquisition of sociophonetic variation: Intervocalic /d/ reduction in native and nonnative Spanish. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada. Crossref
Tagliamonte, S. A.
(2012) Variationist sociolinguistics: Change, observation, interpretation. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Tsai, M.
(2013) Rethinking communicative competence for typical speakers. Pragmatics and Cognition, 21, 158–177. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Valdman, A.
(1988) Classroom foreign language learning and language variation: The notion of pedagogical norms. World Englishes, 7, 221–236. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Young, R.
(1996) Form-function relations in articles in English interlanguage. In R. Bayley & D. R. Preston (Eds.), Second language acquisition and linguistic variation (pp. 135–175). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Albachten, Özlem Berk & Şehnaz Tahir Gürçağlar
2020. Retranslation and multimodality: introduction. The Translator 26:1 ► pp. 1 ff. Crossref logo
Havnen, Randi
2022. Fight for focus: attention and agency in sight-translated interaction. Perspectives 30:1 ► pp. 39 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 february 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.