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Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, challenges, and possibilities
Edited by Mandy R. Menke and Paul A. Malovrh
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 31] 2021
► pp. 193–216

Chapter 9
L2 proficiency and L2 dialect processing during study abroad

| University of Iowa

In this chapter, we examine how proficiency and L2 dialect processing interact over the course of a three-month study abroad program in Buenos Aires, Argentina in L1 English/L2 Spanish learners. To measure dialect processing changes, participants completed an auditory form-priming task in which primes and targets were taken from Mexican and Buenos Aires Spanish. The pretest results show differences within and across proficiency levels for dialect processing, as do the posttests. This study adds to the literature on advancedness and language acquisition by highlighting how dialect-specific knowledge develops over the course of study abroad and how advanced learners (vs. less-advanced) develop dialect-specific representations.

Keywords: advanced L2 proficiency, dialect processing, dialect representation, study abroad
Article outline
  • Background
    • Processing
    • L2 learners and dialect processing
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Tasks
      • Spanish proficiency tasks
        • Task one: Monologue
        • Tasks two and three: Grammatical and lexical knowledge
        • Tasks four and five: Timed processing speed
    • Auditory form priming with lexical decision
      • Stimuli
    • Procedure
  • Results
    • Proficiency tasks
    • Auditory priming task
    • Discussion of auditory priming results
    • Difference score and proficiency measures
    • Discussion of difference score ~ proficiency results
  • General discussion
    • Changes in L2 dialect processing
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 February 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.31.09she
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