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Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish
Edited by Sara L. Zahler, Avizia Y. Long and Bret Linford
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 37] 2023
► pp. 292–320

Chapter 10
Variable outcomes abroad

Exploring the role of pre-program proficiency in the development of Spanish future-time expression

| University of Pittsburgh
| Indiana University

Empirical research has reported differential effects of proficiency level on acquisition in the study-abroad (SA) context. We tested whether pre-SA proficiency influences learners’ acquisition of variable structures during SA, analyzing Spanish future-time expression, a structure conveyed through multiple forms with distributions that differ regionally.

We surveyed English-speaking learners of Spanish who participated in 7-week programs in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico, whom we compared with local native speakers of Spanish. Before and after SA, learners completed a contextualized preference task created to examine variable future forms. Mixed-effects regressions revealed that, although learners generally approximated local targets, development according to proficiency level was not uniform, indicating the complex role of proficiency across grammatical structures and geographic regions.

Keywords: proficiency, study abroad, future-time variation, Spain, Mexico
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Expression of futurity in Spanish
    • L2 acquisition of Spanish future
    • Study abroad and the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation
    • Proficiency and its relationship to linguistic outcomes during study abroad
  • Present study
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Tasks
      • Analysis
    • Results
      • Rates of selection
      • Independent variables
      • Present indicative
  • Discussion
    • Answers to Research Questions
    • The role of pre-program proficiency
  • Conclusions and future directions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 6 June 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.10kan
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