Article published in:
Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International EducationVol. 3:2 (2018) ► pp. 243–274
Acquisition, study abroad and individual differences
The case of subject pronoun variation in L2 Spanish
Bret Linford | Grand Valley State University
Sara Zahler | SUNY Albany
Melissa Whatley | University of Georgia
The current study examines the combined effect of type and quantity of contact with the target language on the second language
development of a variable structure, ‘subject pronoun expression’ in L2 Spanish. A written contextualized task and a language
contact questionnaire were given to 26 second language learners of Spanish before and after a six-week study abroad in Valencia,
Spain. Their selection of overt and null subject pronouns was compared to native speakers from the study abroad region as well as
to learners and native speakers in previous research in a US university context. Results suggest that learners with higher rates
of self-reported contact with native speakers while abroad approximate the Valencian native speaker norms more at the end of study
abroad than those who report fewer contact hours. However, differences between the groups at the beginning of study abroad
indicate that characteristics other than contact hours also differentiate the two learner groups.
Article outline
- 1.Variation in second languages
- 1.1Type and quantity of target-language exposure
- 2.Spanish subject expression
- 2.1NS subject expression
- 2.2L2 Subject expression
- 3.The current study
- 4.Method
- 4.1Participants
- 4.2Learning context
- 4.3Procedure
- 4.4Materials
- 4.4.1Written contextualized task
- 4.4.2The grammar test
- 4.4.3The questionnaires
- 4.5Analysis
- 5.Results
- 5.1Rates of subject pronoun selection on the WCT
- 5.2Regression analyses
- 5.3Distribution of selection of overt subject pronouns by factor
- 5.4Rates and regression analyses including contact group
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
Published online: 12 October 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.17003.lin
https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.17003.lin
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