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Description
The study of Spanish instructors’ beliefs is a recent development and the body of work is

small with little research conducted on their insights on the acquisition of any grammar form. Still, Spanish grammar includes the notoriously difficult subjunctive, a grammatical irrealis mood that is affixed to verbs. A national survey

The study of Spanish instructors’ beliefs is a recent development and the body of work is

small with little research conducted on their insights on the acquisition of any grammar form. Still, Spanish grammar includes the notoriously difficult subjunctive, a grammatical irrealis mood that is affixed to verbs. A national survey was conducted on Spanish professors and instructors (N=73) who teach at institutions randomly selected from a representative sample of American institutions of higher education. The survey was conducted to inquire on their beliefs regarding the most complex forms in Spanish, the causes of the subjunctive difficulty, and their preferred methods of teaching the form. The results first indicate that participants rated the subjunctive the most difficult grammar form. They attributed the cause of difficulty to be primarily interference from the first language and its abstractness. For instructing the subjunctive, participants generally supported form-oriented instruction with a metalanguage approach that focuses on forms. However, the participants disagreed greatly on whether meaning-focused instruction was valuable and dismissed drilling instruction of the subjunctive. Data from the participants provides a distribution of overextended tense, moods, and aspects in lieu of the Spanish subjunctive. However, instructors indicated that their students’ competence of the subjunctive was higher than their performance and that comprehension was not necessarily reliant on correct usage of the subjunctive as it was for proficiency. Moreover, they provided qualitative data of effective methods and pedagogical challenges of the subjunctive. This study illuminates some of the contributing factors of subjunctive difficulty and preferred pedagogical approaches for teaching it. It also has implications that meaning may not be obstructed if students do not use subjunctive.
ContributorsPowell, John Warren William (Author) / Gelderen, Elly van (Thesis advisor) / James, Mark (Thesis advisor) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
In a growlingly digital world, scholars must understand the changes in textuality and communication associated with Web 2.0 technologies to incorporate potential pedagogical benefits to language curricula. For example, with the affordance of these technologies, language learners (LL) are increasingly exposed to language contact zones found both on and offline.

In a growlingly digital world, scholars must understand the changes in textuality and communication associated with Web 2.0 technologies to incorporate potential pedagogical benefits to language curricula. For example, with the affordance of these technologies, language learners (LL) are increasingly exposed to language contact zones found both on and offline. A practice that could potentially support the communicative practices of LL within these multilingual spaces is translanguaging, or the use of strategies employed by LL when engaging with diverse codes by utilizing the resources of their semiotic repertoire as well as their language(s). Previous research has focused principally on contexts of bilingual education and identity formation vis-à-vis translanguaging. Therefore, the present study is the first to examine the actual translanguaging practices of second language (n=5) and heritage language learners (n=5) of Spanish in a digital language contact zone: Facebook affinity spaces, or common interest spaces. The dynamic data gathered from screen capture recordings of the participants’ interactions and think-aloud protocols in the affinity spaces, stimulated recall interviews, and written reflections were analyzed using content analysis and critical discourse analysis.

This analysis revealed key findings in the data that focused on translanguaging practices, negotiation strategies, and performative competence - or the procedural knowledge which focuses on how learners communicate rather than what they communicate. First, the participants displayed a preference toward the separation of languages in written output, adhering to the ideals of linguistic purism, while simultaneously engaging in translanguaging practices via non-linguistic semiotic resources, such as the use of emojis, in their communication. Second, the participants’ self-reported proficiency levels for their writing abilities in Spanish correlated with their use of outside digital resources as a mediation tool. The findings show that, theoretically, the conceptualization of communicative competence must be expanded in order to incorporate the languaging practices of interlocutors in digital contexts. Pedagogically, educators need to support the development of LLs’ digital literacies, or communicative practices that are facilitated by technology, and address the bias toward linguistic purism to help students reap the cognitive benefits offered by translanguaging practices.
ContributorsTeske, Kaitlyn Elizabeth (Author) / Lafford, Barbara (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Bryan (Committee member) / Tecedor, Marta (Committee member) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
This linguistic ethnography follows three journalism students (Petra, Penélope, and María) as they engaged in experiential language learning (EX-LL) via collaboration with community members during their Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) internship sites in the fields of journalism and medicine within the local Metro Phoenix community. Data were collected over

This linguistic ethnography follows three journalism students (Petra, Penélope, and María) as they engaged in experiential language learning (EX-LL) via collaboration with community members during their Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) internship sites in the fields of journalism and medicine within the local Metro Phoenix community. Data were collected over the course of a 15-week semester via ethnographic methods (field notes, interviews, observations, and participant-reported data) to explore how the interns (i) took advantage of their SSP internship experiences to engage in identity work that exceeded the goals of the program and how they (ii) implemented their strategic knowledge via communicative strategies (CSs) during breakdowns in communication with community members related to their SSP internship sites/the social function of such strategies.

In order to answer the first research question, the data were analyzed via open and focused coding (Dyson & Genishi, 2005), followed by discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) informed by Critical Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2001) and Positioning Theory (Davis & Harré, 1990). To answer the second question, all instances in which the interns implemented communicative strategies were analyzed based upon the categorization repertories established by Dörnyei and Scott (1995a, 1995b, 1997), Lafford (2004), and Tarone and Yule (1987). To go beyond understanding what the interns were saying to why were they saying it, discourse analysis was used (Gee, 2005).

The findings show that Petra, Penélope, and María appropriated their SSP internship to engage distinct, yet interrelated language- and ethnic/racial-based identity work. Each intern utilized language (and extra-linguistic elements, such as corporeal expression) to position themselves in different ways within social discourse. Furthermore, this identity work influenced which CSs they utilized, as the social function of many of these strategies was to maintain and/or protect their desired identities.

Drawing on these insights, a variety of implications are offered from four viewpoints: implications for (i) EX-LL-based research: colonized versus humanizing research, (ii) critical community collaboration inside and outside of EX-LL, (iii) CSs and communicative competence, and (iv) EX-LL/Languages for Specific Purposes pedagogy and internship design.
ContributorsVollmer Rivera, Alexis Ann (Author) / Lafford, Barbara (Thesis advisor) / O'Connor, Brendan (Committee member) / Bernstein, Katie (Committee member) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
This study examined the development and acquisition of second language (L2) sounds by adult students enrolled in a communicative language program. The investigation explored the acquisition of L2 phones by analyzing the voice onset time (VOT) of word-initial voiceless stops in Spanish by native English speakers. A total of 40

This study examined the development and acquisition of second language (L2) sounds by adult students enrolled in a communicative language program. The investigation explored the acquisition of L2 phones by analyzing the voice onset time (VOT) of word-initial voiceless stops in Spanish by native English speakers. A total of 40 subjects participated in the study and were divided into three groups; one group of students enrolled in a first semester course, another group of students enrolled in a third semester course, and the last group enrolled in a fifth semester course. The duration of VOT was compared between groups reading from a word list consisting of 60 words during the 13th to 15th weeks of the semester. Significant differences in VOT were found between the first and fifth semester groups, as well as the third and fifth semester groups suggesting that accurate acquisition of L2 phones and the formation of new phonetic categories are possible for late L2 learners in accordance with the Speech Learning Model.
ContributorsRussell, Nathan (Author) / Beaudrie, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Committee member) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
ABSTRACT

Spanish is a null subject language that admits the expression or omission of lexical subjects. As well, the expression of the subject argument may take place pre or post verbally (Española, R. A., 2009). This variation of the subject’s position is not a random phenomenon; it tends to depend on

ABSTRACT

Spanish is a null subject language that admits the expression or omission of lexical subjects. As well, the expression of the subject argument may take place pre or post verbally (Española, R. A., 2009). This variation of the subject’s position is not a random phenomenon; it tends to depend on syntactic and semantic preferences and restrictions.

This investigation analyzes pre and post verbal nominal and pronominal subject position in the colloquial speech of Spanish-English bilinguals of Mexican descent in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The phenomenon’s analysis considers linguistic factors such as the syntactical and semantically classification of the verb type as copulative, transitive and intransitive; the subject only in the third person, the number as singular and plural, new or given information in the discourse, and the participants’ self evaluation of their bilingual dominance in one language (Dunn, & Fox Tree, 2009). As well, social extra-linguistic factors are considered such as gender, age group, educational level and time in the USA.

Goldvarb X (Sankoff, Tagliamonte & Smith, 2005) was the multivariable analysis program used for the ranking of the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that tend to influence the subject’s position.

The formulated hypotheses were that post verbal subject placement will occur in sentences with inaccusative verbs, and where the participants in their discourse give new information. As well, the participants with English bilingual dominance and the participants born or arrived in the USA before their eleventh birthday will reflect a higher index of pre verbal subjects.

This community of speakers favored the subject in preverbal position with copulative, transitive and inergative verbs; however preferred the subject in post verbal position with inaccusative verbs. As well, the post verbal position of the subject also was favored when new information was introduced in the discourse. The age factor proved to be significant with the older age Spanish dominant group, selecting the post verbal position significantly more than the middle age Spanish dominant and young age English dominant groups respectively. This could be interpreted as a reflection of an initial movement in the direction of the SV order of the dominant language.
ContributorsVelasco, Francisco Javier (Author) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Thesis advisor) / González-López, Verónica (Committee member) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
The present study investigates the role lexical access plays in the oral fluency of intermediate second language (L2) learners. In order to do this, I utilized a picture-naming task (PNT) in the target language to assess lexical access and generated spontaneous L2 speech through two narration tasks to assess oral

The present study investigates the role lexical access plays in the oral fluency of intermediate second language (L2) learners. In order to do this, I utilized a picture-naming task (PNT) in the target language to assess lexical access and generated spontaneous L2 speech through two narration tasks to assess oral fluency. The response times from the PNT were correlated with the two fluency measures analyzed from the narration tasks, the frequency of filled pauses and the overall rate of speech. The results revealed that intermediate learners with faster PNT response times used fewer filled pauses in spontaneous L2 speech but did not reveal a significant relationship between intermediate learners' PNT response times and their rate of speech.
ContributorsCarriere, Aaron S (Author) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Thesis advisor) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Beaudrie, Sara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
This qualitative study follows an instructor and four Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners in an elementary-level, mixed Spanish course at a community college over the course of 11 class visits. In studying how language ideologies shape oral corrective feedback (oral CF) practices, data were collected through ethnographic observations (field notes,

This qualitative study follows an instructor and four Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners in an elementary-level, mixed Spanish course at a community college over the course of 11 class visits. In studying how language ideologies shape oral corrective feedback (oral CF) practices, data were collected through ethnographic observations (field notes, researcher memos), classroom audio recordings, and semi-structured interviews (student, teacher). Specifically, this study analyzes (1) language ideologies prevalent in the classroom context in relation to the conceptualization of errors, (2) the instructor’s goals for oral CF, (3) how the instructor provides oral CF and in what contexts, and (4) how the mixed class environment relates to oral CF.

To do so, the data were analyzed via a bifocal approach in coding interview and classroom discourse (Razfar, 2003) and engaging in Critical Discourse Analysis (van Dijk, 2016) informed by frameworks in Linguistic Anthropology (Irvine, 1989; Kroskrity, 2004, 2010; Leeman, 2012) and Second Language Acquisition (Ellis, 2009; Li, 2017; Lyster & Ranta, 1997). The findings demonstrate how oral CF becomes ideologically charged in a classroom context primarily designed to impart foreign language instruction. Under the guise that SHL learners’ varieties represent negative characteristics (e.g., low socioeconomic strata, Mexicaness, immigration), oral CF is used to eradicate their Spanish varieties. Findings also illustrate the (in)congruency of the instructor and learners’ perceptions of oral CF and what takes place in the classroom. In some cases, SHL learners demonstrated language pride and resisted the imposition of a foreign variety but reported hegemonic beliefs about their own varieties.

Exemplifying how the instructor and SHL learners contribute to the complex dynamics of ideologization of oral CF, this study advocates for the adoption of Critical Language Awareness frameworks (Martínez, 2003; Leeman, 2005) in mixed language classrooms that encompasses this practice (e.g., focus-on-form instruction). Additionally, in acknowledging that teachers and educational institutions play a key role in the (re)production of dominant language norms, this study calls for the creation of instructional guidelines for oral CF as a pedagogical practice. Such guidelines must include critical discussions with students about the relationship between “correct,” “correcting,” and “being corrected” and asymmetrical power relationships.
ContributorsLoza, Sergio (Author) / Beaudrie, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Adams, Karen (Committee member) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Committee member) / Lowther Pereira, Kelly (Committee member) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Spanish is a pluricentric language spoken within the linguistic continuum with high variation. The understanding of the attitudes towards such variation with regard to its geography (diatopic variation) is key to capacitate its students and speakers as a foreign language to successfully communicate in changing and emerging transnational contexts. The

Spanish is a pluricentric language spoken within the linguistic continuum with high variation. The understanding of the attitudes towards such variation with regard to its geography (diatopic variation) is key to capacitate its students and speakers as a foreign language to successfully communicate in changing and emerging transnational contexts. The research of linguistic attitudes is a topic that has traditionally been approached in Western contexts, with scholars requiring alternative research environments to provide a richer picture of this construct. China, given its steady growth in the number of Spanish as a foreign language students and its current role in the global, transnational arena, becomes a research environment where the study of linguistic attitudes gain even more relevance. Based on this reality, this study seeks to unveil the attitudes towards diatopic variation and towards the five most widely spoken diatopic varieties of Spanish (i.e., Mexico, Argentina, the United States, Spain, and Colombia) in Chinese students of initial level (n = 95) and their professors (n = 16). In doing so, this study collected data through (1) empirically validated questionnaires on attitudes towards diatopic variation, (2) perceptual dialectology tasks and (3) interviews.

The main findings of this research showed the presence of positive attitudes towards diatopic variation by students and teachers. Such attitudes can be explained in light of their previous sociolinguistic knowledge and their previous experience as learners of a second pluricentric language. Regarding the attitudes toward the most spoken varieties, this study showed that the variety associated with Spain was the best known by the observed students and teachers, and received the categorization of prestige variety by students. Teachers did not show affective or status assessments toward any of the diatopic varieties. Further analysis of these results, based on ethnolinguistic vitality , and the levels of familiarity of students/teachers with each variety, suggests that teaching expansive proposals from initial levels can provide a more inclusive view of the diatopic variation of the Spanish language in class.
ContributorsAlgue-i-Sala, Lluis (Author) / Beaudrie, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
The present study aims to gain deeper insights into language attitudes in the educational context while contributing to the emerging field of advanced mixed, second language and heritage language (HL) courses. Considering that the majority of heritage language learners (HLLs) and second language learners (L2s) in the United States (US)

The present study aims to gain deeper insights into language attitudes in the educational context while contributing to the emerging field of advanced mixed, second language and heritage language (HL) courses. Considering that the majority of heritage language learners (HLLs) and second language learners (L2s) in the United States (US) are enrolled in mixed classrooms (Beaudrie, 2012; Carreira, 2016a, 2016b), the study of language attitudes regarding monolingual varieties, bilingual varieties, and L2 varieties is crucial to inform pedagogical best practices that serve both types of learners. Additionally, by analyzing the language attitudes of both types of students toward these three Spanish language varieties, this study demonstrates the importance of incorporating linguistic variation into the classroom to address the linguistic hierarchies that exist in such a context. Thus, the results are relevant to the fields of sociolinguistics, L2 and HL pedagogy.

The study employs matched-guise tasks at two points during the semester, as well as end-term semi-structured interviews. As different linguistic components of a language trigger different attitudes, the findings show that native-like phonetic and phonological features of Spanish speakers afford positive attitudes, as do a formal lexicon and academic register. However, morphosyntactic features do not have any effect on forming an individual’s language attitudes.

To illustrate, the results of the matched-guise tasks show that native and HL varieties were generally evaluated positively, while L2 varieties were evaluated negatively. Interviews revealed native-like accent and pronunciation as the detrimental cause of negative attitudes toward the L2 variety. In contrast to the phonetic/phonological evaluations made by participants, both HLLs and L2s did agree that L2s speak a “proper” and “professional” Spanish. Furthermore, heritage Spanish was described as the “least formal” and “incorrect” Spanish variety in comparison to the L2 variety due to dominant stereotypes and ideologies and the incorporation of lexical characteristics of US Spanish.

Based on these findings, this study has the potential to make an invaluable contribution to understanding how language attitudes and instructional practices in the classroom context intersect with a social justice movement to improve mixed courses in a social, critical, and conscious way.
ContributorsVana, Rosti Frank (Author) / Beaudrie, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Thesis advisor) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Carreira, Maria (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
As critical approaches to Heritage Language (HL) instruction are increasingly more widespread, it is now more pertinent than ever to conduct research on Spanish linguistic variation that reveals systematicity and refutes hegemonic notions of ‘incorrectness’. This variationist study examines the use and distribution of the Preterite and Imperfect past tenses

As critical approaches to Heritage Language (HL) instruction are increasingly more widespread, it is now more pertinent than ever to conduct research on Spanish linguistic variation that reveals systematicity and refutes hegemonic notions of ‘incorrectness’. This variationist study examines the use and distribution of the Preterite and Imperfect past tenses in Spanish. The study analyzes 30 bilingual English Spanish speakers who reside in southern and central Arizona by using sociolinguistic interviews from two Arizona corpora. The data provided by these interviews was analyzed using the Rbrul and Rstudio software. The linguistic factors analyzed were aspectual interpretation, clause type, grammatical person and number, verb lemma and verb frequency. By the same token, the extralinguistic factors analyzed were generation, language dominance, age and sex. The findings in this study reveal distribution of the Preterite and Imperfect in the data revealed that both forms were used at nearly equal rates with the Preterite (53.7%) being used slightly more than the Imperfect (46.3%). The results of the quantitative analysis revealed that in order of magnitude, aspectual function, generation, and frequency of the verb were the predictors that favored the Preterite and the Imperfect. While the majority of Preterite and Imperfect uses adhered to the canonical uses of these forms, an interaction between generation and aspectual function showed significance when the Preterite is used with a habitual aspectual function by both the second and third generation. These results show that the Preterite and Imperfect carry a degree of variation that goes beyond the traditional understandings of these forms. Lastly, the results of this study emphasize the need for additional research that aids in the understanding of the characteristics of US Spanish to dispel misconceptions about the Spanish spoken in the U.S by all, especially HL speakers. It is only by understanding the evolution of the Spanish in the US that researchers and instructors can contribute to a critical language awareness in HL instruction that revindicates their ways of speaking.
ContributorsDel Carpio, Leslie (Author) / Beaudrie, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Cerron-Palomino, Alvaro (Thesis advisor) / Gradoville, Michael (Committee member) / Carvalho, Ana M (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022