The Handbook of Spanish Second Language Acquisition E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1305

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Bringing together a comprehensive collection of newly-commissioned articles, this Handbook covers the most recent developments across a range of sub-fields relevant to the study of second language Spanish.

• Provides a unique and much-needed collection of new research in this subject, compiled and written by experts in the field
• Offers a critical account of the most current, ground-breaking developments across key fields, each of which has seen innovative empirical research in the past decade
• Covers a broad range of issues including current theoretical approaches, alongside a variety of entries within such areas as the sound system, morphosyntax, individual and social factors, and instructed language learning
• Presents a variety of methodological approaches spanning the active areas of research in language acquisition

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics

Title Page

Copyright

List of Figures

List of Tables

Notes on Contributors

Acknowledgments

Introduction

References

Part I: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Second Language Spanish

Chapter 1: Corpus-based Research in Second Language Spanish

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Learner Corpora and SLA

1.3 Spanish Learner Corpora

1.4 Corpus-based Research: The Way Forward

Notes

References

Chapter 2: Functional Approaches to Second Language Spanish

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Functional Studies of Spanish as a Second Language

2.3 Conclusions and Future Directions

Notes

References

Chapter 3: Generative Approaches to Spanish Second Language Acquisition

3.1 General Introduction

3.2 Universal Grammar: Domain-Specific Language Faculty and a Theory of Linguistics

3.3 The Minimalist Program

3.4 Core Questions

3.5 Methodology

3.6 A Concise History of Spanish Generative SLA

3.7 Recent Trends in Spanish GSLA

3.8 Some Concluding Remarks

Notes

References

Chapter 4: Psycholinguistic Approaches to Second Language Spanish

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Theories, Models, and Debates

4.3 Behavioral Methods

4.4 Event Related Potentials and Neuroimaging

4.5 Future Directions

References

Chapter 5: Variationist Approaches to Second Language Spanish

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Variationism in SLA: Theory and Method

5.3 Key Contributions

5.4 Future Directions

Notes

References

Chapter 6: Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Second Language Spanish: A Focus on Thinking-for-Speaking

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Cognitive Linguistics: Central Tenets

6.3 Implications of CL's central tenets for second language acquisition

6.4 Overview of Research into CL and SLA/FLT

6.5 Conclusions and Directions for Further Research

Notes

References

Part II: Phonology in Second Language Spanish

Chapter 7: Voice Onset Time in Second Language Spanish

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Background

7.3 Studies on L2 Spanish Stop Consonant Production

7.4 Studies on L2 Spanish Stop Consonant Perception

7.5 Discussion

7.6 Areas for Future Research

Notes

References

Chapter 8: Speech Perception in Second Language Spanish

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Empirical Findings in L2 Spanish Perception

8.3 Summary and Directions for Future Research

Notes

References

Chapter 9: Segmental Phonology in Second Language Spanish

9.1 Introduction and Purpose of the Chapter

9.2 What are the Factors that are Included to Account for L2 Phonological Attainment?

9.3 What are the Variables Examined and What are Some of the Theoretical Frameworks Used?

9.4 Final Remarks

Notes

References

Chapter 10: Suprasegmental Phenomena in Second Language Spanish

10.1 Suprasegmental Phonology

10.2 Suprasegmental Structure in Spanish

10.3 General Principles of First and Second Language Phonology

10.4 First and Second Language Suprasegmentals

10.5 Suprasegmental Acquisition in Spanish

10.6 Conclusion

Notes

References

Part III: Developing Grammars in Second Language Spanish

Chapter 11: Object Pronouns in Second Language Spanish

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Spanish Object Pronouns

11.3 Cognitive-Functionalist Approaches: Form-Function Mapping in L2 Production

11.4 Linguistic Approaches

11.5 Input Processing

11.6 Conclusion

Notes

References

Chapter 12: Grammatical Gender in Second Language Spanish

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Spanish Grammatical Gender and its L1 Acquisition

12.3 L2 Spanish Gender Acquisition: Offline Studies

12.4 Psycholinguistic Research on L2 Spanish Gender: Online Studies

12.5 New Research Directions

References

Chapter 13: The Acquisition of the Copula Contrast in Second Language Spanish

13.1 Stages of Acquisition of the Functions of the Copulas in Spanish

13.2 The Examination of Development of a Single Function

13.3 Additional Factors

13.4 Remaining Challenges and Future Directions

References

Chapter 14: Tense and Aspect in Second Language Spanish

14.1 Introduction

14.2 The Spanish Tempo-Aspectual System

14.3 The Acquisition of Tense and Aspect in L2 Spanish

14.4 Theoretical Approaches in the Study of L2 Spanish Tense/Aspect

14.5 Teaching the Preterit and Imperfect in L2 Spanish

14.6 Conclusion

Notes

References

Chapter 15: Subject Pronouns in Second Language Spanish

15.1 Introduction

15.2 Generative Approaches

15.3 Processing Models

15.4 Discourse-Pragmatic Approaches

15.5 A Sociolinguist/Variationist Approach

15.6 Tying It All Together

Notes

References

Chapter 16: Subjunctive in Second Language Spanish

16.1 Introduction

16.2 Key Concepts

16.3 Internal and External Factors Affecting L2 Subjunctive Development

16.4 Universal Grammar and L2 Mood Development

16.5 Cognitive Perspectives on Subjunctive Development and Relevant Instructional Interventions

16.6 Contextual Factors Affecting Subjunctive Development and Variation

16.7 Future Research Directions

Notes

References

Chapter 17: Word Order in Second Language Spanish

17.1 Introduction

17.2 The NP Domain: The Order of Adjectives

17.3 The Sentence Domain: Argument Structure

17.4 Beyond the Sentence: The Left Periphery and the CP Domain

17.5 How Word Order Has Been Investigated in L2 Spanish: Research Methods

17.6 Conclusion

Notes

References

Chapter 18: Meaning in Second Language Spanish

18.1 Types of Linguistic Meaning

18.2 The Syntax-Semantics Interface

18.3 The Syntax-Lexicon Interface

18.4 The Syntax-Discourse Interface

18.5 The Syntax-Pragmatics Interface

18.6 Conclusions

Notes

References

Chapter 19: Language in Context: Pragmatics in Second Language Spanish

19.1 Exploring Research on L2 Spanish Pragmatics

19.2 Role of Instruction in Spanish ILP

19.3 Conclusions

Notes

References

Part IV: Individual and Social Factors in Second Language Spanish

Chapter 20: Ultimate Attainment in Spanish L2 Acquisition

20.1 What is Ultimate Attainment?

20.2 Age Effects in L2 Acquisition

20.3 Is Native-Like Competence Possible in L2 Spanish?

20.4 Conclusion

References

Chapter 21: Affective Factors and Second Language Spanish

21.1 Introduction

21.2 Motivation and Attitude Research

21.3 Language Anxiety

21.4 Willingness to Communicate

21.5 Methods of Research

21.6 Conclusion

Notes

References

Chapter 22: Study Abroad and Second Language Spanish

22.1 Introduction

22.2 Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

22.3 Themes Examined in Spanish SA Research

22.4 The Effect of Contextual, Individual, and Social Factors

22.5 Effect of Explicit Instruction on SA Outcomes

22.6 Programmatic Implications of SA Research to Date

22.7 Future Research

Notes

References

Chapter 23: Heritage Learners of Spanish

23.1 Introduction

23.2 Heritage Learners' Spanish

23.3 Studies of Heritage Learners' Spanish Development

23.4 Conclusions

Notes

References

Chapter 24: Comparing Second Language Learners to Other Populations: Age, Transfer, and Learnability

24.1 Introduction

24.2 The Logic of Population Comparisons

24.3 Comparing Outcomes in Different Domains of Grammar: 3 Case Studies

24.4 Interpreting Population Comparisons

References

Part V: Acquisition in the Second Language Spanish Classroom

Chapter 25: Acquisition of Grammar by Instructed Learners

25.1 The Role of Instruction in SLA

25.2 Individual Spanish L2 Structures as Test Cases

25.3 Conclusions and Future Directions

Notes

References

Chapter 26: Acquisition of Reading in Second Language Spanish

26.1 Reader-Based Factors

26.2 Text-Based Factors

26.3 Assessment of L2 Reading

26.4 Directions for Future Research

References

Chapter 27: Acquisition of Writing in Second Language Spanish

27.1 Introduction

27.2 The Writing Process

27.3 The Writing Product

27.4 Feedback and Revision

27.5 Research Agenda: Toward More Insight into Spanish L2 Writing

Notes

References

Chapter 28: Exploring Lexical Diversity in Second Language Spanish

28.1 Introduction

28.2 Vocabulary Knowledge and Use

28.3 Measuring Lexical Diversity

28.4 The Present Study

Notes

References

Chapter 29: Teaching Pronunciation in Second Language Spanish

29.1 Introduction

29.2 Do We Teach Spanish Pronunciation?

29.3 Instructed Spanish Pronunciation

29.4 The Future of Teaching Spanish Pronunciation

Notes

References

Chapter 30: Instructor Characteristics and Classroom-Based SLA of Spanish

30.1 Introduction

30.2 Instructor Characteristics and Classroom SLA

30.3 Instructor Characteristics Examined to Date

30.4 Investigating Instructor Characteristics: Challenges and Proposed Solutions

30.5 Conclusions and Areas for Future Research

Notes

References

Index

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The Handbook of Spanish Second Language Acquisition

Edited by Kimberly L. Geeslin

This edition first published 2014

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition / Edited by Kimberly L. Geeslin.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-67443-7 (cloth)

1. Spanish philology— Study and teaching. 2. Spanish language— Study and teaching. 3. Second language acquisition— Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Education, Bilingual. I. Geeslin, Kimberly L., editor of compilation.

PC4021.H36 2014

460.71— dc23

2013018413

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: © Cristina Vanko

Cover design by Workhaus

List of Figures

Figure 2.1  Form-meaning mappings in Spanish past tense (adapted from Slabakova and Montrul 2003).

Figure 7.1  The classification of Spanish and English stop consonants (adapted from Zampini and Green 2001, 25).

Figure 10.1  Idealized schematic representations of nuclear configurations discussed in Simonet (2011) for declaratives: (a) falling (H+L*); (b) rising-falling (L+H*); and (c) straight-falling. Stressed syllables are shaded in gray.

Figure 17.1  Production of Verb-Subject order (adapted from Hertel 2003: tables 3 and 4)

Figure 17.2  Acceptance of SV/VS in global contexts (adapted from Lozano 2006b: figures 1, 2, 3, 4).

Figure 24.1

List of Tables

Table 2.1 Clitic forms and functions

Table 4.1 Examples of sentences containing violations of grammatical gender and number agreement in one of two sentence positions

Table 4.2 Examples of gender and number marking in Spanish, English, and Chinese

Table 7.1 Spanish stop phonemes

Table 7.2 Mean perceptual VOT boundary for the /b ∼ p/ contrast (Zampini 1998). A positive value indicates a perceptual boundary in the region of voicing lag; a negative value indicates a boundary in the prevoiced range

Table 9.1 Correlations of aggregate scores with achievement (from Gardner, Tremblay, and Masgoret 1997, 352)

Table 9.2 Spanish consonantal sounds

Table 9.3 American English consonantal sounds

Table 9.4 Sonority scale (adapted from Carlisle 2001, 4)

Table 11.1 Overview of object clitic pronouns in Spanish

Table 13.1 Stages of acquisition in VanPatten (1987)

Table 13.2 Stages of acquisition from Briscoe (1995)

Table 14.1 Explanatory variables in the acquisition of L2 tempo-aspectual morphology

Table 14.2 Findings from studies of tense and aspect in SLA and corresponding principles for classroom practice (adapted from Blyth 2005)

Table 17.1 Alternating and non-alternating verbs

Table 17.2 Word order alternations with intransitive verbs

Table 17.3 Acceptance of SV/VS orders (adapted from Lozano 2006a, Figures 1–4)

Table 17.4 Mean acceptability rates of wh- extraction (adapted from Figures 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 in Montrul et al. 2008)

Table 17.5 Summary of left dislocated constituents: Spanish CLLD vs. English CLD

Table 17.6 Acceptability of clitic and cliticless CLLD and FF (Slabakova et al. 2012: Figures 3 and 4, plus data provided by the authors)

Table 18.1 Mapping of sentence strings and meanings in a POS learning situation

Table 18.2 Mapping between forms and meanings in Spanish and English aspectual tenses

Table 18.3 Mapping between forms and meanings in Spanish and English plural NPs in subject position

Table 19.1 Research on Spanish ILP in uninstructed settings

Table 19.2 Research on Spanish ILP in instructed settings

Table 25.1 Contextual features in Geeslin (2000)

Table 28.1 Six properties of lexical diversity (Jarvis 2012)

Table 28.2 Breakdown of participants per level

Table 28.3 Measures of lexical diversity used in the present study

Table 28.4 Group means for each of the seven measures of lexical diversity on the narrative essay

Table 28.5 Group means for each of the seven measures of lexical diversity on the argumentative essay

Notes on Contributors

Irma Alarcón (PhD, Indiana University) is Associate Professor of Romance Languages at Wake Forest University. Her primary research field is L2 acquisition of Spanish gender, with secondary interests in TESOL linguistics and heritage language learners.

Cindy Brantmeier (PhD, Indiana University) is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Washington University. She is Co-Director of the Graduate Certificate in Language Instruction, Director of the Undergraduate Minor in Applied Linguistics, and Director of Teaching Assistant Training.

Teresa Cadierno (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is Professor of SLA at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research interests include instructed SLA, with a special focus on the acquisition of grammar by L2 learners, L2 input processing, the role of formal instruction in SLA, and applied cognitive linguistics, especially the acquisition and teaching of L2 constructions for the expression of motion events.

Manuel Carreiras (PhD, University of La Laguna, Spain) is the Scientific Director of the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, and Ikerbasque Research Professor in San Sebastian, Spain. His current areas of research include reading, bilingualism, and L2 learning. To investigate cognitive processing and neural correlates in these areas, he uses advanced behavioral and neuroimaging tools.

Gabriela Castañeda-Jiménez (MA, Ohio University) was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico. In 2002, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship that allowed her to study in the US. Currently, Gaby is a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at Ohio University. Her interests include vocabulary acquisition, cross-linguistic influence, teacher education, academic writing, and heritage speakers.

Joseph Collentine (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is Professor of Spanish and currently Chair of the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at Northern Arizona University. His research interests include the acquisition of Spanish mood selection, corpus linguistics, study abroad, and computer-assisted language learning.

Llorenç Comajoan Colomé (PhD, Indiana University) is Associate Professor at the University of Vic (Barcelona, Spain), where he teaches in the Department of Philology and Language and Literature Teaching. He is also a member of the University Centre for Sociolinguistics and Communication at the University of Barcelona. He has conducted research in SLA, educational sociolinguistics (longitudinal studies on the learning of Spanish and Catalan), and language teaching (grammar, argumentation).

Robert DeKeyser (PhD, Stanford University) is Professor of Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland, College Park. His main research area is the cognitive psychology of second language acquisition, in particular the role of implicit and explicit knowledge, age effects, and other individual differences. More applied interests include corrective feedback and the impact of study abroad.

Manuel Díaz-Campos (PhD, The Ohio State University) is Associate Professor of Hispanic Sociolinguistics at Indiana University. He has published on the L1 acquisition of sociolinguistic variables, sociolinguistic variation, acquisition of L2 phonology, and topics in Spanish laboratory phonology. His research appears in notable journals such as Language in Society, Probus, Lingua, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Spanish in Context, and Hispania, among others. He is the author of The Handbook of Hispanic Sociolinguistics (2011) and Introducción a la Sociolingüística Hispánica (2013).

Paola Escudero (PhD, Utrecht University) is Senior Research Lecturer at the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, and Visiting Professor at the Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam. She specializes in multilingual speech comprehension. Her current research also focuses on auditory and visual perception in diverse populations, including human infants, children, and adults, and zebra finches.

Maria I. Fionda (PhD, University of Florida) is Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of Mississippi. Her research examines second language online processing and acquisition of morphosyntax, particularly the role of general cognitive abilities in individual differences in performance. She has co-authored research in variationism and grammaticalization that will appear in Linguistics.

Kimberly L. Geeslin (PhD, University of Arizona) is Professor at Indiana University. Her research focuses on second language Spanish and the intersection of SLA and sociolinguistics. She has published in Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Learning, Hispania, Spanish in Context, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Journal of Applied Linguistics, Linguistics, and Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics.

Margaret Gillon Dowens (PhD, University of La Laguna, Spain) is Associate Professor of Psycholinguistics at the University of Nottingham Ningbo and Director of the Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics China. Her current areas of research include sentence processing in late bilinguals and word and character processing in Spanish, English, and Chinese.

Aarnes Gudmestad (PhD, Indiana University) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at Virginia Tech. She specializes in SLA and sociolinguistics, and her research explores the intersection of the two fields. Her current projects address issues pertaining to morphosyntactic structures (e.g., the subjunctive-indicative contrast, subject expression, future-time reference) and include examinations of the relationship between native-speaker and second-language variation and interlanguage analyses of the acquisition of variation. She has published articles in journals such as Language Learning, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, and Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics.

Laura Gurzynski-Weiss (PhD, Georgetown University) is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Indiana University, where she focuses on instructed second language acquisition. Current projects include interaction- and task-based classroom research focusing on language instructor individual characteristics and cognition in relation to task variables and corrective feedback.

Nicholas Henriksen (MA, PhD, Indiana University) is Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He specializes in laboratory phonology and in theoretical issues of intonational structure, sociophonetic variation, and second language speech learning. He was previously affiliated with Northern Illinois University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Alberto Hijazo-Gascón (PhD, Universidad de Zaragoza) is a lecturer in the School of Language and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia (United Kingdom). His research focuses on Cognitive Linguistics and SLA, particularly in the areas of Thinking for Speaking in motion event typology (Romance languages and L2 Spanish) and conceptual metaphor.

Scott Jarvis (PhD, Indiana University) is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Ohio University. His work has focused on cross-linguistic influence and lexical diversity, with a special emphasis on methodological problems and solutions. Among his better-known works is the book Crosslinguistic Influence in Language and Cognition, co-authored with Aneta Pavlenko and published by Routledge.

Barbara A. Lafford (PhD, Cornell University) is Professor of Spanish in the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University. She serves as Editor for the Monograph/Focus Issue Series (Modern Language Journal) and her current research focuses on the effect of context on second language acquisition and languages for specific purposes.

Gillian Lord (PhD, The Pennsylvania State University) is Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on second language sound systems, with an emphasis on merging language theory with pedagogical practice. Her recent work has appeared in journals such as Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, and System.

Cristóbal Lozano (PhD, Essex University, UK) is a senior lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Universidad de Granada (Spain). He has published on SLA of Spanish and English syntax, interfaces, and directs the on-going CEDEL2 corpus (Corpus Escrito del Español como L2) in the WOSLAC research team. Further details at: http://wdb.ugr.es/∼cristoballozano/.

Margaret Lubbers Quesada (PhD, Michigan State University) is Associate Professor of Spanish Linguistics in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Georgia. She has investigated the acquisition of subject pronouns, tense, aspect, and mood, and gustar-type verbs in L2 Spanish and is particularly interested in SLA from discourse-pragmatic and lexical-semantics perspectives.

Paul A. Malovrh (PhD, Indiana University) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of South Carolina. Working in functional theories, his research focuses on form-function mapping in interlanguage development and task effects on L2 performance.

Amaya Mendikoetxea (PhD, University of York, UK) is a senior lecturer in English Linguistics at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. Her main research interest is the grammar of Romance and Germanic languages, especially Spanish and English. She has published widely within the fields of theoretical syntax, descriptive grammar, and second language acquisition.

Silvina Montrul (PhD, McGill University) is Professor and Head of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and Professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is founder and Director of the University Language Academy for Children and Director of the Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab. She is author of The Acquisition of Spanish (Benjamins, 2004), Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor (Benjamins, 2008), and El bilingüismo en el mundo hispanohablante [Bilingualism in the Spanish-speaking World] (Wiley Blackwell, 2013), as well as of numerous articles in journals.

Marly Nas is a senior lecturer with the Department of Romance Languages at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She teaches Spanish writing skills and applied linguistics. Her PhD dissertation (forthcoming) focuses on the effects of peer and teacher feedback on Spanish FL writing development.

Diego Pascual y Cabo is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Texas Tech University. His primary research interests lie in the area of formal approaches to second language acquisition and heritage speaker bilingualism. Diego's work, which is approached from a generative point of view, has appeared in several scholarly journals, proceedings, and edited volumes.

Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux (PhD, University of Massachusetts Amherst) is Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at the University of Toronto. Her research on the first and second language acquisition of syntax has appeared in 29 articles and 42 book chapters. She is editor of various volumes and journal issues and a member of the editorial board of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.

Kim Potowski (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is Associate Professor of Hispanic linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on Spanish in the United States, including educational contexts such as two-way immersion schools and heritage speaker programs, and examinations of language, identity, and dialect contact among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and “MexiRicans” in Chicago.

Goretti Prieto Botana is a graduate student at the University of Maryland and the Director of the Spanish Writing Center at Franklin and Marshall College. Her research interests include grammar-related learnability issues, explicit forms of instruction, and task-essentialness.

Jason Rothman (PhD, University of California, Los Angeles) is Professor of Multilingualism and Language Development at the University of Reading. His research focuses on child and adult language acquisition in monolingual and bi-/multilingual contexts. He is Editor of the journal Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism and of the book series Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics published by John Benjamins.

Rachel L. Shively (PhD, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) is Assistant Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics at Illinois State University. Her research focuses on second language pragmatics and language learning in study abroad.

Roumyana Slabakova (PhD, McGill University) is Chair of Applied Linguistics at the University of Southampton. She studies how adult learners acquire grammatical, discourse-related, and pragmatic meanings in a second and third/n-th language. Her textbook on generative second language acquisition will be published by Oxford University Press in 2014.

Danielle Thomas (PhD, University of Toronto) has taught linguistics and Spanish in a number of undergraduate programs in Canada and the US. She holds a faculty position in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and is a collaborator in the Cognitive Development Lab at York University in Toronto where she examines how age as a cognitive and contextual variable affects linguistic and educational outcomes of different bilingual/multilingual populations.

Izabela Uscinski is a doctoral student in Applied Linguistics at Arizona State University. She is interested in second and foreign language methodology and her current research focuses on the influence of teacher's corrective feedback on the development of academic writing of ESL students.

Kees Van Esch (PhD, Radboud University Nijmegen) worked at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in the areas of didactics, applied linguistics, and language acquisition of Spanish. He has co-authored several course books for FL Spanish and coordinated European Projects on learner autonomy and action research in FL teacher training. He has also published on Spanish reading comprehension and vocabulary.

Polina Vasiliev recently completed her PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UCLA. Her main area of research is second language speech perception, with a particular interest in English-speaking learners of Spanish and Portuguese.

Dolly Jesusita Young (PhD, University of Texas at Austin) is Professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern FL and Literatures at the University of Tennessee and Director of the First-year Spanish program. Her research interests include language anxiety, SL reading, materials development, and hybrid language programs.

Mary L. Zampini (PhD, Georgetown University) is Associate Professor of Spanish at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. Her research interests include second language and bilingual speech perception and production, as well as issues of foreign accent and comprehensibility. She is co-editor of Phonology and Second Language Acquisition (John Benjamins 2008).

Eve Zyzik (PhD, University of California, Davis) is Associate Professor in the Language Program at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Her research applies usage-based and functional theories to investigate the development of linguistic competence among instructed L2 learners and heritage speakers of Spanish.

Acknowledgments

Above all, I must acknowledge the hard work of the authors who agreed to contribute their scholarship to this volume. Each one of them prepared a careful manuscript, responded quickly and constructively to feedback from several reviewers, answered queries regarding style and formatting, and did so in a timely manner. Without their dedication to each of the individual areas of research included here, it would be impossible to create a volume of this sort. One notes that the volume includes works written by internationally recognized scholars and rising stars alike, and each has approached this task with a willingness to meet the highest standards of writing and scholarship along the way. It has been a pleasure to work with each of them and I am thankful for the opportunity to become even more familiar with their work through this project.

As is true with any editorial project, the quality of the volume rests not only with the authors but also with the reviewers who gave of their time and expertise to improve the content, style, and presentation of each chapter. In nearly all cases there were three individual reviewers for each chapter and periodically a second-round review was also undertaken to ensure that changes met with the standards in the field. Each of these reviewers deserves my thanks. I list them here in alphabetical order to acknowledge their important contribution to this volume:

Mark Amengual

Irma Alarcón

Berit Aronsson

Yuly Asención-Delaney

Dwight Atkinson

Melissa Baralt

Catherine Barrette

Dimaris Barrios-Beltrán

Sara Beaudrie

Rob Bedinghaus

Silvina Bongiovanni

Harriet Wood Bowden

Alan V. Brown

Joyce Bruhn de Garavito

Monica Cabrera

María Cristina Cuervo

Alejandro Cuza

Isabelle Darcy

Gibran Delgado-Díaz

Laura Domínguez

Dorian Dorado

Margaret Dowens

Peter Ecke

Timothy Face

Stephen Fafulas

Tanya Flores

Rebecca Foote

Diana Frantzen

Lorenzo García-Amaya

Mariche García-Bayonas

Jordan Garrett

Aarnes Gudmestad

Laura Gurzynski-Weiss

Maria Hasler-Barker

Nicholas Henriksen

Tammy Hertel

Tony Houston

Christina Isabelli

Michael Iverson

Scott Jarvis

Jill Jegerski

Tiffany Judy

Matthew Kanwit

Jason Killam

Erin Lavin

Michael Leeser

Xiaoshi Li

Shaofeng Li

Bret Linford

Gillian Lord

Cristóbal Lozano

Paul Malovrh

Mandy Menke

Diego Pascual y Cabo

Lynn Pearson

Rosa María Piqueres-Gilabert

Margaret Quesada

C. Sophia Rammell

Claire Renaud

Eva Rodríguez-González

Rebecca Ronquest

Jason Rothman

Marcela Ruiz-Funes

Elena Schoonmaker-Gates

Naomi Shin

Rachel Shively

Cathy Stafford

Daniel Tight

Nicole Tracy-Ventura

Gabriela Vokic

Melissa Whatley

Daniel Woolsey

Dolly J. Young

Mary Zampini

Eve Zyzik

I will be forever grateful to Danielle Descoteaux for our initial chance conversation at AAAL in Chicago and her continued encouragement and guidance throughout the entire proposal and editing process. Her enthusiasm for this project, her expert advice in preparing the content of the volume, and her continued dedication to its success are most sincerely appreciated. Likewise, Julia Kirk has been a constant source of helpful information, practical solutions, and guidance throughout this process. Her positive outlook and attention to detail make her a pleasure to work with. Elizabeth Saucier has answered questions tirelessly and guided me through the process of preparing and marketing this volume and I am extremely grateful for her assistance. She has even allowed me to work with Cristina Vanko on the cover design for this book. When Cristina worked on her honors thesis with me on the role of graphic support in vocabulary acquisition I knew that she was on the verge of an exciting career. To be able to incorporate her work into my own has been an absolute privilege. I am grateful to both Elizabeth and to Cristina for working so hard to make this happen. Fiona Screen, who managed the copy editing, proofreading, and indexing, has worked diligently to improve the presentation and clarity of this volume and to ensure its timely publication. It has been a pleasure to work with her and I fully appreciate her attention to detail, her patience, and her professionalism. There are undoubtedly many people at Wiley Blackwell who have been essential to this process but with whom I did not work directly. I sincerely appreciate all of their efforts in the preparation of this volume.

As with nearly every project, there is one individual who has had an exceptionally important role in bringing the volume to light—even greater than I initially anticipated. My research assistant, Avizia Yim Long, has dedicated hundreds of hours to every stage of this process. She has read every word of the manuscript and has assisted in every aspect of the editorial process. Her intelligence, hard work, and positive attitude have helped move this project forward at even the busiest times. I look forward to every opportunity I might have to work with her in the future and I am tremendously grateful for her invaluable contribution to this volume.

In addition to acknowledging the important professional support I have enjoyed throughout this project, I must also acknowledge several individuals who have also provided the necessary environment and solid home base needed to bring this project about. I am especially lucky to have worked for two department chairs during the past few years, Cathy Larson and Steve Wagschal, both of whom have demonstrated a constant commitment to fostering research excellence. Their focus on faculty development and research productivity has created the most positive of work environments. Likewise, my colleague and dear friend, Manuel Díaz-Campos, has encouraged and educated me from the proposal stage to submission of the completed volume and I am especially thankful for his presence, his support, and his wonderful sense of humor. I am tremendously grateful for the constant support of my parents and my in-laws, who ask questions and even listen to the answers, and provide words of encouragement, both academic and otherwise. Over the years they have done some crazy things—like reading my dissertation, flying across the country to take care of a child (or two!) so I could attend a conference, and listening to me give talks (even in languages they do not speak)—and I am fully aware how fortunate I am to have them all in my corner.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the support of my husband. There are two themes that we have recently discussed at length. The first is that women in academia appreciate the constant tension between demands at home and demands at work and it seems that this is simply the nature of being a working mother. I appreciate that he understands this, laughs at the chaos with me, and is willing to push me professionally despite what the consequences may be to our home routine. The second theme is that one of the most important qualities in a partner is not how they console you in defeat but how they celebrate your achievements. There is no doubt that I am especially fortunate in this regard.

Introduction

One might argue that the field of second language acquisition is so new that it is only in the past fifty years that there has been sufficient empirical research to warrant a volume on the topic. Within the field of Spanish as a second language in particular, this timeframe is even more reduced, with only a limited body of studies on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language in existence as recently as thirty years ago. This landscape has changed drastically in recent years. Presently, a quick search of research publications on second language Spanish would certainly confirm an explosion of interest and high-quality research. In fact, a survey of the contributing authors to this volume shows that interest in second language Spanish is a pan-national pursuit, extending well beyond Europe and the Americas to institutions from Asia and Australia as well. The impetus for the present volume gains strength from the fact that the research produced on second language Spanish to date is now numerous enough and broad enough to allow for generalizations across grammatical structures, learning contexts, and learner characteristics. Likewise, this body of research meets with the methodological and theoretical standards that allow it to move the field of second language acquisition in general forward, adding new findings about themes such as the role of the first language in the acquisition of additional languages, the acquisition of grammatical structures that involve properties of more than one area of the grammar, the role of individual factors in the acquisition of a second language, as well as many others. In sum, this volume demonstrates both the breadth and the depth of recent research on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language and provides insights into the latest developments in the field. Readers already working in the field will find useful summaries and suggestions for future work. Those who are just beginning or are already working in allied but distinct fields will find an accessible critical summary of where the field stands today.

The organization of this volume also tells much about the field itself. Firstly, second language Spanish and the process of acquiring Spanish as a second language have been investigated from a variety of research perspectives. The first section (Part I) surveys the theoretical approaches in which the research to date is most numerous and most widely read. This section is not exhaustive in the range of theories it covers but serves to demonstrate above all that there are several productive strands of research on Spanish as a second language currently being undertaken. It is my view that one benefits from reading outside his or her own theoretical framework and that in many ways these various approaches are complimentary, if not directly compatible. The current volume includes fields of inquiry such as Variationist approaches (Chapter 5, Aarnes Gudmestad) and Cognitive linguistic approaches (Chapter 6, Teresa Cadierno and Alberto Hijazo-Gascón), which have seen a recent surge in productivity, as well as more long-standing approaches such as Generative theoretical approaches (Chapter 3, Jason Rothman and Diego Pascual y Cabo). One notes that the term “approaches” is employed rather than “theories.” This choice was made to reflect the fact that the two may overlap. For example, the chapter on corpus approaches (Chapter 1, Amaya Mendikoetxea) includes work primarily from a Generative theoretical framework, yet this need not be the case, as data gleaned using these methods might also be quite compatible, for example, within a Functional framework (Chapter 2, Eve Zyzik). Likewise, one might use psycholinguistic research methods (Chapter 4, Margaret Gillon Dowens and Manuel Carreiras) to examine properties of interlanguage grammars under a range of frameworks. One central goal of this first section of the volume is to provide an accessible summary of the most exciting and most current research conducted through each of these approaches. These chapters serve to solidify the knowledge of experts in those fields and to identify common ground across approaches that might lead to productive collaborations in the future.

The second and third sections of this volume (Parts II and III), focusing on second language Spanish phonology and other areas of the grammar, respectively, continue to highlight the degree to which research across theoretical approaches can serve to reinforce findings and direct future research. For example, the chapter on subject expression in second language Spanish reviews research conducted under Generative, Functional, and Variationist frameworks and provides a critical assessment of how this body of work as a whole, rather than individual disparate units, has guided our knowledge of the acquisition of that structure to the present day. As is clear from the reviews in each of these chapters, the most fruitful directions for future research take into account the full body of research findings on a given structure, rather than any theoretically limited subset. The reader will note that there are several chapters in Part II devoted to various areas of the second language sound system in Spanish. It is a very exciting time to be researcher in this field, given that so much of the work in these areas has been conducted within the last decade. One might predict that this area will see exponential increases in the depth and breadth of our knowledge as new technologies continue to become more widely available and work on second language Spanish reaches mainstream research on second language phonology. For example, not so long ago, research on speech perception (Chapter 8, Polina Vasiliev and Paola Escudero) did not often include research on Spanish as a second language, but this is changing and research on this topic will impact the field at large as we develop a better understanding of how second language Spanish sounds are perceived and how this develops over time. It is most certainly the case that a chapter on a topic such as suprasegmental features in second language Spanish (Chapter 10, Nicholas Henriksen) would not have been viable as recently as ten years ago. It is my hope that this and other areas of study of the second language sound system in Spanish continue to flourish such that several additional chapters would be necessary in a similar volume ten years from now. For example, our ability to group research on second language segments in Spanish (Chapter 9, Manuel Díaz-Campos), with the exception of studies of voice onset time (Chapter 7, Mary Zampini), demonstrates that there is quite a bit of future research that remains. Thus, this section of the volume serves to review existing research, connect such studies to examinations on other second languages, and, most importantly, identify areas for additional investigations that move the field forward, both in depth and breadth.

The relatively limited research on the acquisition of the Spanish sound system contrasts sharply with the wealth of research and the strong research traditions present in several areas of developing grammars beyond the sound system. In fact, structures such as the copula contrast (Chapter 13, Kimberly L. Geeslin) have been the focus of research dating back more than fifty years. Thus, several of the chapters in Part III provide a brief review of early research so as to contextualize the most recent developments, prior to turning attention to more contemporary work. As with other sections in the volume, the range of topics covered in Part III is not exhaustive. Some might argue—and I would agree—that important structures have been omitted. Nevertheless, the structures included in the present volume were selected because of both the depth and the breadth of research available as well as their relevance to current strands of research. For example, research on grammatical gender (Chapter 12, Irma Alarcón) or on the use of object pronouns (Chapter 11 , Paul Malovrh) has a long history in the field of second language Spanish, beginning at least as early as Andersen's (1983, 1984) important research on adolescent learner Anthony's acquisition of Spanish grammatical gender during a two-year stay in Puerto Rico, and their importance continues to the present day. Likewise, recent research on the subjunctive (Chapter 16, Joseph Collentine) has been especially important for theory-building within the Variationist framework just as research on word order (Chapter 17, Cristóbal Lozano) has had an important impact on Generative research. At the same time, research in those two areas also lends important insights to other approaches. In contrast, structures that have been investigated solely within a single theoretical framework, or those that have not been heavily investigated in the most recent years, may fall outside the scope of the current volume. Other structures receiving intense but very recent attention, such as forms of future-time marking (e.g., Gudmestad and Geeslin 2011; Kanwit and Solon, 2012a, 2012b) do not yet have a large enough database to constitute a full chapter, despite their importance in the field in general. These limitations notwithstanding, the structures reviewed in the chapters in Part III demonstrate that there are a handful of areas of the grammar that provide excellent test grounds for hypotheses. These range from access to universal knowledge, the role of frequency in second language acquisition, the role of the first language in the acquisition of a second, and so on. The chapter on subject forms (Chapter 15, Margaret Lubbers Quesada) provides an excellent example of a structure that has been examined from a range of perspectives (Generative, Variationist, Discourse-Pragmatic) and has been used to test hypotheses ranging from the role of the first language in second language acquisition to the degree to which acquisition of properties that lie at the interface between more than one area of a grammar can be acquired. In fact, there is such a wealth of interesting research on the interfaces between areas of the grammar taking place that this section includes research on morphology, syntax, meaning (Chapter 18, Roumyana Slabakova), and pragmatics (Chapter 19, Rachel Shively) all in a single section in order to ensure the appropriate connections can be made across areas and chapters. Similarly, current research on tense and aspect morphology (Chapter 14, Llorenç Comajoan Colomé) in second language Spanish represents a field of research in which investigations of Spanish have joined a highly established body of work on second language English and served to test the generalizability of theories regarding the acquisition of temporal and aspectual marking more generally. In other words, these chapters provide a critical review of research that stands to have an impact well beyond the field of second language Spanish. Additionally, they serve to highlight common trends across approaches and to fine-tune our goals for subsequent studies.

The fourth section of this volume (Part IV) seeks to provide an overview of several strands of research that have investigated specific learner populations, specific learning contexts, and the role that differences across learners may play in the process of acquiring Spanish as a second language. Chapters in this section address important issues such as the role of age in second language acquisition and, more importantly, the ability of adult learners to reach native-like competence in a second language (Chapter 20, Silvina Montrul), as well as individual characteristics such as motivation, aptitude, and attitude (Chapter 21, Dolly Jesusita Young). It is widely accepted that these learner characteristics have an impact on second language acquisition but these chapters serve to highlight the most recent research developments and identify the areas where more work is in order. Additionally, Part IV contains chapters that explore the role of the learning context on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. They provide in-depth examinations of the impact of a study abroad experience (Chapter 22, Barbara Lafford and Izabela Uscinski) on developing grammars as well as the role of home language environment (Chapter 23, Kim Potowski) and the differences and similarities that exist between learners with such experience and those without it. Finally, the issues of learnability and transfer (Chapter 24, Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux and Danielle Thomas) are examined through a comparative perspective in order to tie together research across fields of inquiry and contextualize findings on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language by adult learners. As with other sections in this volume, it will be clear that it is non-controversial that learner characteristics and learning contexts play a role in the acquisition of second language. Nevertheless, it is also apparent that a great deal more can be learned about how such factors interact with developing grammars and what additional factors might merit future investigation. In sum, this too represents an area where future research stands to contribute greatly to the field.

The final section in this volume (Part V) contains critical summaries of research on instructed second language Spanish. To be clear, this is a not a section on foreign language pedagogy and the reader is directed to the many volumes on that topic that already exist. Instead, the focus in these chapters is on how certain abilities of learners of Spanish as a second language develop in the language classroom. For example, the section contains a critical summary of cutting-edge research on second language reading (Chapter 26, Cindy Brantmeier), grammar (Chapter 25, Robert DeKeyser and Goretti Prieto Botana), and pronunciation (Chapter 29, Gillian Lord) in a classroom setting. In each of these chapters, research on how second language learners of Spanish develop these abilities is reviewed and areas for future research are identified. In two such areas, however, so little research exists on second language Spanish to date that the chapters serve a dual function. In addition to summarizing existing work on lexical development (Chapter 28, Gabriela Castañeda-Jiménez and Scott Jarvis) and writing (Chapter 27, Marly Nas and Kees Van Esch), respectively, these two chapters include reports of original research conducted by the authors themselves in order to stimulate interest, provide a model of research to follow, and to demonstrate how the field might move forward. In the case of these two chapters, it was necessary to include a review of work conducted outside the field of second language Spanish because certain key issues have simply not yet been covered for second language Spanish. In contrast to the areas of the grammar in Part III, which were selected precisely because of the research that already exists, these two areas represent such important areas of research in the field of second language acquisition in general that to exclude them would further contribute to their poor representation in work on second language Spanish. Thus, the reader will find the content in those chapters slightly different, but the overarching goal of identifying paths for future research is consistent throughout. The final chapter in this section also represents a relatively new strand of research, but one that warrants considerable further attention. The link between the research in the preceding section on individual and contextual factors and the acquisition of Spanish in the classroom becomes clear through the review of the variation that results from differences in the characteristics of the classroom instructor (Chapter 30, Laura Gurzynski-Weiss). In this sense, we are challenged to move beyond the learner in a vacuum and view the role of the instructor—as well as the characteristics of that instructor—as an important facet of the learning context. This chapter is included in Part V because research is limited to the instructed setting, but the reader is encouraged to make connections between the discussions on learner characteristics and those should be deleted on the characteristics of the instructor.

In addition to the natural connections that exist within sections of this volume, the work included here also serves to identify areas where certain constraints or challenges recur across areas of investigation. For example, there is a notable bias toward research on English-speaking learners of Spanish. In nearly every chapter of this volume one notes the pressing need for research on learners with different first language backgrounds in order to explore the degree to which the findings to date are truly generalizable. On a related note, it is likely that expansion in this direction will necessarily intersect with work on third and additional language acquisition, given the role of English as an international language. Thus, our understanding of the role of knowing additional languages as well as the degree to which our current understanding of second language development in Spanish generalizes to other contexts will continue to grow in the future. Likewise, one notes that issues such as task-based variation create a need for additional research that provides sufficient data for findings to be compared, and perhaps generalized, across elicitation tasks. To date, there is some question as to whether differences in the findings across studies stem from differences in the instrumentation or from other characteristics of the learning context or the learner population. Nevertheless, we see that even within a given theoretical approach, multiple elicitation methods are becoming increasingly common and more sophisticated assessments of findings in the context of the elicitation task itself are forthcoming. Furthermore, several authors in this volume rightly trace the movement toward more precise elicitation methods, more accurate coding of data, and more appropriate methods of analysis as essential developments in the field. In part, the identification of these areas of weakness constitutes an important push forward in this field, but in all of these areas it is also clear that much research remains. Thus, as a whole, this volume suggests a number of ways in which future research might be strengthened, regardless of the theoretical framework or structure of focus of that study.

Although it is the case that the current volume has served to identify areas where the field requires further examination, it must be stated that this can only be accomplished once a significant body of research on a topic exists. Thus, in concluding these introductory remarks, I would like to highlight to new readers and existing scholars alike that perhaps the greatest evidence of the strength of the field of second language acquisition of Spanish is, in fact, the existence of the research that is critically reviewed and assessed throughout this volume. It is clear from the work included here that the field of second language Spanish is growing exponentially, that there are several fruitful and productive approaches currently being undertaken to expand our knowledge, and that a variety of creative solutions to longstanding problems have been reached in the areas of research design, elicitation methods, and data coding and analysis. What is more, the depth and breadth of such research allows us to move the field of second language acquisition in general forward, to make connections across grammatical structures and to learn from research conducted under a variety of frameworks. Despite the wide range of suggestions for future research provided by the contributing authors, it should be clear that second language Spanish has profited from multiple approaches and that each of the suggestions made by the author within the context of their own research paradigm is valuable and worthy of future attention. It is an exciting time to be working on Spanish as second language and it is likely that the landscape of research on the topic will continue to grow, change, and produce insightful findings for many decades to come.

References

Andersen, Roger. 1983. “Transfer to Somewhere.” In Language Transfer in Language Learning, edited by Susan Gass and Larry Selinker, 177–201. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House.

Andersen, Roger. 1984. “What's Gender Good For Anyway.?” Second Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective, edited by Roger W. Andersen, 77–99. Cambridge, MA: Newbury House Publishers.

Gudmestad, Aarnes, and Kimberly Geeslin. 2011. “Assessing the Use of Multiple Forms in Variable Contexts: The Relationship between Linguistic Factors and Future-time Reference in Spanish.” Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 4(1): 3–34.

Kanwit, Matthew, and Megan Solon. Forthcoming. “The Acquisition of Future Time Expression by English-speaking Learners of Spanish.” Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics.

Kanwit, Matthew, and Megan Solon. Forthcoming. “Acquiring Variation in Future Time Expression Abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico.” In Jesse E. Aaron, Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro, Gillian Lord, and Ana de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

Part I

Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Second Language Spanish

Chapter 1

Corpus-based Research in Second Language Spanish1

Amaya Mendikoetxea

1.1 Introduction

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is a diverse field, both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, it draws from several disciplines (linguistics, psychology, sociology, etc.) and encompasses a variety of theoretical frameworks. It relies on data types drawn from different data elicitation techniques and a variety of methodological approaches. From a cognitive perspective, the main objective of SLA research is to build models of the underlying systems of knowledge that learners have at a particular point in the SLA process (their interlanguage) and to provide a principled account of how that knowledge is acquired and how it develops. As Myles (2005, 372) points out, “the language produced by learners, whether spontaneously or through various elicitation procedures, remains a central source of evidence for these mental processes, and the success of SLA research therefore relies on having access to good-quality data.” Learner language is primary data for the study of SLA and learner corpora (a special type of corpora containing second language (L2) learners' written or oral language samples, see Section 1.2) should occupy a central role in SLA research.

Methodologically, L2 researchers have traditionally, but not exclusively, relied on (quasi)experimental and introspective data (see overviews in, e.g., Gass and Mackey 2007; Mackey and Gass 2005; Mitchell and Myles 2004; White 2003). While the use of large-scale corpora has become standard practice in first language (L1) acquisition research, large L2 corpora are still scarce and relatively little use has been made of corpora in L2 research. In this paper, I discuss the use of learner corpora in the study of L2 Spanish acquisition. It is not my intention to provide a comprehensive survey of the corpora available and related work but to describe the most relevant projects as examples of what learner corpora can contribute to the field of SLA. In Section 1.2, I define learner corpora and learner corpus research. In Section 1.3, two currently available L2 Spanish learner corpora are described: a spoken corpus, SPLLOC (Spanish Learner Language Oral Corpus), and a written corpus, CEDEL2 (Corpus Escrito del Español como L2), as well as the research carried out with them. A brief overview of corpus-based research in L2 Spanish is also provided. In Section 1.4, I point out the way forward for corpus-based SLA research.

1.2 Learner Corpora and SLA

1.2.1 What learner corpora are and why we need them

Based on Sinclair's (1996) definition of language corpora, Granger (2002) defines learner corpora as:

Electronic collections of authentic F(oreign) L(anguage)/S(econd) L(language) textual data according to explicit design criteria for a particular SLA/FLT(eaching) purpose. They are encoded in a standardised and homogeneous way and are documented as to their origin of provenance. (Granger 2002, 7)

The compilation and exploitation of a learner corpus requires a wider range of expertise than is required for native language corpora (Granger 2009, 15). On the one hand, researchers need to be familiar with the methodology of corpus linguistics2: corpus design, corpus annotation, automated data extraction and analysis, and so on. This has the additional complication that most available tools have been designed for native corpora and are therefore not fully suitable for learner corpora; for example, Part-of-Speech (POS) tagging, which, as Granger (2009, 15) points out, is affected by the high rate of errors in learner language. On the other hand, a good background of linguistic theory, as well as SLA theory, is necessary for analyzing and interpreting the data. These two types of expertise are not often found together: “many corpus-based researchers do not know enough about the theoretical background of SLA research to communicate with them [SLA researchers] effectively, while SLA researchers typically know little about what corpora can do for them” (Tono 2003, 806).