Meeting the Demands of Globalization

Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics

Menke

2021

The present chapter focuses on one aspect of Byrnes & Ortega’s (2008) description of advancedness; it considers the notion of structural command, not merely in terms of accuracy, but also the multifunctional use of late-acquired complex structures, which we assert provides another window through which we should observe interlanguage (IL) development and advanced oral production. It defines late-acquired structures as those that consist of complex (multiple) form-meaning associations and are only learned once IL development has reached a stage in which L2 learners are able to notice, process, and produce target language on a multifunctional level involving multiple linguistic systems. This definition allows us to problematize advanced grammar in terms of how we identify it and how we understand advancedness.

The role of late-acquired structures in advanced oral proficiency

Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics

Menke

2021

Looking ahead

Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics

Menke

2021

The present concluding chapter provides an overview of the main results yielded by the empirical research included in the present volume. It further explores our understanding of advanced proficiency in Spanish as a second/foreign language by identifying challenges in defining advancedness, as well as challenges in defining the advanced learner, in terms of linguistic development and socially situated language use. In doing so, the present volume establishes directions for future research and generates questions for practitioners to consider as they design foreign-language courses and curricula targeting advanced-level proficiency. Future directions for research and instructional practice are contextualized according to definitions, challenges, and possibilities, as we consider advancedness in L2 Spanish.

A self-paced reading (SPR) study of the effects of processing instruction on the L2 processing of active and passive sentences

Lee

Language Teaching Research

Doherty

et al. 2020

Self Cite

Recent research on the effects of processing instruction (PI) have incorporated online research methods in order to demonstrate that PI has effects on cognitive processing behaviors as well as on accuracy (e.g. Lee & Doherty, 2019a). The present study uses self-paced reading and a moving windows technique to examine the effects of PI on second language (L2) learners’ processing of Spanish active and passive sentences to explore the effects of PI on instructed second language acquisition. One group received PI but the Control group did not. Between group comparisons on passive sentences showed changes in performance for the PI group but not the Control group with the PI group gaining in accuracy and processing speed, specifically faster response times to select the correct picture and faster reading time on passive verb forms. Within group analyses showed changes in the PI group’s performance on all dependent variables at the immediate posttest and a subsequent decline in performance at the delayed posttest (8 weeks later). We discuss the implications of our results and treatment format for classroom and hybridized instruction.