Previous work on intrasentential codeswitching has noted that switches between determiners and their noun complements are frequent in both Spanish-English and Welsh-English data. Two major recent theories of codeswitching, the Matrix Language Frame model and a Minimalist Program approach, make potentially competing predictions regarding the source…

This article adds to the growing body of research focused on second-language (L2) variation and constitutes the first large-scale study of the production of potentially variable grammatical structures in Spanish by English-speaking learners. The overarching goal of the project is to assess the range of forms used and the degree to which native and…

This study examines the relationship between learners' production of modified output and their working memory (WM) capacity. The task-based interactions of 42 college-level, native English-speaking learners of Spanish as a foreign language were examined. A relationship was found between learners' WM test scores and their tendency to modify output.…

The purpose of this article is to describe the process of the development of the "Resilience Theoretical Analysis Matrix" (RTAM) (or in its Spanish translation: MATR), a tool designed to facilitate a coherent and organised approach to the assessment of a wide spectrum of factors influencing the development of resilience in the face of disability,…

"Ingles Sin Barreras" is an English-language program that is highly advertised on Spanish-language television in the United States, to the point that it has become a pop-culture phenomenon. In this article, I argue that few people actually use it to learn English, but instead consume it as a symbol of national belonging. This article…

Sistema de formas en colores (SFC) is a symbols-based system for teaching Spanish grammatical structures and concepts within a communicative context in the elementary school. The (ACTFL) Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century states that, "While grammar and vocabulary are essential tools for communication, it is…

Dr. Albizu Campos was a Harvard-educated Puerto Rican politician who was sentenced to eighty years of imprisonment for what he said--sedition. He was called "el Maestro," a powerful speaker, with thousands gathering to listen to his deliberative rhetoric for freedom. He urged the people to reclaim their cultural history and national…

We used a syntactic priming paradigm to show priming effects for active and passive forms in monolingual Spanish-speaking four- and five-year-olds. In a baseline experiment, we examined children's use of the "fue"-passive form and found it was virtually non-existent in their speech, although they produced important elements of the form. Children…

With the rapid onset of globalization and increasing demand from business, government, and schools for fluency in another language, the author decided to learn Spanish. Driven by a desire to acquire functional language abilities in Spanish, he has embarked on this "better late than never" opportunity to learn the language, and in this…

The rapid growth and interest of college students in Computer Mediated Communication and social media have impacted the second language learning and teaching process. This article reports on a pilot project that attempts to analyze the use of Skype as a synchronous communication tool in regard to the attitudes of students in learning a foreign…

This purpose of this investigation is to explore the cultural challenges faced by Mexican immigrant students through the study of current literature. Four themes emerged as a result of the investigation: dominant pedagogy, educational skills, deficit model, and student identities. The themes are discussed and suggestions are made as to how these…

With the purpose of understanding plausible reasons as to why Hispanics learners of Spanish, or heritage language learners (HLL), tend to obtain lower grades than their non-Hispanic counterparts (L2) in the same courses, forty-four students of Spanish (17 HLLs and 27 L2s) provided written production once a week for a period of six weeks. The data…

"Experiential" professional development (EPD), influenced by Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound design, was integrated in the classrooms of secondary Spanish teachers to create opportunities for them to learn to use communicative language teaching (CLT) through experience. Teachers collaborated with colleagues, students, and a…

The increasing numbers of English language learners who are enrolled in schools across the nation, combined with the escalating academic demands placed on all students, warrant the evaluation of instructional strategies designed to improve English language learners' reading performance. In this study, the authors used a multiple baseline design…

This qualitative study explores how parents decide to enroll their children in one-way immersion programs and how the decision is made to continue in those programs at the middle/junior high school level. A total of 131 parents responded to a survey with open-ended questions about these two decisions. Analyzed thematically and within a conceptual…