This study compared the amount of the second language (L2) use and linguistic gains made by students in three short-term language immersion programs: (1) traditional study abroad, (2) service-oriented study abroad, and (3) foreign language (FL) housing. These were chosen because they represent three distinct program types, providing students with…

This study examines heritage-language (HL) experience and identity of 12 adults of mixed-heritage backgrounds through in-depth autobiographical interviews. Each participant has an English-speaking American parent and an HL (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese)-speaking immigrant parent. The interviews explored each participant's…

The goal of this study is to describe the acquisition rate for gender acquisition in Spanish and to show whether individual variability and language contact may affect this rate. The participants were intermediate second language Spanish (first language English) learners in the study abroad and at-home contexts over a 4-month period. The…

Using prospect theory and the extended parallel process model, this study examined the effect of gain/loss message framing on perceptions of severity, susceptibility, response efficacy, and self efficacy (derived from the extended parallel process model), as well as perception of message effectiveness and behavioral intention in a community based…

A randomized, controlled study was conducted to assess the effects of the Nuestros Ninos professional development program on classroom practices and child outcomes related to language development and early literacy skills in both English and Spanish. Fifty-five teachers and 193 Latino dual language learners (DLLs) enrolled in the North Carolina…

Recent studies of heritage speakers, many of whom possess incomplete knowledge of their family language, suggest that these speakers may be linguistically superior to second language (L2) learners only in phonology but not in morphosyntax. This study reexamines this claim by focusing on knowledge of clitic pronouns and word order in 24 L2 learners…

Building on contemporary to approaches to narrative theory and analysis, this article examines how university students enrolled in an advanced Spanish-as-a-foreign-language course textually position themselves and are positioned by others as legitimate or illegitimate users of Spanish in the stories they tell about speaking the language outside…

This paper describes some of the ways in which Hispanic elderly in East Harlem in New York City are advancing as a result of advocacy program involvement. Major problems and needs endemic to the Hispanic elderly in East Harlem are identified and some of the basic causes of these problems are discussed. The areas discussed include housing, health,…

Deplores the philosophy that fosters the idea of Chicano culture as a hindrance to the child, a culture to be eradicated rather than reinforced, and proposes changes designed to enhance the education of Mexican American children. (JF)

An exploration of the connection between literature and the visual arts and its application in the foreign language literature class includes an illustration of how a medieval literary Spanish masterpiece becomes more clear when the text is compared with medieval pictorial art pieces. (four references) (Author/CB)

Drawing on data from 14 communities in California and Texas, this paper examines the variability in language and literacy resources across communities with large numbers of Latino families. Spanish-speaking children live in communities that vary considerably with respect to language use, ethnic composition and education levels. Children's…

Lexical access is concerned with how the spoken or visual input of language is projected onto the mental representations of lexical forms. To date, most theories of lexical access have been based almost exclusively on studies of spoken languages and/or orthographic representations of spoken languages. Relatively few studies have examined how…

Contextualizing Latina girls' body image development requires an appreciation of mainstream body ideals, Latino/a cultural values, and the process by which Latina girls traverse the borders between them. The current study examines how media use and acculturation act across adolescence to shape the development of body image among Latina girls.…

The current study addresses the challenge of investigating the SLA of "estar" with adjectives when highlighting two specific contextual meanings: comparisons within an individual frame of reference and speaker reactions as a result of immediate experience with the referent. "Estar" is examined within these contexts using a picture-description task…