ERIC Number: EJ1331900
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0015-718X
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Available Date: N/A
Engagement and Emerging Elementary-Level L2 Spanish: Detailing the Status Quo and Identifying Opportunities
Gurzynski-Weiss, Laura; Coulter-Kern, Mackenzie; Kuntz, Tess
Foreign Language Annals, v55 n1 p54-71 Spr 2022
While many elementary-level children in the United States still do not have access to a second/additional language (L2), an increasing number are educated via Foreign Language Exposure (FLEX) tracks. Our two-semester study examines elementary-level L2 learners' engagement, emerging L2 Spanish vocabulary use, and awareness of the arbitrary nature of the relationship between form and meaning, and if this changes from a fall to a subsequent spring semester. The study examines learners' language engagement as operationalized by use of language-related episodes, self-corrections, modified output, turns, and learners' performance on four tasks: two information-gap picture-description tasks, one written production task, and one form-meaning relational task. Results indicate that, even with minimal FLEX-based exposure, learners demonstrate positive gains in terms of L2 engagement, use of L2 Spanish, and understanding of the arbitrary nature of form--meaning relationships.
Descriptors: Spanish, Second Language Learning, Second Language Instruction, Elementary School Students, Second Language Programs, Language Usage, Grammar, Experiential Learning, Learner Engagement, Vocabulary Development, Error Correction, Pictorial Stimuli, Task Analysis, Written Language, Achievement Gains, Learning Processes, Teaching Methods
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
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Author Affiliations: N/A