Learning a foreign language is more difficult for some students than others, and particularly speaking out loud in class may be a challenge. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of a systematic approach to facilitate mastery, motivation and a supportive language learning environment, to limit foreign language anxiety. An…

This study examined the receptive vocabulary knowledge and lexical developmental patterns of the 3000 most frequent words among 953 university L2 learners of Spanish at different stages in their language studies, taking into consideration the effect of high school instruction on high-frequency vocabulary knowledge. Results confirm that even…

Heritage language speakers, those who have or claim a connection with the language of their ancestors, have become a group of interest in the United States, especially since programs to serve this population were initiated four decades ago thanks to the advocacy of grassroots organizations. Still, the reach of those programs is minimal and the…

Early childhood language experiences influence how a child's mind and brain process language and acquire literacy. For children growing up bilingual, their two languages interact in their minds, and these cross-linguistic influences can lead to unique neurocognitive mechanisms for language and reading compared to monolinguals. In this…

This ethnographic case study explores the dynamic and fluid development of one African-American student's bilingual/biliterate identity through her enrollment in a Spanish-English Dual Language Education program. We integrate the frameworks of identity in interaction and monoglossic and raciolinguistic language ideologies to understand how this…

This research explored the experiences of nine preservice teacher candidates of Spanish in world language teacher education programs at two higher education institutions implementing the Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) as Student Teachers (ST), as well as perceptions of seven Cooperating Teachers (CTs) and the University Field Supervisor.…

The analysis of professional community is a good indicator of the degree of professional and institutional development of a school. The Professional Learning Community Assessment--Revised (PLCA-R) is one of the most internationally-recognised instruments for evaluating professional learning and collegiality in primary and secondary schools.…

Purpose: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and children with developmental language disorder (DLD) face challenges with pragmatics, but the nature and sources of these difficulties are not fully understood yet. The purpose of this study was to compare the competence of children with ASD and children with DLD in two pragmatics tasks…

This study examines first-year undergraduate admissions materials from 325 bachelor-degree granting U.S. institutions, closely analyzing the English-language readability and Spanish-language readability and translation of these materials. Via Yosso's linguistic capital, the results reveal 4.9% of first-year undergraduate admissions materials had…

Research suggests that the language in which we speak, listen, and read may affect how we understand and interact with our environment. Part of this interaction includes understanding affective communication. Recently, more research has explored the area of bilingualism and emotion. The way in which language interacts with thought and emotion…

The enrollment of Hispanic English Language Learner students in public schools across the United States continues to rise. This increase in enrollment emphasizes the need for more Spanish speaking school counselors. In high schools with large populations of Hispanic English Language Learners, non-Spanish speaking high school counselors are in…

James Banks's framework for determining the levels of integration of multicultural content in teachers' pedagogy has long been a tool used by researchers worldwide. This article introduces the Holistic Analysis of Multicultural Teaching Framework that rethinks Banks's framework to allow research analysis to capture the hybrid and fluid aspects of…

The BrailleNote Touch+ (BNT+) can be a valuable tool for students who are blind who are learning a second or third language. Kapperman, Koster, and Burman (2018) stressed the importance of using a screen reader, as well as a braille display, when learning a foreign language because it allows a student to not only orally learn the language but also…

We investigate effects of prosodic cues on interpretation of ambiguous sentences containing relative clauses (RCs) in English by Spanish-speaking learners. English and Spanish differ in default preference for RC attachment: English has a weak low attachment (LA) preference (RC modifies NP2); Spanish has a stronger high attachment (HA) preference…

Following calls for more modality-sensitive perspectives of SLA, this study investigated the extent to which (a) producing the second language (L2) in the oral modality impacts learner-generated noticing and L2 development of grammatical structures embedded in subsequent auditory input, and whether (b) engaging in L2 production and input…