Tipo: artículo

Metodología: trabajo teórico

Temas: corpus

Resumen:

Despite the burgeoning field of Spanish second language acquisition (SLA) research, large Spanish learner corpora (LC) are not common practice yet. We present a general yet practical introduction to the multiple decisions Spanish as a second language (L2) researchers should consider before creating their own LC. We focus on (i) two freely available Spanish LC (CEDEL2 and COWS-L2H), (ii) their general design principles, (iii) crucial variables to collect (learner and task variables), (iv) ways of collecting and compiling LC data, and (v) the final product (the corpus interface). We explore different ways of interrogating the two corpora, illustrating them with specific (morpho)syntactic and lexical examples from L2 Spanish, as well as potential curricular and teaching applications of LC. We conclude with a recommendation for the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: expresión escrita

Resumen:

Few studies have analyzed the writing features of second language (L2) alongside heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish. Focusing on the development of writing complexity, we collected data from students at the beginning and at the end of a composition sequence. Comparing the groups at the outset revealed HL students' greater mood complexity. After 14 weeks, both groups improved in tense complexity, mean essay length, and lexical sophistication. Our findings suggest that, given sufficient time, both HL and L2 students can progress in similar ways in at least some measures of linguistic complexity. Nevertheless, they might gain from instruction that facilitates new and diverse vocabulary, and the construction of longer sentences. L2 students specifically would benefit from greater emphasis on the subjunctive. Our study supports the...

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