Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enseñanza/aprendizaje de la gramática

Resumen:

This study examines adapted Focus on Form (FonF) versus mixed Focus-on-Forms (FonFs) for teaching Spanish as a foreign language (ELE) to Chinese university students. The adapted FonF integrated guided inductive noticing (via minimal pairs), staggered rule introduction, and multimodal input, whereas the mixed FonFs condition combined explicit rule explanation and practice in a present-practice-produce sequence. Both approaches incorporated communicative activities. Using a quasi-experimental design, 62 intermediate learners received 15 hours of online instruction. Pre- and post-tests targeted tense–aspect (TA) as the primary domain, with nominal agreement (NA) and embedded clauses (EC) included as reference domains. Pre-test TA accuracy was controlled as a covariate in linear mixed-effects models. The adapted FonF group achieved...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: español como lengua de herencia

Resumen:

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This study investigates the profiles, challenges, and self-efficacy beliefs of teachers of Spanish as a heritage language in non-formal educational contexts in the UK, specifically in the ALCE programme and the NERU (Nuestra Escuela Reino Unido) supplementary school network. Based on survey data from 35 teachers, results reveal a general lack of formal training in heritage language pedagogy, particularly among NERU teachers, who also face greater structural challenges such as limited resources, unstable facilities, and lack of institutional support. While both groups report high levels of teaching self-efficacy, ALCE teachers consistently show stronger confidence, especially in areas like...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: español como lengua de herencia

Resumen:

The transmission of Spanish among heritage speakers is shaped by communicative practices within the family, by their distribution across different geographical areas and the opportunities to use the heritage language in those settings and, finally, by the availability of educational programmes that reinforce the acquired competence. This article analyses how these three factors interact to support the maintenance of Spanish as a heritage language in Germany, the third-largest European country in terms of its heritage Spanish-speaking population. The study draws on demolinguistic data to reconstruct various speaker profiles and the linguistic environments in which they live and are educated, as well as a sociolinguistic survey designed to identify communication practices within households.

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En el mantenimiento del...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: vocabulario

Resumen:

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El presente estudio examina la influencia del tipo de contexto de aprendizaje formal en el léxico disponible de estudiantes de ELE. Se distinguen dos contextos de aprendizaje formales de LE, el convencional, centrado exclusivamente en la enseñanza de la LE, y el contexto de aprendizaje integrado de contenido (AICLE), que se refiere a cualquier contexto educativo en el que se usa la LE como medio de aprendizaje de contenidos no lingüísticos. Se ha mostrado que el tipo de contexto de aprendizaje formal influye en el aprendizaje de la LE de diferentes maneras y se han destacado los beneficios del enfoque AICLE para el desarrollo del vocabulario. Para explorar esta relación, se examinaron la productividad léxica y...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: revisión bibliográfica

Temas: factores afectivos

Resumen:

A growing body of literature examined the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in second/foreign language learning (L2) achievement. Though positive relationships have been reported, negative or non-significant relationships were also found. To date no study has quantitatively synthesized the overall effect size between EI and L2 achievement or the potential moderators influencing their relationship. The current meta-analysis fills this research gap by examining 39 independent studies with a cumulative sample size of 6,571 participants. Moderation analyses showed that the effect was stronger for female, collectivistic culture, and final grades as language measures (as opposed to standardized tests) but not influenced by educational level, major, specificity of L2 achievement, skills of language learning or publication year. Reasons for...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: factores afectivos

Resumen:

This study used Pekrun’s control-value theory (CVT) as a framework to validate the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire – Second Language Learning (AEQ-L2L) for assessing eight student emotions in second language (L2) learning. We tested and validated the instrument in two samples using three waves of data, with a total number of 1,021 Chinese university students. Item and scale statistics indicate the AEQ-L2L is reliable. Moreover, single- and multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported the hierarchical four-factor component structure of L2 emotions in and across the two student groups. Furthermore, multi-model comparison indicated that language emotions are best represented by considering both the distinctiveness of the eight examined emotions and their component structure. Finally, latent correlation analysis demonstrated the...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: sostenibilidad

Resumen:

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In both the school environment and teacher education, sustainable development is usually linked to the natural and social sciences and is rarely incorporated into language education or encouraged as part of language teacher education. As more research is needed on the practical implementation of sustainable development in language teaching and language teacher education, this study elucidates Finnish pre-service language teachers' perceptions of sustainability dimensions (i.e. ecological, economic, social, and cultural) and their role in language teaching. We used a questionnaire comprising open-ended and Likert-scale questions to examine pre-service language teachers' perceptions of and attitudes...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: motivación

Resumen:

In the field of L2 (second language) learning motivation, most studies have focused on English since it is one of the most important international languages in the world, while few have explored students' motivation to learn languages other than English (LOTEs) or an L3. The literature on L2 motivation raises the issue of the need to compare the similarities and differences between learning a second language (L2) and a second foreign languages (or L3). English departments at Taiwanese universities require students to begin studying an L3 in their second or third years of study. However, the motivations for these students to learn L3s remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap in the literature. A standardized questionnaire was completed by 150 students in technological universities in Taiwan. The findings reveal five new...

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Tipo: libro

Temas: español como lengua de herencia

Resumen:

This is a Reprint of the Special Issue Language Processing in Spanish Heritage Speakers that was published in Languages. 

This reprint offers a collection of empirical research on how Spanish heritage speakers process language input. It brings together ten contributions from varied theoretical and methodological perspectives, providing a comprehensive overview of the field and a solid foundation for future research on Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL). Research on SHL has gained prominence as a lens for examining the linguistic, social, and cognitive mechanisms underlying its intergenerational transmission. Increased mobility among Spanish-speaking populations has intensified...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: expresión escrita

Resumen:

Debate pedagogy may hold great potential for improving second language (L2) writing skills. This study investigates this potential by examining the effects of a debate intervention on the quality of argumentative essays of Dutch secondary school students. The intervention consisted of a number of speaking and writing activities, including case-writing and note-taking. The study, which employed a pretest–posttest–delayed-posttest design with a control group, involved 135 students from eight classes at three secondary schools in the Netherlands. To measure the effects of the intervention, we analysed argumentative essays composed by the students on three occasions (pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest). The students’ essays were analysed using a range of measures for fluency, syntactic and lexical complexity, accuracy, and cohesion,...

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