Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: enseñanza de español en China

Resumen:

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With the ongoing advancement of foreign language education in China, Spanish has gained increasing attention at the secondary level. As a pilot site for the New Gaokao reform, Shanghai implemented the National Matriculation Spanish Test (Shanghai) as an example of foreign language assessment reform. This study adopts a qualitative descriptive approach, analysing official documents and representative test tasks to examine the test's design and assessment framework. Results indicate that the test aligns with the CEFR B1 level and uses integrated, task-based formats that demonstrate an adequate degree of authenticity, reliability, and validity. The test has exerted a positive washback effect on high school Spanish...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: revisión bibliográfica

Temas: español como lengua de herencia

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This article explores the status of Spanish as a heritage language in Sweden, a Scandinavian society with diverse multilingual communities. We offer a systematic literature review, focusing on both empirical studies and educational policies related to multilingualism and Spanish heritage language speakers (SHSs). The selected studies cover such areas as identity and socio-affective factors in educational contexts as well as aspects of SHSs' linguistic systems. By synthesizing available research and policy frameworks, this work combines descriptive analysis with instructional implications to provide a critical overview of the educational and sociolinguistic dynamics shaping multilingual SHSs experiences in Sweden. Key challenges such as the mixed classroom are discussed in considering current and future educational opportunities for...

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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

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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 assessment and methodology....

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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: enseñanza/aprendizaje de la gramática

Resumen:

In this study, 156 learners were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions featuring 5-minute explicit information (EI) treatments on Spanish real and hypothetical conditionals. The Reading + Hearing + Enhancement + Indexing group received EI in text, audio, and with textual enhancements and indexing (synchronous animations connecting segments of metalanguage to their form in examples). The Reading + Hearing + Enhancement group received the same, minus the indexing. The Reading + Hearing group received text and auditory support, and the Reading group received EI in text form only. A control group completed identical outcome measures but was exposed to treatments for a different linguistic target. 82 participants completed recognition pre- and posttests, and 74 completed guided production tests. In recognition, results revealed...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: revisión bibliográfica

Temas: pragmática

Resumen:

The integration of humor into Spanish Language Teaching (SLT) classes continues to be a complex task today, although it is a pragmatic phenomenon which deserves to be represented in the Spanish classroom in the same way as other elements of communicative competence. Previous theoretical and methodological foundations are not enough to propose new directions of research that become keys for teaching and learning humor. The main aim of this paper is to present several curricular itineraries of research that can shed light on its treatment. After a general review of the concept of humor and how it has been reflected in the CEFR (both 2001 and 2021 versions) and the Common Curricular Framework of the Cervantes Institute (PCIC), three curricular itineraries are proposed: humor as an instrument of the affective dimension; humor and its...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: herramientas

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This study explores the perceptions of learners and instructors regarding mobile learning tasks, comparing WhatsApp and Zoom as platforms for facilitating second language (L2) speaking and overall language skills. Grounded in sociointeractionist theories of second language acquisition (SLA), the research involved novice-high Spanish learners who engaged in weekly Communication Activities via WhatsApp text messaging or Zoom video calls. Findings indicate that while both platforms provided valuable opportunities for language practice outside the classroom, participants preferred face-to-face interactions via Zoom. Despite the familiarity with text messaging, WhatsApp was less favored due to logistical challenges,...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: estudio empírico

Temas: ChatGPT

Resumen:

The emergence of ChatGPT has sparked growing interest in artificial intelligence within the educational field. However, expectations regarding its potential are tempered by uncertainty about its real implications, especially in the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL), where empirical research on the topic remains scarce. This study aims to identify the opinions of SFL teachers regarding the integration of ChatGPT as a teaching tool, the ways they use this chatbot, and the limitations they perceive for its integration. Through a questionnaire applied to 159 teachers, data were collected on various variables related to the use of ChatGPT. A total of 47% of participants reported using ChatGPT in their teaching practice. The most common applications include generating questions for lesson planning and searching for cultural...

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Tipo: artículo

Metodología: revisión bibliográfica

Temas: adquisición de segundas lenguas

Resumen:

This paper explores the potential of studies on instructed second language acquisition to inform pedagogical practices for L2 teaching. It focuses on instructional-effect studies published between 2000 and 2024 that examined the acquisition of perfective and imperfective past tense in L2 Spanish, French, and Catalan. Eleven studies were selected based on pretest-posttest designs and evidence of interlanguage development in past morphology. Key findings indicate that perfective forms are typically acquired earlier and more robustly than imperfective forms, regardless of instructional approach or language. The analysis reveals consistent acquisition patterns, suggesting that effective teaching practices can be derived from these studies. Pedagogical implications emphasize the importance of targeted instruction, exposure to both...

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