Joseph Collentine’s research while affiliated with Northern Arizona University and other places

This volume presents research from across the subdisciplines of Hispanic Linguistics in an attempt to showcase how new research methods, together with a renewed focus on language variation, have advanced our field. This volume is divided into three sections of original research, with the first describing regional variation of Spanish, the second synchronic variation, and the third learner profile variation. Such nuanced descriptions and analyses would not be possible without new variationist research methods and big-data techniques such as the use of online corpora and data reduction analyses. These overarching themes represent a paradigm shift affecting the whole of Hispanic Linguistics, and are, therefore, best appreciated in an edited volume composed of diverse manifestations of trends like those included herein. The data from these submissions were originally presented at the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium hosted by Wake Forest University in 2021.

Language corpora can play a significant role in second language education, particularly given the benefits of data-driven learning. However, most teachers are not able to effectively utilize technologies that search, summarize, and contextualize corpus samples and lack training in the design and implementation of corpus-based learning tasks and materials. Even though attempts to implement formal teacher training in these areas have started to emerge, they tend to concentrate on English language contexts. Similar experiences in Spanish teacher education are almost non-existent, even though digital literacy is a key competency in the preparation of foreign language teachers. Consequently, Spanish language teachers can only rely on general suggestions on how to integrate corpus methods and resources into their practice. This article reviews the scholarly literature on teacher training on pedagogical uses of corpora and describes ways in which Spanish pre- and in-service teachers can be trained in the use of corpus tools.

Language corpora can play a significant role in second language education, particularly given the benefits of data-driven learning. However, most teachers are not able to effectively utilize technologies that search, summarize, and contextualize corpus samples and lack training in the design and implementation of corpus-based learning tasks and materials. Even though attempts to implement formal teacher training in these areas have started to emerge, they tend to concentrate on English language contexts. Similar experiences in Spanish teacher education are almost non-existent, even though digital literacy is a key competency in the preparation of foreign language teachers. Consequently, Spanish language teachers can only rely on general suggestions on how to integrate corpus methods and resources into their practice. This article reviews the scholarly literature on teacher training on pedagogical uses of corpora and describes ways in which Spanish pre- and in-service teachers can be trained in the use of corpus tools.

Quantitative methods help researchers to determine objectively the comparative effectiveness of different approaches to language instruction. This entry delineates essential statistical techniques for comparing the effectiveness of two approaches to task‐based language teaching (TBLT) in a typical pretest–posttest study. Step‐by‐step procedures are outlined for conducting a repeated measures analysis in SPSS, including the presentation and interpretation of descriptive and inferential statistics.

This book is a collection of original studies analyzing how different internal and external factors affect Spanish language variation and evolution across a number of (socio)linguistic scenarios. Its primary goal is to expand our understanding of how native and non-native varieties of Spanish co-exist with other languages and dialects under the influence of several linguistic and extra-linguistic forces. While some papers analyze the linguistic dynamics affecting Spanish grammars from a cross-dialectal perspective, others focus more closely on the relations established between Spanish and other languages with which it is in contact. In particular, some of these studies show how power and prestige may support (or not) the use of Spanish in different social contexts and educational realities, given that the attitudes toward this language vary greatly across the Spanish-speaking world. On the one hand, in some regions, Spanish represents the variety spoken by the majority of the population, typically related to prestige and power (Spain and Latin America). On the other hand, in other contexts, the same language is conceived as a minority variety, which may or may not be associated with stigmatized immigrant groups (i.e., in the US).

Current Theoretical and Applied Perspectives on Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics is a 15-chapter compilation written by both established and emerging scholars representing a wide array of theoretical, methodological, and empirical perspectives. Each chapter presents original and significant findings, contextualizes them within the broader empirical work, and identifies directions for future research on a variety of subfields of study such as phonetics/phonology studies, formal acquisition theory, second and heritage language acquisition, language variation, and linguistic landscapes. Given its scope and significance, this volume will be of relevance to not only academics and researchers of all theoretical stripes, but also to a more general audience new to the field of Hispanic and Lusophone linguistics.

This volume addresses a wide range of phenomena including intonation, restructuring, clitic climbing, aspectual structure, subject focus marking, code-switching, lenition, loanwords, and heritage learning that are central in Hispanic linguistics today. The authors approach these issues from a variety of recent theoretical approaches and innovative methodologies and make important contributions to our current understanding of language acquisition, theoretical and descriptive linguistics, and language contact. This collection of articles is a testimony to the breadth and degree of specialization of the scholarly interest in the field. The selection of refereed chapters included in this volume were originally presented at the 20th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (HLS) hosted at Georgetown University, 2016. The book should be read with interest by scholars and graduate students hoping to gain insight into the issues currently debated in Hispanic Linguistics.

A great deal of discussion among applied linguists has centred in recent years on the potential of corpus-based vocabulary instruction (also referred to as data-driven learning or DDL; Boulton 2010a). Research in this area draws on and is relevant to applied corpus linguistics as well as second-language (L2) pedagogy and second language acquisition. Though there is certainly potential for DDL research to inform L2 vocabulary teaching practice, as described in detail in this article, the empirical studies of DDL have fallen short both theoretically and methodologically. Despite these limitations, we see potential in DDL to inform L2 pedagogy and to both draw from and contribute to SLA theory. For these reasons, this article also includes a discussion of how and when Spanish L2 teachers might consider adopting DDL techniques in their classrooms.

No abstract is available for this article.

Conceptual replication within a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environment provides an understanding of the generalizability of second language acquisition (SLA) research (Porte, 2013; Smith & Schulze, 2013). The present study replicates Collentine (1998a), a classroom-based experiment framed within a larger discussion on the relative benefits of input- and output based instruction. Collentine (1998a) compared the benefits of Processing Instruction (VanPatten, 2004) and output-based instruction, both of which elevated the Spanish subjunctive’s communicative value. The results showed that input- or output-oriented instruction informed by how learners process grammatical information can affect the acquisition of complex grammatical phenomena. This conceptual replication not only seeks to corroborate the original study’s findings in a new learning context. It also tests the finding’s generalizability to a tutorial CALL environment built on 3D simulations and emerging web-app technologies. The participants were foreign-language learners of Spanish in a classroom-based curriculum (N = 50). The results indicate that, in the classroom and in a CALL environment, both input- and output-oriented approaches can promote the acquisition of a complex grammatical structure if practice is meaningful (informed by psycholinguistic processing principles) and deliberate, and if feedback is provided.