This volume offers a comprehensive snapshot of the breadth of empirical research currently being conducted on the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish during study abroad. Research on this topic spans diverse methodological approaches, types of programs, linguistic structures, and learner characteristics, which is reflected in the contributions in this volume. This diversity of approaches illustrates how the second language development of sociolinguistic variation during study abroad depends crucially on a number of linguistic and extralinguistic factors and can be measured in distinct ways. Thus, this collection will be an indispensable resource to researchers and students of second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, education, and other fields interested in language development during study abroad.

The Art of Teaching Spanish explores in-depth the findings of research in second language acquisition (SLA) and other language-related fields and translates those findings into practical pedagogical tools for current—and future—Spanish-language instructors. This volume addresses how theoretical frameworks affect the application of research findings to the teaching of Spanish, how logistical factors affect the way research findings can be applied to teach Spanish, and how findings from Spanish SLA research would be applicable to Spanish second language teaching and represented in Spanish curricula through objectives and goals (as evidenced in pedagogical materials such as textbooks and computer-assisted language learning software). Top SLA researchers and applied linguists lend their expertise on matters such as foreign language across curriculum programs, testing, online learning, the incorporation of linguistic variation into the classroom, heritage language learners, the teaching of translation, the effects of study abroad and classroom contexts on learning, and other pedagogical issues. Other common themes of The Art of Teaching Spanish include the rejection of the concept of a monolithic language competence, the importance of language as social practice and cultural competence, the psycholinguistic component of SLA, and the need for more cross-fertilization from related fields.

This volume offers a comprehensive snapshot of the breadth of empirical research currently being conducted on the second language acquisition of sociolinguistic variation in Spanish during study abroad. Research on this topic spans diverse methodological approaches, types of programs, linguistic structures, and learner characteristics, which is reflected in the contributions in this volume. This diversity of approaches illustrates how the second language development of sociolinguistic variation during study abroad depends crucially on a number of linguistic and extralinguistic factors and can be measured in distinct ways. Thus, this collection will be an indispensable resource to researchers and students of second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, education, and other fields interested in language development during study abroad.

Drawing on cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a range of sociolinguistic variables in L2 French, this volume explores the relationship between 'study abroad' and the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation patterns by the advanced second language learner. Within a variationist paradigm, the findings illuminate a number of issues in relation to the role of speaker identity, gender, and L2 exposure and contact.

"Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context" brings together for the first time a series of studies which explore the relationship between language learning and the study abroad experience. Utilizing different research methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, descriptive), the focus in this collection is on various aspects of second language learning, including the acquisition of sociolinguistic competence, the acquisition of fluency, the use of communicative strategies and the development of oral and written skills. The studies are cross-linguistic and deal with student populations at the secondary and college levels who spent between three months and one year in study abroad or exchange programs in Japan, Russia, Spain, Mexico, France or Canada.

This volume corrects the relative neglect in Second Language Acquisition studies of the quantitative study of language variation and provides insights into such issues as language transfer, acquisition through exposure, language universals, learner's age and so forth. These studies bolster the idea that a full account of SLA development (and, hence, a “theory of SLA”) must be built on not only detailed accounts of interlanguage data but also on a wide appeal to factors which govern the psycholinguistic bases of SLA. An important addition to the volume is a comprehensive guide to both the DOS and Macintosh versions of the VARBRUL statistical program used by variationists.

Heritage Speakers of Spanish and Study Abroad is an edited volume that provides emerging research on heritage speakers of Spanish in immersion contexts in theoretical, empirical, and programmatic terms. This edited collection seeks to expand our understanding of heritage speakers of Spanish by incorporating research on their linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic development during and after a sojourn abroad, by discussing the complexities of their identity formation and negotiation during immersive stays, and by highlighting programmatic innovations that could be leveraged to better serve diverse learners in study abroad contexts. This volume advances the fields of both heritage language education and research on immersion study in a variety of ways, and will be of interest to scholars of applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and educational linguistics, especially those interested in study abroad programming and Spanish for heritage speakers.

This volume provides a broad coverage of the intersection of sociolinguistic variation and language acquisition. Favoured by the current scientific context where interdisciplinarity is particularly encouraged, the chapters bring to light the complementarity between the social and cognitive approaches to language acquisition. The book integrates sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic issues by bringing together scholars who have been developing conceptions of language acquisition across the lifespan that take into account language-internal and cross-linguistic variation in contexts of both first and second language acquisition as well as of first and second dialect acquisition. The volume brings together theoretical and empirical research and provides an excellent basis for scholars and students wanting to delve into the social and cognitive dimensions of both the production and perception of sociolinguistic variation. The book enables the reader to understand, on the one hand, how variation is acquired in childhood or at a later stage and, on the other, how perception and production feed into one another, thus building up our understanding of the social meanings underpinning language variation.

This book is a threefold investigation of the study abroad profile of non-native speaker teachers of English, its impact on acquisition of sociopragmatic variation patterns and the subsequent relationship between such patterns and the enactment of a range of identities. It links ethnographic and quantitative data with examples of learner discourse.

A comprehensive, current review of the research and approaches to advanced proficiency in second language acquisition The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition offers an overview of the most recent and scientific-based research concerning higher proficiency in second language acquisition (SLA). With contributions from an international team of experts in the field, the Handbook presents several theoretical approaches to SLA and offers an examination of advanced proficiency from the viewpoint of various contexts and dimensions of second language performance. The authors also review linguistic phenomena among advanced learners through the lens of phonology and grammar development. Comprehensive in scope, this book provides an overview of advanced proficiency grounded in socially-relevant domains of second language acquisition including discourse, reading, genre-based writing, and pragmatic competence. The authoritative volume brings together the theoretical accounts of advanced language use combined with solid empirical research. Includes contributions from an international collection of noted scholars in the field of second language acquisition Offers a variety of theoretical approaches to SLA Contains information on the most recent empirical research that contributes to an understanding of SLA Describes performance phenomena according to multiple approaches to SLA Written for scholars, students and linguists, The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition is a comprehensive text that offers the most recent developments in the study of advanced proficiency in the acquisition of a second language.