In the last decade, the educational field, in general, has experienced increasing interest in applying augmented reality (AR) for educational purposes. Studies have shown that when AR is effectively applied in education, it can increase students’ learning interest and concentration (Zhang et al., 2014), reduce cognitive overload (Bower et al., 2014, p.1), and provide a more authentic learning experience (Klopfer, 2008). This study uses both cognitive and sociocultural theoretical perspectives to better understand the role of AR in peer interaction by investigating language-related episodes (LREs) during collaborative dialogue. The current study investigates whether mobile-based AR influence the number, nature, outcome, and correction orientation of LREs during two oral and writing-focused activities of ten advanced L2 Spanish dyads using AR and non-AR mobile applications. The results show significant differences in the incidence of LREs in both settings (AR vs non-AR) and modality focus (oral vs writing-focused). Although significant differences were found between mechanical LREs vs. lexical and grammatical LREs, no significant differences were found between lexical and grammatical LREs in both modalities and settings. Likewise, the correction orientation was similar in both modalities, whereas the LRE outcomes were significantly different in both settings. Immediate posttests were administered to determine whether participants retained the results of the LREs based on the LRE outcome types. The posttests showed a strong correlation between the recognition and production scores of the grammatical structures. However, no significant differences were found in the recognition or production of grammatical structures nor the production of lexical items between the two settings.

Subject Pronoun Expression (SPE) has been extensively studied in monolingual and bilingual varieties of Spanish using the variationist framework. The goal of these studies has been to examine the linguistic and extra-linguistic factors that condition the expression and the omission of personal subject pronouns. Nonetheless, to date, there is no study of SPE in the Spanish of Equatorial Guinea, the only African country where it is an official language, and the single country where Spanish is exclusively a second language (L2). This dissertation fills this gap in the literature by accounting for SPE in Equatoguinean Spanish.

The research questions guiding this study concern the rates of Subject Pronoun Expression, its conditioning factors, and universal accounts of L2 acquisition, in particular, the Interface Hypothesis (IH). The study had 30 participants from Malabo, who took part in sociolinguistic interviews. These interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the mixed effects software Rbrul. Along the lines of the literature reviewed, the linguistic factor groups studied were grammatical person and number, reference, reflexivity, verb type, and ambiguity. By the same token, the extra linguistic factors analyzed were age, sex, education, native language (L1), and speaker as a random factor.

The results indicate that the Equatoguinean variety of Spanish has one of the lowest pronoun rates (19.1%), a finding that goes against the predictions of the IH. With regard to the linguistic factor groups that condition Subject Pronoun Expression, Equatoguinean Spanish shows an unorthodox ranking: grammatical person and number, ambiguity, verb class, and reference. Interestingly, the low ranking of reference gives support to the IH, which argues that L2 speakers have problems with constraints like the switch of the reference in subjects because it integrates discourse and pragmatic interfaces. The only significant extra-linguistic factor was education, whereas speakers’ L1 exerted no effect on SPE. Individual speaker was a significant random factor group, indicating that variation is great even in speakers with comparable education.

In sum, this study of a unique speech community provides new information on SPE of L2 Spanish. It also contributes to the fields of language contact, language variation, and second language acquisition.

Curricular Design in Languages for Specific Purposes: The Case of a Needs Analysis for the Design of a Spanish for Pharmacists Course is a thesis project that argues for the creation of a Spanish course for pharmacists based in the model of Languages for Specific Purposes courses. In order to do this, a needs analysis was conducted by surveying and interviewing a pharmacist and medical Spanish instructor. Based on these results, objectives, activities, and evaluation criteria were created for such a course. The needs analysis found that Spanish use in a pharmacy is not limited to one ability or task, but rather an integration of many such as reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This course would be an invaluable addition to pharmacy schools in the United States due to the growing Hispanic population across the country.

With the fast pace of globalization and the rise of encounters in digital spaces, CALL scholars have become increasingly interested in how digital tools mediate intercultural encounters. However, despite their evident success in connecting students from around the world, current online intercultural exchanges continue to present problems such a promotion of positive experiences over deep intercultural learning and lack of real-life value (O’ Dowd, 2018). In addition, digitally-mediated intercultural learning research is based on the same theoretical approaches to learning that guide CALL research (Firth & Wagner, 1997; Lafford, 2017). Although such frameworks are successful in allowing researchers to conceive of digital tools as mediators for human interaction, they have yet to embrace the potential of digital artifacts themselves as intercultural interlocutors. Aiming to address this gap in the research, this investigation used Atkinson’s (2010, 2014) sociocognitive approach to language learning to understand the role that digital tools have in intercultural learning. Also integrating Dervin’s (2011) liquid approach to interculturality—which focuses on understanding intercultural learning as a co-constructed process—the research questions that guided this investigation asked: (a) does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? and, (b) in what ways does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? In answering these questions, the study looked at the intercultural learning process of five advanced learners of Spanish, as they interacted with annotated film clips, and engaged in peer discussion around the themes of colonialism and coloniality presented in the film clips. Data were collected through pre and post-tests, video recordings of peer discussions, and screen recordings of participants’ interaction with the annotated film clips. Findings showed that film annotation allowed participants to notice, retrieve and take notes on important cultural information, which they later incorporated in discussion with peers. Based on this evidence, and aligned with the aforementioned theoretical frameworks, this investigation poses that intercultural learning is a fluid, iterative process. The study also suggests that digital artifacts—as well as human interlocutors—play an important role in enabling learning processes, therefore, the role of such artifacts should be studied more in depth.

In a growlingly digital world, scholars must understand the changes in textuality and communication associated with Web 2.0 technologies to incorporate potential pedagogical benefits to language curricula. For example, with the affordance of these technologies, language learners (LL) are increasingly exposed to language contact zones found both on and offline. A practice that could potentially support the communicative practices of LL within these multilingual spaces is translanguaging, or the use of strategies employed by LL when engaging with diverse codes by utilizing the resources of their semiotic repertoire as well as their language(s). Previous research has focused principally on contexts of bilingual education and identity formation vis-à-vis translanguaging. Therefore, the present study is the first to examine the actual translanguaging practices of second language (n=5) and heritage language learners (n=5) of Spanish in a digital language contact zone: Facebook affinity spaces, or common interest spaces. The dynamic data gathered from screen capture recordings of the participants’ interactions and think-aloud protocols in the affinity spaces, stimulated recall interviews, and written reflections were analyzed using content analysis and critical discourse analysis.

This analysis revealed key findings in the data that focused on translanguaging practices, negotiation strategies, and performative competence - or the procedural knowledge which focuses on how learners communicate rather than what they communicate. First, the participants displayed a preference toward the separation of languages in written output, adhering to the ideals of linguistic purism, while simultaneously engaging in translanguaging practices via non-linguistic semiotic resources, such as the use of emojis, in their communication. Second, the participants’ self-reported proficiency levels for their writing abilities in Spanish correlated with their use of outside digital resources as a mediation tool. The findings show that, theoretically, the conceptualization of communicative competence must be expanded in order to incorporate the languaging practices of interlocutors in digital contexts. Pedagogically, educators need to support the development of LLs’ digital literacies, or communicative practices that are facilitated by technology, and address the bias toward linguistic purism to help students reap the cognitive benefits offered by translanguaging practices.

This linguistic ethnography follows three journalism students (Petra, Penélope, and María) as they engaged in experiential language learning (EX-LL) via collaboration with community members during their Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) internship sites in the fields of journalism and medicine within the local Metro Phoenix community. Data were collected over the course of a 15-week semester via ethnographic methods (field notes, interviews, observations, and participant-reported data) to explore how the interns (i) took advantage of their SSP internship experiences to engage in identity work that exceeded the goals of the program and how they (ii) implemented their strategic knowledge via communicative strategies (CSs) during breakdowns in communication with community members related to their SSP internship sites/the social function of such strategies.

In order to answer the first research question, the data were analyzed via open and focused coding (Dyson & Genishi, 2005), followed by discourse analysis (Gee, 2005) informed by Critical Applied Linguistics (Pennycook, 2001) and Positioning Theory (Davis & Harré, 1990). To answer the second question, all instances in which the interns implemented communicative strategies were analyzed based upon the categorization repertories established by Dörnyei and Scott (1995a, 1995b, 1997), Lafford (2004), and Tarone and Yule (1987). To go beyond understanding what the interns were saying to why were they saying it, discourse analysis was used (Gee, 2005).

The findings show that Petra, Penélope, and María appropriated their SSP internship to engage distinct, yet interrelated language- and ethnic/racial-based identity work. Each intern utilized language (and extra-linguistic elements, such as corporeal expression) to position themselves in different ways within social discourse. Furthermore, this identity work influenced which CSs they utilized, as the social function of many of these strategies was to maintain and/or protect their desired identities.

Drawing on these insights, a variety of implications are offered from four viewpoints: implications for (i) EX-LL-based research: colonized versus humanizing research, (ii) critical community collaboration inside and outside of EX-LL, (iii) CSs and communicative competence, and (iv) EX-LL/Languages for Specific Purposes pedagogy and internship design.

Methods of second language (L2) teaching should involve exposure to authentic forms to facilitate the development of proficiency and fluency. Exposure to authentic forms is important because prior research has shown that natural language discourse uses mostly prefabricated linguistic units (prefabs-formulaic language) that aid in developing linguistic competence and fluency; this occurs because learners' cognitive load is decreased when they are able to retrieve prefabricated wholes from their L2 repertoire as they produce L2 discourse (Erman & Warren, 2000). An effective method of acquiring prefabricated constructions as single units of meaning or structure is repetition of exposure to whole collocations (words that occur together in fixed phrases), since attention will shift from the individual constituents of the phrase to the unit as a whole as the meaning-bearing stored form (Bybee et al., 2006). Authentic materials (materials produced by native speakers for native speakers) contain a substantial number of prefabricated meaning units that are characteristic of native-speaker produced natural language. Compared to traditional L2 classroom approaches, authentic materials are more likely to engage learners due to the range of options available for learner interest; there is a psychological benefit for students who can be certain that their progress with authentic materials is tantamount to progress outside the classroom setting (Berardo, 2006; Ugalde, 2008). The efficacy of exposure to authentic forms can also be explained by virtue of the fact that it promotes incidental acquisition, which is the primary manner by which language is learned (Ellis & Wulff, 2015); it does so through facilitating implicit pattern recognition of exemplar structures. The research concludes with a discussion of why pedagogical approaches should seek to incorporate formulaic language for learners to achieve fluency.

Nogales, Mexico experiences a number of socio-economic challenges stemming from industrialization and immigration due to its location on the border. The purpose of the study is to investigate how border issues affect those who live in communities on the Mexican-American border and to find out how non-governmental organizations, such as Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (HEPAC), play a role in combating and repairing social and economic damages caused by transnational immigration and industrialization. This study will look at interviews with staff, volunteers, and participants of HEPAC to see commonalities in responses about the work of the organization and the social and economic reality of their community. The following commonalities were found from the interviews: 1) a desire for people visiting Tirabichi to have a transformative experience that shows the personal result of socio-economic problems, 2) a socio-economic linkage to the situation in Tirabichi, 3) Personal solutions to the problems in Tirabichi through fostering a feeling of community and through education, 4) Culture of Peace workshops needed to change the next generation, necessary because of acclimation to violence in the children's community, 5) an influence of migrants in the community.

The present thesis explores how statistical methods are conceptualized, used, and interpreted in quantitative Hispanic sociolinguistics in light of the group of statistical methods espoused by Kline (2013) and named by Cumming (2012) as the “new statistics.” The new statistics, as a conceptual framework, repudiates null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) and replaces it with the ESCI method, or Effect Sizes and Confidence Intervals, as well as meta-analytic thinking. In this thesis, a descriptive review of 44 studies found in three academic journals over the last decade (2005 – 2015), NHST was found to have a tight grip on most researchers. NHST, much discredited outside of linguistics, confused authors who conflated the theories of Fisher and Neyman-Pearson, who themselves battled acrimoniously until the end of their publishing lives. Within the studies reviewed, with exceptions, dichotomous thinking ruled the quantitative approach, and binary reporting ruled the results and discussions. In addition, this thesis revealed that sociolinguistics, at least within the studies reviewed, is not exactly a “statistical monoculture” as suspected by Gorman and Johnson (2013), rather ANOVAs have joined Goldvarb’s logistic regression in its dominance. As described insightfully by Plonsky (2015), these two methods are exposed as extensions of the dichotomous thinking that attaches itself to NHST. Further, little evidence was found that the methods of the new statistics were being implemented in a coordinated fashion, including far too few meta-analyses. As such, quantitative Hispanic sociolinguistics, and linguistics in general, were shown to be vulnerable to problems with reliable quantitative theory building.

The use of blogging tools in the second language classroom has been investigated from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives (Alm, 2009; Armstrong & Retterer, 2008; Dippold, 2009; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Jauregi & Banados, 2008; Lee, 2009; Petersen, Divitini, & Chabert, 2008; Pinkman, 2005; Raith, 2009; Soares, 2008; Sun, 2009, 2012; Vurdien, 2011; Yang, 2009) and a growing number of studies examine the use of microblogging tools for language learning (Antenos-Conforti, 2009; Borau, Ullrich, Feng, & Shen, 2009; Lomicka & Lord, 2011; Perifanou, 2009). Grounded in Cultural Historical Activity Theory (Engestrom, 1987), the present study explores the outcomes of a semester-long project based on the Bridging Activities framework (Thorne & Reinhardt, 2008) and implemented in an intermediate hybrid Spanish-language course at a large public university in Arizona, in which students used microblogging and blogging tools to collect digital texts, analyze perspectives of the target culture, and participate as part of an online community of language learners with a broader audience of native speakers. The research questions are: (1) What technology is used by the students, with what frequency and for what purposes in both English and Spanish prior to beginning the project?, (2) What are students' values and attitudes toward using Twitter and Blogger as tools for learning Spanish and how do they change over time through their use in the project during the semester course?, and (3) What tensions emerge in the activity systems of the intermediate Spanish-language students throughout the process of using Twitter and Blogger for the project? What are the underlying reasons for the tensions? How are they resolved? The data was collected using pre-, post-, and periodic surveys, which included Likert and open-ended questions, as well as the participants' microblog and blog posts. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data was analyzed to identify emerging themes following the Constant Comparative Method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Finally, three participant outliers were selected as case studies for activity theoretical analysis in order to identify tensions and, through their resolution, evidence of expansive learning.