What We Gain by Combining Variationist and Concept‐Oriented Approaches: The Case of Acquiring Spanish Future‐Time Expression
I am grateful to Kimberly Geeslin, Kathleen Bardovi‐Harlig, J. Clancy Clements, Manuel Díaz‐Campos, and Alan Juffs for their feedback on prior versions of this article. This article also benefited greatly from the helpful comments of Pavel Trofimovich and five anonymous reviewers. I thank the learners and native speakers who participated in the study and the administrators and instructors who allowed me to recruit from their classes. All shortcomings belong solely to me.
Abstract
This study aimed to advance research on first and second language future‐time expression in Spanish and to demonstrate the strengths of combining functionalist, concept‐oriented approaches (e.g., Andersen, 1984; Bardovi‐Harlig, 2000; Shirai, 1995; von Stutterheim & Klein, 1987) with variationist approaches. The study targeted 140 participants (120 English‐speaking learners of Spanish of varying proficiency and 20 native speakers of Spanish) who completed an oral task responding to eight prompts (e.g., describe tus planes para este fin de semana “describe your plans for this weekend”). Results from cross‐tabulations and multinomial regressions indicated gradual inclusion of new linguistic and social variables as learner proficiency increased and demonstrated the value of considering both group and individual behavior. Findings were discussed in relation to stages of acquisition of future‐time expression.
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Number of times cited: 6
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