L2 lexical studies have established that learners need to acquire knowledge of the first 3,000 most frequent words in order to enjoy 95% coverage of the vocabulary used in spontaneous speech (Nation 2006). However, there has been little data available that reveal how many of these most frequent words can be recognized by university language majors, with Robles-García´s (2020a, 2020b) recent study being a welcome exception. The present inquiry into L2 vocabulary gains employed the same word-recognition test developed by Robles-García (2020a) in order to characterize the vocabulary size enjoyed by upper-division Spanish majors, both non-native and bilingual native (i.e., heritage) speakers, enrolled in a California public university. The results show that non-native Spanish majors in their third and fourth year of the major are still struggling to learn the first 3,000 most frequent Spanish words. In contrast, the heritage students demonstrated strong word recognition of almost all of the words in this basic inventory. The curricular implications of these results are discussed with respect to both non-native and bilingual native Spanish majors and an argument is made for continued explicit vocabulary instruction throughout the upper-division program.

Nothing is easier than to criticize a book for what it is not. CALL is an extremely complex and multifaceted discipline. Pedagogical theories and models, linguistic competences and skills, psychology and motivation, technologies and affordances, second and foreign language acquisition, learning goals and school types, teacher training and content authoring, engineering and design, contexts and cultures, learner characteristics and preferences, the transdisciplinary and diachronic dimensions: it is simply impossible to tackle all these aspects in one book. The main challenge for any author in CALL is to make clear choices. And to justify them. A possible angle of attack is the supply-and-demand paradigm: to look at what’s on offer from the teachers’ point of view. And even here, there is a wide range of possibilities. Teachers may decide to use technology because it is available, because they are being pressured to do so, because they are impressed by Book Review

El presente trabajo estudia la evolución sintáctica de la selección modal de las cláusulas subordinadas completivas sustantivas que aparecen con expresiones verbales de opinión o emoción como alegrarse, ser lástima, ser seguro, ser bueno, esperar, etc., a partir de su presencia en un corpus diacrónico y sincrónico (El corpus del español de Davies). Nuestro propósito es establecer las distintas etapas de su variación y alternancia, los diferentes elementos lingüísticos que la condicionan, así como constatar la progresiva gramaticalización del modo subjuntivo en español en este tipo de construcciones. A partir de este análisis, se puede comprobar claramente un predominio del modo indicativo durante la época medieval y gran parte del español clásico, etapa esta última en la que ya se empezará a observar un claro incremento de un uso del modo subjuntivo, que se irá consolidando sobre todo en el español moderno en estas subordinadas sustantivas.

This Instructors Perspectives' essay from Robert Blake initiates a discussion on publishing language textbooks. It is followed by responses from Annamaria Bellezza, Nikolaus Euba, and Mark Kaiser.

La enseñanza de lenguas a través del ordenador (ELAO) puede tener lugar de dos maneras: (1) ELAO tutorial, donde el estudiante interactúa con los materiales digitales por su propia cuenta y (2) ELAO social, donde el ordenador provee el medio en el cual las personas llevan a cabo la comunicación a distancia. Cada ambiente aporta ventajas para el aprendizaje de una segunda lengua (2/L), especialmente si el marco pedagógico apunta a un enfoque por tareas (González Lloret & Ortega 2014). Los medios sociales y las videoconferencias han ampliado lo que se entiende por comunicación y pueden constituir nuevas estrategias para fomentar la adquisición de una 2/L. A la vez, no se deben minimizar los beneficios que ofrecen los programas/materiales de la ELAO tutorial, especialmente si se contempla lo difícil que es aprender un léxico adecuado y las colocaciones en una 2/L, junto con el desafío de controlar una nueva morfología y sintaxis. Por supuesto, hay que implementar estas nuevas tecnologías digitales de manera que sigan una autenticidad cultural y que se ajusten bien a las necesidades tanto del estudiante como del instructor (Hubbard 2006). En este estudio, se expondrán estos conceptos con ejemplos específicos de la Web 2.0, junto a sugerencias de cómo integrar las TIC dentro de un programa de 2/L con el enfoque por tareas.

Chapter 8 Technologies for Teaching and Learning L2 Speaking Robert J. Blake, Robert J. BlakeSearch for more papers by this author Robert J. Blake, Robert J. BlakeSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Carol A. Chapelle, Carol A. ChapelleSearch for more papers by this authorShannon Sauro, Shannon SauroSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 June 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118914069.ch8Citations: 10 AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can provide support for speaking a second language (L2) in the form of both tutorial exercises and computer-mediated communication (CMC). The principles for designing good CALL programs or activities are consonant with the same best practices found in the classroom. They include providing opportunities for the negotiation of meaning, focus of form, and a heightened sense of learner autonomy and agency. Today's CMC tools allow students to exchange text, sound, and video in a variety of formats, each with its own set of affordances. Accordingly, CALL activities can be used to foster the development of L2 speaking proficiency in terms of accuracy, complexity, and/or fluency, depending on the type of assigned task. Citing Literature The Handbook of Technology and Second Language Teaching and Learning RelatedInformation

This article analyzes two online Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) activities in the context of a hybrid intermediate Spanish course for the purpose of measuring students’ fluency and complexity development. First, we examine the use of interactive asynchronous video forums, inspired by the “best recording” technique (Nation, Learning Vocabulary; Wood) where students react to other students and record their responses according to a model given by the instructor. Second, we reflect on an experiment with synchronous tandem learning within the same hybrid course, in response to O’Dowd’s (“Online Foreign Language Interaction”) suggestion to include telecollaboration projects within the core language curriculum. The satisfactory results, including the increase of complexity, language learning awareness and automaticity among hybrid students, should encourage instructors and administrators to implement these types of asynchronous and synchronous speaking activities

The computer-assisted language learning (CALL) field seems to change overnight with new technological affordances. Blake revisits his 2000 LLT article on computer-mediation communication (CMC) in order to reflect on how the field has examined this topic over the past decade or so. While the Interaction Hypothesis continues to guide researchers in broad terms, the frame of reference has shifted from just text-based analysis to fully synchronous video exchanges.

Most L2 instructors implement their curriculum with an eye to improving the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Absent in this vision of language are notions of pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and multicultural competencies. Although current linguistic theories posit a more complex, interactive, and integrated model of language, this review article points out where computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can contribute to L2 language growth in terms of these four skills, especially if carefully situated within a task-based language teaching (TBLT) framework. New technologies coupled with a TBLT goal-oriented approach ultimately push learners to combine speaking, listening, reading, and writing in ways that resemble more closely how they normally engage with the digital facets of their own lives.

Language Learning Social Network Sites (LLSNSs) have attracted millions of users around the world. However, little is known about how people participate in these sites and what they learn from them. This study investigated learners' attitudes, usage, and progress in a major LLSNS through a survey of 4,174 as well as 20 individual case studies. The study hints at the potential of LLSNSs, given the generally positive regard participants have for the site, but it also shows its limitations, since most learners drop out or show only limited gains. The study suggests that if online education is to play a positive role in the teaching and learning of English and other languages, learners will need support, guidance, and well-structured activities to ensure the kinds of participation and linguistic interaction that can lead to success.

The Modern Language JournalVolume 99, Issue 2 p. 408-412 The Commentary The Messy Task of Evaluating Proficiency in Online Language Courses ROBERT BLAKE, ROBERT BLAKE University of California, DavisSearch for more papers by this author ROBERT BLAKE, ROBERT BLAKE University of California, DavisSearch for more papers by this author First published: 28 July 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12234_5Citations: 8Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume99, Issue2Summer 2015Pages 408-412 RelatedInformation

This article provides a description of the Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM, a joint production of McGraw-Hill Publishing Companies, the Annenberg/ CPB Project, and WGBH Productions for students learning Spanish at the advanced-beginning, intermediate-low, or native-speaker's level. The CD-ROM, along with four hours of video, is accompanied by the choice of one book for each of these three audiences (advanced beginners, intermediates, native speakers). Issues of good interface design will be discussed with particular attention paid to how the CD-ROM medium can simulate social discourse despite the obvious absence of any true face-to-face contact. The Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM asks students to listen to authentic dialogues, view QuickTime movie clips, read foreign language texts, answer questions in several formats, record their voices, do activities, perform office tasks, and actively practice writing short compositions in Spanish in the form of e-mail messages sent to other story characters. The overall intent is to involve students in some meaningful way with the Nuevos Destinos plot by asking them to solve the real-world problems encountered in the law offices of Raquel Rodriguez, the lawyer originally hired by Don Fernando Castillo five years earlier (i.e., Destinos televideo Spanish course). The CD-ROM materials supply clues to the final plot resolution not contained in either the textbook or the four hours of video.

En este trabajo se aplica la nocion del continuo sociolinguistico al plano diacronico del castellano para estudiar el origen y la evolucion de un cambio sintactico a traves de los documentos notariales del monasterio de Sahagun (siglos IX al XII). Se trata de un conjunto de textos medievales no literarios con escritura latinizante y parcialmente logografica en transicion hacia las reformas carolingias, en los que se demuestra que los escribas mezclaban el latin con el romance hablado innovador. Gracias al estudio de estos documentos mediante la herramienta de analisis digital MOCA (Multimedia Online Corpus Analysis), se ha podido establecer, por un lado, una clara relacion entre diversas estructuras gramaticales distintas formadas por la secuencia demostrativo/articulo + posesivo + sustantivo ya desde epoca muy temprana; por otro, constatar la presencia de la construccion sintactica articulo + posesivo + sustantivo incluso en los textos notariales, a pesar de estar escritos aparentemente en latin.

Learning Arabic, a category IV less commonly taught language, can be a daunting task even with the luxury of a five-day per week schedule, good teachers, office hours, and solid learning materials. This study reports on the successes and challenges of teaching Arabic within a distance-learning environment. With a grant from the Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE), the authors developed Arabic Without Walls (AWW) as a first-year online Arabic course supported by Web materials (e.g. text, graphics, sounds, short human-interest videos, and self-correcting Java-scripted exercises). The AWW course was delivered in a Moodle wrapper with weekly chat (voice and text) sessions. AWW was taught for two years at the University of California, Berkeley (2007--2009) under the direction of Sonia Shiri and then for two more years at the University of California, Irvine (2009--2011) by Maha Alsaffar. The AWW course was designed to prepare students to seamlessly enter second-year Arabic with competence equal to that of those students studying Arabic in a face-to-face format. The present study focuses on student outcomes and their reflections during and after this two-semester course. Results showed that the main goals were achieved from both the teachers' and students' perspective. In many cases, the small-group computer-mediated communication (CMC) sessions with sound and text gave students more personal attention than would have been possible in the classroom setting. The overall student impression of this online learning experience suggests that AWW was a credible alternative for students who would otherwise had no access to Arabic instruction at their home institution or for those who had sought a more flexible learning environment due to their own schedules and life circumstances. Keywords: Online language learning, Arabic language, CMC chat

En este trabajo se aplica la noción del continuo sociolingüístico al plano diacrónico del castellano para estudiar el origen y la evolución de un cambio sintáctico a través de los documentos notariales del monasterio de Sahagún (siglos ix al xii). Se trata de un conjunto de textos medievales no literarios con escritura latinizante y parcialmente logográfica en transición hacia las reformas carolingias, en los que se demuestra que los escribas mezclaban el latín con el romance hablado innovador. Gracias al estudio de estos documentos mediante la herramienta de análisis digital MOCA (Multimedia Online Corpus Analysis), se ha podido establecer, por un lado, una clara relación entre diversas estructuras gramaticales distintas formadas por la secuencia demostrativo/artículo + posesivo + sustantivo ya desde época muy temprana; por otro, constatar la presencia de la construcción sintáctica artículo + posesivo + sustantivo incluso en los textos notariales, a pesar de estar escritos aparentemente en latín.