Mandy R. Menke

Second Language Spanish Vowel Production: An Acoustic Analysis

Abstract Findings from a cross-sectional study of the Spanish vowel productions of sixty adult second language learners of Spanish are presented in this article. The data set is based upon digitally recorded readings of an authentic Spanish-language short story. An acoustic examination of F1 and F2 values was carried out on twenty tokens of each vowel, 10 in stressed syllables, 10 in unstressed. The findings show that learners in the early stages of their Spanish study struggle to produce vowels in a native-like way, but the vowels of more advanced learners are similar to those of native speakers. The unstressed vowels of all learners are produced with some degree of centralization, confirming the much theorized influence of English on Spanish vowel productions.

How Native Do They Sound?: An Acoustic Analysis of the Spanish Vowels of Elementary Spanish Immersion Students

Language immersion students’ lexical, syntactic, and pragmatic competencies are well documented, yet their phonological skill has remained relatively unexplored. This study investigates the Spanish vowel productions of a cross-sectional sample of 35 one-way Spanish immersion students. Learner productions were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of Spanish-English bilingual peers. Findings reveal that learners’ productions differ from those of their native Spanish-speaking peers on nearly all measures; observed differences may be the result of transfer of first language phonetic and phonological tendencies and the nature of the input received.

Analysing foreign language instructional materials through the lens of the multiliteracies framework

ABSTRACT Literacy, understood as a socially situated process of making meaning from texts, has been offered as a conceptual solution to collegiate foreign language curricular divisions, and multiliteracies pedagogy as a means of implementing that solution. Within multiliteracies pedagogy, the knowledge processes framework [Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., Chan, E., & Dalley-Trim, L. (2016). Literacies (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press] facilitates deep engagement with texts and development of advanced language and literacy skills. As more programmes adopt this conceptualisation of literacy as a programmatic goal, additional research is needed to understand how this framework is applied in materials design and implementation. In response, this article documents the materials analysis of multiliteracies lesson plans developed as part of a revised lower-level collegiate Spanish curriculum. Using the knowledge process framework as an analytical lens, study participants examined 25 lessons targeting interpretive communication from two different courses. Results reveal an overwhelming emphasis on the knowledge process of experiencing; the knowledge processes of conceptualising, analysing, and applying occur much less frequently. The authors discuss conceptual and pedagogical factors contributing to the findings and implications for teacher development and student learning in collegiate foreign language contexts.

Surviving Linguistics: A Guide for Graduate Students (2nd ed.). Monica Macaulay. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press. 2011.

As Macaulay mentions in the preface to this guide, graduate school often serves to socialize students into the professional community of linguists (p.xi); the specific practices of our community, and more notably the perspectives that motivate them, can be elusive to novice and advanced students of linguistics alike. The purpose of this handbook is to lay bare some of the essentials of navigating graduate study in linguistics and being a linguist. Individuals considering graduate study in linguistics and graduate students of linguistics comprise the primary audience of this text; text organization allows for use by individuals or study groups, whether as part of a class or a reading circle. While there is a wealth of general guides available to students about graduate school, writing a dissertation, etc., this text is the only one to date which is specific to the field of linguistics. The text is divided into 9 chapters, each of which will be summarized below. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction to the topic and overview and ends with at least one exercise which involves exploring, and in some cases putting into practice, the chapter’s key concepts. Additionally, throughout each chapter Macaulay identifies additional resources that may be of interest to readers.