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Part of
Cross-theoretical Explorations of Interlocutors and their Individual Differences
Edited by Laura Gurzynski-Weiss
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 53] 2020
► pp. 159–186

Chapter 7
Examining the role of instructor first language in classroom-based oral input

| San José State University
| Indiana University

In instructed second language (L2) settings, instructor-provided input is essential for learners’ interlanguage development. While some input is consciously modified by instructors to assist learners, much of instructors’ speech contains inherent linguistic variability mediated by linguistic, social, and situational factors. Variable, learner-directed input may also be influenced by instructors’ individual characteristics (e.g., Gurzynski-Weiss, Geeslin, Long, & Daidone, 2017; Gurzynski-Weiss et al., 2018). The present study extends this work by examining instructor first language (L1) in relation to patterns of variable subject expression in Spanish in learner-directed classroom speech. Twelve instructors of second year, university-level L2 Spanish – half with L1 Spanish and half with L1 English – were recorded teaching one vocabulary-focused lesson. Analyses of subject forms produced in finite clauses in relation to independent variables known to constrain subject expression in Spanish revealed that some constraints on subject form use in instructor speech were influenced by the instructors’ L1.

Keywords: input, instructor characteristics, L1, subject expression, variationist approach
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Theoretical framework
    • Spanish subject expression
    • L2 acquisition of Spanish subject expression
    • Oral input in instructed settings
    • The present study
  • Methods
    • Participants and setting
    • Materials and procedure
    • Data coding and analysis
  • Results
    • Distribution of subject forms
    • Distribution of subject forms by instructor L1
    • Factors related to subject form use
    • Constraints on subject form use by instructor L1
  • Discussion
  • Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 January 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.53.07lon
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