Development of the Spanish Subjunctive by Advanced Learners: Study Abroad Followed by At-Home Instruction.

Abstract: This study investigates whether or not abstract-level linguistic features, not successfully acquired abroad, will be acquired once the advanced language learner returns from a study abroad program and is exposed to linguistic instruction. The goal of the study was to measure the development of the Spanish subjunctive in adverbial clauses collected via oral interviews among 24 learners who were exposed to advanced subjunctive instruction upon returning from a study abroad program, and to compare them to 19 learners who were exposed to advanced subjunctive instruction without ever having studied abroad. The results show a positive effect on the development of the Spanish subjunctive with linguistic instruction. However, those who had previous study abroad experience benefited even more from this instruction in that they produced more complex subjunctive-related structures. Key words: second language acquisition, stay-at-home study, study abroad, subjunctive, Universal Grammar Language: Spanish Introduction Second language acquisition (SLA) research in the study abroad context has contributed significant data to the understanding of which language elements are better learned abroad (fluency, vocabulary, listening, reading, speaking, oral proficiency, etc.), what is the optimal time period to be abroad, and how linguistic features develop when the language learner is abroad. The majority of these studies compare the effects of learning contexts (abroad and at home) on language development. This study investigated a specific linguistic feature, the Spanish subjunctive in adverbial clauses, which has proven not to be acquired even after exposure to high-quality input in an immersed setting (Isabelli & Nishida, 2005). The goal was to measure the development of this linguistic feature after exposure to instruction between two groups: students returning from a study abroad program and students who have never studied abroad. Linguistic Background: Subjunctive Mood in Adverbial Clauses In Spanish, the indicative and subjunctive moods are expressed by means of inflectional morphology. Mood selection between the indicative and the subjunctive is governed by syntactic and semantic factors occurring only in the linguistic environment of subordinate clauses (Hooper & Terrell, 1974). The three syntactic environments in which the subjunctive may occur are in nominal, adjectival, or adverbial clauses. Adverbial clauses, the focus of this study, require the subjunctive or the indicative mood depending on whether the clause introduced by them is intended to denote a future/retrospective future situation or not, respectively. That is, the semantic criteria for subjunctive use in the subordinate clause need to refer to potential future events as seen in example 1 but not in example 2. 1. Cuando me gradue, trabajare. [When I graduate, I will work.] (subjunctive) 2. Cuando llego a Ia universidad, siempre tomo un cafe. [When I arrive at the university, I always have a coffee.] (indicative) In addition, following Cinque (1999), Giorgi and Pianesi (1997), and Poletto (2000), it is assumed that mood works under the Universal Grammar (UG) framework, in which mood is found encoded in the functional category Mood Phrase (MoodP) where the feature [+MOOD] is checked through subjunctive morphology (cf. Montrul, 2005). Second Language Acquisition of Grammatical Structures at Home and Abroad In this study it is assumed that grammar building in SLA is based on three fundamental components (Schwartz, 1993): (1) access to UG (which is proposed to bridge the gap between available experience and attained competence), (2) a learning procedure, and (3) input. Language learners unconsciously access UG when developing and acquiring linguistic knowledge. UG postulates principles of grammar shared by all languages, thought to be innate to humans, and it attempts to explain language acquisition in general. …