Cover not available

In:Advancedness in Second Language Spanish: Definitions, challenges, and possibilities
Edited by Mandy R. Menke and Paul A. Malovrh
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 31] 2021
► pp. 115–142

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 6
Allowable temporal distances for future-time forms

The case of advanced L2 Spanish learners

ORCiD logo with link | University of Pittsburgh
Published online: 8 February 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.31.06kan
Abstract
Learners may show sensitivity to linguistic factors in more controlled tasks before doing so in production, although advanced learners often demonstrate greater inter-task consistency. Future-time expression in Spanish serves as a good test case for such variability due to the multiple forms speakers use. Although recent research has considered production and contextualized selection of future-time forms, it has not required learners to react to forms they may not otherwise implement. We manipulate four future forms and five lexical types, asking learners to indicate when an action could occur for each item. Learners showed more nuanced temporal restrictions according to these factors as proficiency increased, with advanced learners most approximating native speakers, in addition to overshooting some targets and revealing lexical effects.
Article outline
  • Advanced learners: Rates and predictors of use, task-related differences, and lexical effects
  • Future expression in native and L2 Spanish
  • Summary: Temporal distance, advanced learners, and remaining gaps
  • Current study
    • Participants
    • Procedure
    • Allowable temporal distances task
    • Grammar test
    • Language background questionnaire
  • Results
    • Overall rates of temporal distance selection
    • Mixed-effects regression models
  • Cross-tabulating verb form and lexical type
  • Discussion
    • Answers to research questions
    • Advanced learners overshooting NS targets
    • Differences with prior task types: Lessened for advanced learners
    • Greater sensitivity to lexical properties by advanced leaners
  • Conclusions and limitations
  • Notes
  • References
References (53)
References
Aaron, J. E. (2006). Me voy a tener que ir yendo: A corpus-based study of the grammaticalization of the ir a + INF construction in Spanish. In N. Sagarra & A. J. Toribio (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 263–272). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Adamson, H. D. (2009). Interlanguage variation in theoretical and pedagogical perspective. London, UK: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Andersen, R. W. (1984). The one-to-one principle of interlanguage construction. Language Learning, 34, 77–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1990). Models, processes, principles and strategies: Second language acquisition inside and outside the classroom. In B. VanPatten & J. F. Lee (Eds.), Second language acquisition-foreign language learning (pp. 45–78). Clevedon, UK: Multingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. (2004). The emergence of grammaticalized future expression in longitudinal production data. In M. Overstreet, S. Rott, B. VanPatten, & J. Williams (Eds.), Form and meaning in second language acquisition (pp. 115–137). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). The future of desire: Lexical futures and modality in L2 English future expression. In L. Dekydtspotter, R. A. Sprouse, & A. Liljestrand (Eds.), Proceedings of the 7th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition Conference (GASLA 2004), (pp. 1–12). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bayley, R., & Langman, J. (2004). Variation in the group and the individual: Evidence from second language acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 42, 303–318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2005). Interpreting age effects in second language acquisition. In J. Kroll & A. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp.109–127). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blas Arroyo, J. L. (2008). The variable expression of future tense in Peninsular Spanish: The present (and future) of inflectional forms in the Spanish spoken in a bilingual region. Language Variation and Change, 20, 85–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, J. L., Perkins, R., & Pagliuca, W. (1994). The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Byrnes, H. (2018). Advanced-level grammatical development in instructed SLA. In P. A. Malovrh & A. G. Benati (Eds.), The handbook of advanced proficiency in second language acquisition (pp. 131–156). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2016). Of moving targets and chameleons: Why the concept of difficulty is so hard to pin down. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 353–363. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Domínguez, L., Tracy-Ventura, N., Arche, M., Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2013). The role of dynamic contrasts in the L2 acquisition of Spanish past tense morphology. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16, 558–577. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edmonds, A., & Gudmestad, A. (2014). Your participation is greatly/highly appreciated: Amplifier collocations in L2 English. Canadian Modern Language Review, 70, 76–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ellis, R. (2005). Planning and task-based research: Theory and research. In R. Ellis (Ed.), Planning and task-performance in a second language (pp. 3–34). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L. (2003). A comparison of copula choice: Native Spanish speakers and advanced learners. Language Learning, 53, 703–764. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Variable structures and sociolinguistic variation. In P. A. Malovrh & A. G. Benati (Eds.), The handbook of advanced proficiency in second language acquisition (pp. 547–565). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Gudmestad, A. (2008). Comparing interview and written elicitation tasks in native and non-native data: Do speakers do what we think they do? In J. Bruhn de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 10th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 64–77). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., Linford, B., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Variable subject expression in second language Spanish: Uncovering the developmental sequence and predictive linguistic factors. In A. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Shin (Eds.), Subject pronoun expression in Spanish: A cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 193–212). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2006). Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A. (2012). Acquiring a variable structure: An interlanguage analysis of second-language mood use in Spanish. Language Learning, 62, 373–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A., & Geeslin, K. L. (2011). Assessing the use of multiple forms in variable contexts: The relationship between linguistic factors and future-time reference in Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 4, 3–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Second-language development of variable forms of future-time expression in Spanish. In S. Beaudrie & A. M. Carvalho (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 63–75). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, M. (1995). On the future of the future tense in the Spanish of the southwest. In C. Silva-Corvalán (Ed.), Spanish in four continents: Studies in language contact and bilingualism (pp. 214–223). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howard, M. (2004). On the interactional effect of linguistic constraints on interlanguage variation: The case of past time marking. IRAL, 42, 319–334. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M. (2014). The acquisition of future expression in L2 Spanish (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). What we gain by combining variationist and concept-oriented approaches: The case of acquiring Spanish future-time expression. Language Learning, 67, 461–498. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Beyond the present indicative: Lexical futures as indicators of development in L2 Spanish. Modern Language Journal, 103, 481–501. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., & Geeslin, K. L. (2014). The interpretation of Spanish subjunctive and indicative forms in adverbial clauses: A cross-sectional study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36, 487–533. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (2013). Acquiring variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico. In J. E. Aaron, J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, & A. de Prada Pérez (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 206–221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lafford, B. A., & Salaberry, M. R. (2003). Spanish second language acquisition: State of the science. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2014). Another step to be taken – Rethinking the end point of the interlanguage continuum. In Z. Han & E. Tarone (Eds.), Interlanguage: Forty years later (pp. 203–220). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lee, J. (2002). The incidental acquisition of Spanish: Future tense morphology through reading in a second language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, 55–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Malovrh, P. A., & Benati, A. G. (2018). The handbook of advanced proficiency in second language acquisition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moses, J. (2002). The expression of futurity by English–speaking learners of French. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orozco, R. (2005). Distribution of future tense forms in Northern Colombian Spanish. In D. Eddington (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 7th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 56–65). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orozco, R., & Thoms, J. J. (2014). The future tense in Spanish L2 textbooks. Spanish in Context, 11, 27–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortega, L. (2014). Ways forward for a bi/multilingual turn in SLA. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA/TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 32–52). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortega, L., & Byrnes, H. (2008). Theorizing advancedness, setting up the longitudinal research agenda. In L. Ortega & H. Byrnes (Eds.), The longitudinal study of advanced L2 capacities (pp. 281–300). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pisabarro Sarrió, S. (2019). Developing sociolinguistic competence through explicit instruction: The case of future-time expression in L2 Spanish (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Preston, D. (1993). Variationist linguistics and second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 9, 153–172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quesada, M. L. (1998). L2 acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive mood and prototype schema development. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 2, 1–23.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). La percepción de las propiedades semánticas y la adquisición de la morfología verbal en el español como L2 [Perception of semantic properties and the acquisition of verbal morphology in Spanish as a second language]. Estudios de Lingüística Aplicada, 44, 11–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rehner, K. (2005). Developing aspects of second language discourse competence. Munich, Germany: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rossomondo, A. (2007). The role of lexical temporal indicators and text interaction format in the incidental acquisition of the Spanish future tense. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 29, 39–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russell, V. (2014). A closer look at the output hypothesis: The effect of pushed output on noticing and inductive learning of the Spanish future tense. Foreign Language Annals, 47, 25–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salaberry, M. R. (2011). Assessing the effect of lexical aspect and grounding on the acquisition of L2 Spanish past tense morphology among L1 English speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14, 184–202. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sedano, M. (1994). El futuro morfológico y la expresión ir a + infinitivo en el español hablado de Venezuela [The morphological future and the expression of ir a + infinitive in Venezuelan Spanish]. Verba: Anuario Galego de Filoloxia, 21, 225–240.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2007). L2 acquisition at the grammar-discourse interface: Aspectual shifts in L2 Spanish. In J. Liceras, H. Zohl, & H. Goodluck (Eds.), Formal features in second language acquisition (pp. 452–483). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solon, M., & Kanwit, M. (2014). The emergence of future verbal morphology in Spanish as a foreign language. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 7, 115–148. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wulff, S., Ellis, N. C., Römer, U., Bardovi-Harlig, K., & Leblanc, C. J. (2009). The acquisition of tense-aspect: Converging evidence from corpora and telicity ratings. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 354–369. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Pisabarro Sarrió, Silvia & Matthew Kanwit
2025. Exploring instruction on variable future-time expression in L2 Spanish. Language Teaching Research DOI logo
Soto-Lucena, Irene & Matthew Kanwit
2025. What frequency, regularity, and form avoidance tell us about strategic competence. In Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 43], ► pp. 35 ff. DOI logo
Swain, Angela, Juan Berríos & Matthew Kanwit
2023. Exploring future-in-the-past variation in Seville and Caracas. In Innovative Approaches to Research in Hispanic Linguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 38], ► pp. 58 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue