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In:Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics: Studies in honor of Kimberly L. Geeslin
Edited by Megan Solon, Matthew Kanwit and Aarnes Gudmestad
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 43] 2025
► pp. 35–64

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Chapter 2
What frequency, regularity, and form avoidance tell us about strategic competence

The case of L2 Spanish future variation

 | University of Pittsburgh
 | University of Pittsburgh
Published online: 26 June 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.43.02sot
Abstract
Avoidance behavior is under-investigated in research on the acquisition of variation, although it may contribute to variability. Learners, uncertain about infrequent or irregular combinations, may avoid a certain future-time variant as part of strategic competence. Sixty-one intermediate Spanish learners completed open-ended writing prompts and a form-avoidance questionnaire. Learners used less morphological future (MF) and more lexical and periphrastic futures later in course sequencing. MF was favored with distant temporality, lack of negation, and frequent, regular verbs. Thus, the regular pattern’s high type frequency was bolstered by forms of high token frequency. Similarly, learners reported avoiding MF due to concerns regarding accuracy, especially with irregulars. We provide novel data on strategic competence demonstrated through form avoidance based on infrequency and irregularity.
Article outline
  • Research context
    • Future-time expression in first-language (L1) and L2 Spanish
    • The roles of frequency and form regularity
    • Communication strategies, form avoidance, and strategic competence
    • Remaining gaps, research questions, and hypotheses
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials and procedure
      • Written personal prompt task
      • Follow-up questionnaire
      • Grammar test
      • Background questionnaire
      • Coding and analysis
  • Results
    • Written production task
    • Self-report questionnaire
  • Discussion
    • Rates and predictors of usage
    • Roles of frequency, regularity, and form avoidance in revealing strategic competence
    • Limitations and future directions
  • Conclusion
  • ?ack?
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (63)
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