Chapter 8. The role of language attitudes in the L2 acquisition of sociolinguistic variation

Abstract

Previous studies have examined second language learners’ attitudes toward various Spanish dialects. Nonetheless, few studies have used matched guise to assess implicit language attitudes with respect to morphosyntactic variables. The present study explores the relationship between language attitudes, social interaction, and selection of pre-verbal subjects in wh-questions with Spanish learners studying abroad in the Dominican Republic. Study abroad learners and a group of at-home students completed a written contextualized task examining subject position in wh-questions. Learners studying abroad also completed a matched guise task and a social interaction questionnaire. Findings indicate that learners with an increase in intelligence rating for pre-verbal subjects at Time 2 favored selection of pre-verbal subjects at the end of their study abroad.