Research Symposium

BIO

Nicole Gonzalez-Pena is a second-year student studying Political Science and plans to pursue a dual degree in Management Information Systems. Her academic interests center on the intersection of public policy, law, and data-driven decision-making. During a policy fellowship, Nicole conducted research on Florida’s court debt policies and developed recommendations focused on promoting fairer and more effective outcomes, including alternatives to driver’s license suspensions for nonpayment of court debt. Nicole is interested in continuing to combine policy research with information systems to improve public sector decision-making and outcomes.

The Effect of Input, Output, and Proficiency on L2 Spanish Clitic Acquisition

Abstract

Second language learners have presented a significant challenge in learning grammatical structures. This is especially present when native English speakers learn Spanish because grammatical orders in sentences differ. Spanish direct object pronouns are also difficult for learners because they must process meaning and grammatical forms at the same time. Understanding how learners acquire Spanish grammatical forms is crucial for improving instructional methods. Prior research has shown that Processing Instruction (PI) and Meaning-Based Output Instruction (MOI) support the acquisition differently, but their effectiveness is still unclear. College students enrolled in basic-level Spanish courses were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: PI, MOI, or a control group. Each group completed a pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest, each test being exactly 1 week apart from the previous. Data was collected using 4 assessment tasks which measured comprehension and sentence production: self-paced reading, picture matching, elicited imitation, and sentence completion. Data analysis and final results for this study are still in progress and not available yet. The analyses will compare and score participant’s performances amongst all tasks and proficiency levels. Results will help determine the effectiveness of PI and MOI, and evaluate the teaching methods used in the classroom and instructional effects vary depending on proficiency levels. These findings have the potential to identify strategies that help create methods to further support second language learner comprehension. Further research can examine the long-term retention of instructional effects. Overall, this research emphasizes the importance of aligning proficiency levels with specific instructional methods for second language learners.

Keywords: Spanish, language acquisition, proficiency, input, output