Comprehension of Spanish relative and passive clauses by early bilinguals and second language learners
type: CreativeWork
description: This study investigated comprehension of complex syntax in Spanish, namely passive and relative clauses, by early English-Spanish bilinguals, also known as heritage language (HL) learners, and by second language (L2) learners. To contribute to current theoretical debates on the role of input and age in L2 and bilingual language acquisition, and to current pedagogical inquires on how instruction can be beneficial for HL learners, this study sought to find out whether age of onset of meaningful exposure (and consequently type of L2/HL input and experience) affected adult L2 learners and heritage speakers’ knowledge of these structures, which are acquired early (by age 3 or 4) but are most frequently used and mastered at a later age during the school-age period. This study also investigated whether language learning experience, for late bilinguals after adolescence as a second language (L2) in a classroom; for early bilinguals, from birth as heritage language (HL) in informal familiar settings, affect their performance in tasks of oral and written modalities. Given that these structures are mastered during the school-age period, this study also focuses on how instruction in Spanish from pre-K to graduate school affect comprehension of these clauses. Relative clauses are embedded clauses that modify a noun phrase (NP), the head of the main clause, which in this study were either in the subject or in the object position. In Spanish, relative clauses involve a type of wh-movement where a special null wh-word referred to as an operator (Op) in the deep structure moves to the Spec of the CP. When the operator moves, it leaves a trace or a gap within the clause. Although many factors affect processing of relative clauses, it is generally agreed that the linear distance (LD) between the head and the gap accounts for the ease or difficulty processing subject relative and object relative clauses, at least in head-initial languages. The relative clauses in this study were subjec…
abstract: This study investigated comprehension of complex syntax in Spanish, namely passive and relative clauses, by early English-Spanish bilinguals, also known as heritage language (HL) learners, and by second language (L2) learners. To contribute to current theoretical debates on the role of input and age in L2 and bilingual language acquisition, and to current pedagogical inquires on how instruction can be beneficial for HL learners, this study sought to find out whether age of onset of meaningful exposure (and consequently type of L2/HL input and experience) affected adult L2 learners and heritage speakers’ knowledge of these structures, which are acquired early (by age 3 or 4) but are most frequently used and mastered at a later age during the school-age period. This study also investigated whether language learning experience, for late bilinguals after adolescence as a second language (L2) in a classroom; for early bilinguals, from birth as heritage language (HL) in informal familiar settings, affect their performance in tasks of oral and written modalities. Given that these structures are mastered during the school-age period, this study also focuses on how instruction in Spanish from pre-K to graduate school affect comprehension of these clauses. Relative clauses are embedded clauses that modify a noun phrase (NP), the head of the main clause, which in this study were either in the subject or in the object position. In Spanish, relative clauses involve a type of wh-movement where a special null wh-word referred to as an operator (Op) in the deep structure moves to the Spec of the CP. When the operator moves, it leaves a trace or a gap within the clause. Although many factors affect processing of relative clauses, it is generally agreed that the linear distance (LD) between the head and the gap accounts for the ease or difficulty processing subject relative and object relative clauses, at least in head-initial languages. The relative clauses in this study were subjec…
author: Sanchez-Walker, Noelia
language: es
keywords: Heritage Language, Early bilingual, bilingualism, second language acquisition, Complex clauses, relative clauses, passive clauses, task modality, second language instruction, proficiency, oral proficiency, language comprehension
date published: 2020-03-02T22:38:50Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:47Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106477