This article describes the first part of a study that explores the metaphorical language used by 64 second language (L2) Spanish and English as a foreign language (EFL) pre‐ and inservice teaching assistants and instructors in their conceptualization of L2 teachers and students. The article investigates the philosophical perspective embedded in their discourse and differences based on experience, academic background, and culture. The results of the study show the prevalence of the conduit metaphor in most participants' conceptualizations despite differing experience and academic and cultural backgrounds, except for a group of EFT teachers. The article also addresses similarities and differences and the role of metaphors in instructors' practice.
Recent research on second language acquisition (SLA) has strengthened foreign (FL) and second language (L2) teaching methodologies supporting the development of communicative tasks, interactive activities in the classroom, and learner-centred instruction. However, these and any other trends in FL and L2 teaching and learning could be more beneficial if teachers and teacher educators would deepen their understanding of the diverse pedagogical and institutional conditions that may influence classroom work. As part of a wider interest in the relationship between teachers’ knowledge and beliefs and their practices in a number of classrooms of Spanish in the USA, this qualitative study focuses on the teachers’ management of the transitions between instructional stages - i.e., phases in the development of a lesson - with specific attention to the analysis of interaction and control during the transitions.
Second language acquisition research on the immersion context has focused primarily on study abroad, revealing the extent to which that context promotes learners’ developing linguistic and intercultural competence. However, little research has examined linguistic development in intensive, domestic immersion contexts. This study investigated the extent to which target language interactions in a seven‐week domestic immersion program predicted the acquisition of linguistic features that are not present in the learners’ native language or taught in the classroom. In addition, it addressed the way in which learners’ affective characteristics may account for variability in linguistic outcomes. Data obtained for 98 participants—including self‐reported individual variability questionnaires, language contact surveys, and questionnaires measuring the accuracy of left‐headed noun‐noun compounds, verb‐particle constructions, and resultatives—showed an association between the development of these syntactically complex structures and the amount of interaction with target language speakers in which participants reported engaging. Some participants also reported positive changes in their affective characteristics due to their participation in the intensive domestic immersion program. By emphasizing how language reflects the participants’ social environment, this analysis suggests that the contextual properties of a domestic immersion program can support language learners’ acquisition of syntactically complex linguistic elements.
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