BOOK OF ABSTRACTS - EUROSLA

Hudson Kam, Carla L. & Elissa L. Newport (2009): Getting it right by getting it
wrong: When learners change languages. Cognitive Psychology 59: 30–66.
Li, Xiaoshi (2010): Sociolinguistic Variation in the Speech of Learners of Chinese
as a Second Language. Language Learning 60(2): 366–408.
Rehner, Katherine, Raymond Mougeon & Terry Nadasdi (2003). The learning of
sociolinguistic variation by advanced FSL learners: The case of nous versus on
in immersion French. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25: 127–156.
Romaine, Suzanne (2004): Variation. In: Doughty, Catherine & Michael H. Long
(eds.): The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Malden, Mass:
Blackwell, 409–435.
Against the Threshold Hypothesis in the Study Abroad Context:
Evidence from Two Different Proficiency Levels
Asunción Martínez-Arbelaiz 1 and Isabel Pereira 2
1 2
Universidad del País Vasco, New York University in Madrid
Study abroad experience has been reported to exert little influence on
students’ grammatical accuracy, which may improve less than in the foreign
language classroom (Collentine, 2004). This general conclusion has been
challenged by different studies (e.g. Howard 2001, 2005 on French past
tenses or Isabelli and Nishida, 2005 on Spanish subjunctive) with advanced
learners (two years of L2 study). On this basis, Lafford (2006) posits the
Threshold Hypothesis, suggesting that it is not until the third year of the L2
study that learners can start paying attention to form. More recent studies
also have shown evidence of the advantage of advanced study abroad
students over their home counterparts on the accurate use of verbal
morphology and subjunctive mood in French (Howard 2006, 2008
respectively) and on the acquisition of the imperfect tense in Spanish
(Martínez-Arbelaiz and Pereira, 2008). Collentine (2009) states that there is
a consensus in research literature that the students may begin a study abroad
program too early in their language development without having reached
enough metalinguistic knowledge.
In order to test the Threshold Hypothesis, we compared the use of the
imperfect tense in semi-spontaneous narrations. Twenty-eight study abroad
and 33 at home students at the intermediate level completed two
compositions, following identical instructions at the beginning and at the end
of the semester; as well as 37 study abroad and 21 at home students at the
advanced level. The comparisons of the results showed that students from
both intermediate and advanced levels outperform the foreign language
learners in their use of the imperfect tense for descriptions. The results stated
that the use of the imperfect can significantly improve as a consequence of
the study abroad experience which leads us to conclude that the Threshold
Hypothesis needs to be tempered with more empirical research.
21