Spelling is an aspect of literacy that causes significant difficulties for Spanish heritage language learners. The current research study targets one of the most problematic areas of Spanish orthography: substitution of “s” and “c” letters to represent /s/. Participants (n=72) were young adults, heritage speakers of Spanish, who completed a dictation task in addition to a standardized measure of proficiency. The results indicate a main effect for cognates (Spanish/English cognates are spelled more accurately), but no effect for letter. In other words, the data show that “s” is not the default letter for representing /s/, contrary to what had been found in a number of previous studies. These results are discussed in the broader context of pedagogical proposals for targeting orthography among college-aged heritage language learners.

Eve Zyzik (PhD, UC Davis) is currently Professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages and Applied Linguistics at UC Santa Cruz. She has published over twenty-five articles and chapters related to second language acquisition, heritage language development, and language pedagogy. Her articles appear in journals such as Applied Psycholinguistics, Language Learning, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, and Studies in Second Language Acquisition. She has also published two books: El español y la lingüística aplicada (with Robert Blake) and Authentic Materials Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching (with Charlene Polio).

Note: Event will be given in Spanish