University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs Education ETDs Summer 7-13-2020 THE EFFECT OF SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AND SPANISH AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE Marián Giráldez Elizo University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds Part of the Applied Linguistics Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Language and Literacy Education Commons, and the Other Linguistics Commons Recommended Citation Giráldez Elizo, Marián. "THE EFFECT OF SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AND SPANISH AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE." (2020). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/educ_llss_etds/122 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Education ETDs at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Marián (María de los Ángeles) Giráldez Elizo Candidate Educational Linguistics (Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies) Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Eva Rodríguez González, Spanish and Portuguese , Chairperson Holbrook Mahn, Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies Jill Morford, Linguistics Damián Vergara Wilson, Spanish and Portuguese i THE EFFECT OF SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AND SPANISH AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE by MARIÁN GIRÁLDEZ ELIZO B.A., English Linguistics & Literature, University of Alcalá, 2006 M.A., English Linguistics & Literature, University of Alcalá, 2006 M.A., Hispanic Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2014 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial FulfillMent of the RequireMents for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Linguistics The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2020 ii DEDICATION Dedico esta disertación a mis padres, Rafael y Angelines, por no dejarme abandonar mis estudios durante un momento rebelde de mi adolescencia. A mis hermanos, Rafael y Macarena, por ser mis modelos a seguir y siempre enseñarme sobre la vida. También dedico esta disertación a mis cuñados, Puri y Joaquín que llevan aguantándome más de media vida, y como no, a mis preciosos cinco sobrinos que son la alegría de mi vida: Martina, Olivia, Rebeca, Rafael y Lorenzo. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to start by thanking my advisor Dr. Eva Rodríguez González for guiding me while working on my PhD. She has been extremely supportive through all stages of my work, helping me at the professional and personal level and always offering valuable insights and solutions. She has been an extraordinary mentor, encouraging my research and helping me to grow as a researcher. Eva, de corazón, muchas gracias he aprendido muchísimo de ti. I also want to thank my committee members: Dr. Holbrook Mahn, Dr. Damián Wilson Vergara and Dr. Jill Morford. Thank you, Prof. Holbrook, for opening my eyes to Vygotsky and having the patience to sit with me to discuss his work. Prof. Damián, thank you for introducing me to incredible world of sociolinguistics and language variation, I always want to learn more about it; and Prof Jill, thank you for teaching me about the wonders of psycholinguistics. Taking your class was very inspiring. I feel very fortunate for being able to count on all your support and advice. Also, I want to thank my colleagues Diego Bustos and David Páez, for the uncountable hours at the Fine Arts library and Zoom meetings, all the help and multiple fruitful discussions. Without you, mis amigos, I would have not finished this PhD. Furthermore, I want to thank my boyfriend, Lance Lewis. Thank you for loving me and always supporting me while working on my PhD. Moreover, a big thank you to my wonderful girlfriends, Erin Weddington and Mili Castañeda-Ledwith, for always being there through thick and thin. Finally, I would like to thank all the innumerable friends and colleagues who have contributed positively during my academic journey. iv THE EFFECT OF SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING IN SPANISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE AND SPANISH AS A HERITAGE LANGUAGE By Marián Giráldez Elizo B.A., English Linguistics & Literature, University of Alcalá, 2006 M.A., English Linguistics & Literature, University of Alcalá, 2006 M.A., Hispanic Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2014 Ph.D., Educational Linguistics, University of New Mexico, 2020 Abstract This dissertation reviews the results from an online survey created to identify and compare how second language (L2) learners and heritage language (HL) learners of Spanish, enrolled in beginning-level coursework at the college level, acquired and built vocabulary. A total of 451 participants completed the survey. The purpose of the online survey was to serve as a baseline for pedagogical purposes, since it provided information about participants’ language profiles and the way they build vocabulary based on sematic relatedness. Overall, the findings from the survey showed that HL and L2 learners differ in the way they build semantic neighborhoods and, in their meaning-making processes. HL participants produced a higher number of Spanish semantic associations for the provided Spanish categories, whereas L2 learners produced a higher number of English semantic associations for both the Spanish and English categories. Additionally, HL learners left more responses blank in both the Spanish and English categories. The findings support the idea that tailored vocabulary pedagogical practices and interventions v will benefit and enhance students’ vocabulary development and learning in the Spanish language classroom. Keywords: Semantic Neighborhoods, Heritage Language, Meaning-Making Processes, Spanish Second Language, Vocabulary Learning. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... X LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................... XI LIST OF GRAPHS ........................................................................................................ XII LIST OF EXAMPLES ................................................................................................ XIII INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE: NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY ............ 4 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 4 SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY .................................................................. 6 NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY EFFECTS IN SPEECH RECOGNITION .............. 16 Neighborhood Density Effects in Speech Recognition in English ............................ 16 Neighborhood Density Effects in Speech Recognition in Spanish ........................... 21 Neighborhood Density Effects in Speech Recognition in Bilinguals ....................... 23 NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY IN SPEECH PRODUCTION ................................... 24 Neighborhood Density in Speech Production in English .......................................... 24 Neighborhood Density in Production in Spanish ...................................................... 26 Neighborhood Density in Production in Bilinguals .................................................. 29 NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY IN WORD LEARNING ............................................ 30 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 35 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE: SECOND AND HERITAGE LANGUAGE VOCABULARY LEARNING ................................................................ 39 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 39 WHO ARE HERITAGE LANGUAGE (HL) LEARNERS (HL) AND SECOND LANGUAGE (L2) LEARNERS? ................................................................................... 41 VOCABULARY LEARNING AND ACQUISITION IN SLA .................................... 46 Lexical Knowledge .................................................................................................... 47 Explicit Versus Implicit Learning and Teaching ....................................................... 50 VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES ........................................................................... 54 LEARNING AND HERITAGE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION ................................. 56 VOCABULARY LEARNING AND ACQUISITION IN HERITAGE LANGUAGE AND BILINGUALS ........................................................................................................ 61 HOW CAN SEMANTIC NEIGHBORHOOD DENSITY FILL THE GAP IN ACQUISITION RESEARCH? ....................................................................................... 63 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 68 vii CHAPTER 3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE: VYGOTSKY’S MEANING MAKING AND CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT .............................................................................