Lexical development of Spanish heritage and L2 learners in a study abroad setting

This study investigates the effects of an immersion experience on the lexical development of Spanish heritage language learners (HLLs) and second language learners (L2Ls) abroad. Data were collected from 21 Spanish HLLs and 33 L2Ls who spent a semester abroad. Lexical development was assessed based on written narratives collected before and after the semester. The narratives were analyzed to determine the impact of study abroad on three measures of lexical development: density, diversity, and sophistication. Lexical sophistication was assessed based on Spanish frequency data from the Corpus del Español (Davies, 2006) using the log-transformed frequency count. Results indicate a significant increase over time in lexical density for HLLs but not L2Ls, and a significant decrease in lexical sophistication for both groups. Findings are discussed in light of previous research on study abroad and the analysis of lexical development.