Contact, Community, and Connections: Current Approaches to Spanish in Multilingual Populations (Series in Language and Linguistics)

This edited volume provides state of the art research on developing areas of Spanish in contact with other languages. This manuscript is unique in its broad yet coherent approach to the study of Spanish in bilingual contexts by investigating current issues in the field through well-designed research and innovative analyses. In addition, this book concludes with research on how languages in contact are reflected in individuals in educational settings as well as insights on how to teach bilinguals raised in contact with English and Spanish.

This manuscript is divided into three major themes that focus on the overall issues of Spanish in bilingual contexts:

1. The first section, titled "Language and Identity," is composed of four chapters that focus on the connection between language and identity in unique settings.

2. The second section of the manuscript is titled "Language and Dialectal Contact" and is composed of six chapters that analyze the dialectal and linguistic changes in languages in contact in a variety of settings.

3. The final section is titled "Language in Educational Settings" and consists of four chapters with a focus on heritage speakers and second language students of Spanish in different classroom settings as well as abroad.

This volume contributes original research in these areas in a way so as to fill valuable gaps in the current knowledge in the field especially in the innovative ways of approaching areas such as teaching heritage learners, understanding diachronic and synchronic dialectal and linguistic changes as well as innovations in language use, and how language contributes to the formation of identity.

Gregory L. Thompson (Ph.D., Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor of Spanish Pedagogy at Brigham Young University. He has taught classes on language pedagogy, bilingualism, Spanish phonetics, applied linguistics, as well as on the development of language skills. Thompson has published articles in Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, and other journals on his varied research areas including code-switching in the foreign language classroom; heritage language learners; service learning and language acquisition; bilingualism and languages in contact; and placement exams and language testing. He has presented extensively at regional, national, and international conferences. He also has published three books titled Intersection of Service and Learning: Research and Practice in the Second Language Classroom; Spanish in Bilingual and Multilingual Settings around the World; and The Changing Landscape of Spanish Language Curricula: Designing Higher Education Programs for Diverse Students.

Scott M. Alvord (Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics, University of Minnesota) is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Brigham Young University. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish Phonetics, Spanish Phonology, Comparative Linguistics, Spanish Grammar, and Second Language Acquisition of Phonology. His research interests include phonetics and phonology, Spanish in the U.S., and the second language acquisition of Spanish phonology. He has presented extensively at regional, national, and international conferences. Recent publications can be found in Spanish in Context, Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, and Sociolinguistic Studies.