About
I work at the intersection of the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics. My research focuses on the development of fluency and cognitive abilities by second language learners and how cognitive processing abilities affect second language speech development. I am currently investigating the relationship between cognitive abilities (lexical access, lexical retrieval, and attention control) and fluency, and how different learning contexts contribute to the development of these abilities. My most recent publications examine issues such as fluency, topic effect, and the relationship between clause type and filled pauses in the speech of second language learners who have and have not participated in abroad learning experiences. From a theoretical standpoint, I consider the applicability of Leveltian models of speech production for understanding the developmental nature of second language acquisition, especially at the level of lexical access. At Michigan, I have begun to develop a model of second language cognition that incorporates the notions of language experience and inhibition and that recognizes second language learning as a complex, adaptive process. I also collaborate with colleagues at Michigan (Andries Coetzee of Linguistics & Nicholas Henriksen of RLL) on sociophonetic research across varieties of monolingual and bilingual speech communities in the Spanish-speaking world.
Selected Recent Publications
García-Amaya, Lorenzo & Sean Lang. (In press). Filled pauses are susceptible to cross-language phonetic influence: Data from Afrikaans-Spanish bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
Cintrón-Valentín & Lorenzo García-Amaya. (In press). Investigating textual enhancement and captions in L2 grammar and vocabulary: An experimental study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
García-Amaya, Lorenzo. (Accepted, minor revisions). A change of setting: Measuring language use in an overseas immersion context. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education.
Szpiech, Ryan, Joshua Shapero, Andries Coetzee, Lorenzo García-Amaya, Paulina Alberto, Victoria Langland, Ellie Johandes, & Nicholas Henriksen. (Accepted). Afrikaans in Patagonia: Language shift and cultural integration in a rural immigrant community. International Journal of the Sociology of Language.
Cintrón-Valentín, Myrna, Lorenzo García-Amaya, & Nick C. Ellis. (2019). Captioning and grammar learning in the L2 Spanish classroom. The Language Learning Journal, 47(4), 439-459.
García-Amaya, Lorenzo. (2017). Detailing L1 and L2 use in study-abroad research: Data from the Daily Linguistic Questionnaire. System, 71, 60–72.
Recent Courses Taught
- Spanish 418: Theories of Second Language Acquisition
- Spanish 487: The Acquisition of Spanish in a Study Abroad Setting
- Spanish 413: Methods of Teaching Spanish
- Spanish 298: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
Research Areas(s)
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Second Language Acquisition, Second Language Oral Fluency, Psycholinguistics, Second Language Cognition, Study Abroad, Bilingualism, Andalusian Spanish, Sociophonetics
Affiliation(s)
