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In recent years, research on multiword lexical units has influenced second language acquisition research, but little work has been done on light verbs, especially comparing the use of light verbs in English and Brazilian Portuguese. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the syntactic and semantic aspects of dar and ‘give’ through the semantic continuum, event type, denominal verbs and incorporation. This study finds that distinct and varied semantic uses of light verbs present a unique challenge to second language learners in terms of both their understanding and their production. Furthermore, this study analyzes the semantic-syntactic interrelationships and suggests implications for teaching English and Portuguese light verbs to second language learners

Peer review is now a commonplace practice in process-oriented writing instruction. A crucial aspect of peer review is assessing another classmate's work, which encompasses the act of disagreement. Given its prevalence in the classroom, it is necessary to analyze how L2 learners mitigate disagreement in the context of peer review with other L2 learners and native speakers. The present paper presents a qualitative analysis of action research from an introductory English writing class at the university level including native speakers of English and international students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The conversation-based peer review sessions were analyzed for various mitigation strategies including token agreement, hedging, prefacing positive remarks and requests for clarification. The analysis shows that L2 learners and native speakers of English use similar mitigation strategies, and it demonstrates the co-construction of meaning in peer review interactions.

In the U.S./Mexico borderlands, local language varieties face frequent discrimination and delegitimization or "linguistic terrorism." The present study uses the three-level positioning framework to analyze how young adults in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) in south Texas construct borderland identities by positioning themselves with respect to "linguistic terrorism" in sociolinguistic interviews. In their narratives, young adults enact, ascribe, and accept but also reject, subvert, and reconstitute language ideologies, including national identities, raciolinguistic ideologies, and standard language ideologies. An understanding of these multiple and contradictory borderland positionalities holds important implications for critical language awareness as a way for language educators to counter "linguistic terrorism" in both physical and metaphorical borderlands.

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Research on second language acquisition has used various quantitative and qualitative measures to assess oral proficiency, yet there is little empirical research comparing these measures. Comparisons between quantitative measures and native speaker ratings are especially rare. Four of the most common quantitative measurements applied in L2 research include the type-token ratio as a measure of lexical diversity; the T-unit as a measure of syntactic complexity; the error-free t-unit as a measure of grammatical accuracy and average speech rate as a measure of fluency. The present study compares these four quantitative measures of oral proficiency and one qualitative measure of oral proficiency, i.e., native speaker ratings, based on the speech of three non-native English speakers during the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) oralinterview. The results indicate that measures of syntactic complexity and speed fluency correlate with native speaker ratings; however, the measure of lexical diversity does not correlate with the native speaker ratings. Interestingly, the measure of grammatical accuracy displays an inverse relationship to the native speaker ratings. These results are discussed in light of an accuracy-fluency continuum. This finding demonstrates the importance of careful consideration in determining which measure of oral proficiency is appropriate for a given research context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, research has investigated language in communities, schools and homes, community programs and to a lesser degree research investigates language use in religious communities. In particular, there is a lack of research on religious language and literacy practices in Hispanic communities, especially those in the United States, although incipient work has revealed the importance of religious literacy among women Mexican immigrants (Farr, 2000) and for the socialization of children into a Mexican identity (Baquedano-López, 1997). Given the hostile local sociopolitical environment of Spanish in the state of Arizona in the Southwestern United States, the church is one of the few contexts in which Hispanic communities maintain Spanish, especially Spanish literacy. The present study investigates a Spanish-speaking church in the Southwest of the United States through ethnographic and participant observation methods. Observations, field notes and transcribed audio-recordings of literacy practices in this context over the course of one year were analyzed based on dominant Discourses (Gee, 2008) and language socialization. The analysis demonstrates how a dominant Discourse of "holiness" is produced and reproduced within the community adherence to authoritative texts and socialization into specific community literacy practices such as scripture reading, directing worship services and interpretation of Biblical stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]