Gender Agreement in Adult Second Language Learners and Spanish Heritage Speakers: The Effects of Age and Context of Acquisition
Abstract
This study investigates knowledge of gender agreement in Spanish L2 learners and heritage speakers, who differ in age and context/mode of acquisition. On some current theoretical accounts, persistent difficulty with grammatical gender in adult L2 acquisition is due to age. These accounts predict that heritage speakers should be more accurate on gender agreement than L2 learners, because their Spanish language acquisition started in infancy. Sixty‐nine heritage speakers, 72 second language (L2) learners, and 22 native Spanish speakers were tested on their oral production, written comprehension, and written recognition of Spanish gender agreement. Results showed advantages for L2 learners in written tasks but advantages for heritage speakers in the oral task. We discuss the significance of these findings for SLA and heritage language acquisition.
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Heritage speakers sometimes use noncanonical gender agreement, whereby the gender of the adjective or determiner does not agree with the gender of the noun.
“Heritage speakers sometimes use noncanonical gender agreement, whereby the gender of the adjective or the determiner does not agree with the gender of the nounfoot_4 (Montrul et al., 2008).”
From Sounds Like Politics: Cardi B and the Discourse of Español Ratatá (2026) · cites this paper as Montrul et al., 2008
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AT THE INTERFACE: DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS OF EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE
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A Comparison of L2–L2 and L2–Heritage Learner Interactions in Spanish Language Classrooms
Bowles, M. A., Adams, R. J., & Toth, P. D. (2014) · The Modern Language Journal · doi:10.1111/modl.12086 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Rossi, E., Diaz, M., Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00342 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Sounds Like Politics: Cardi B and the Discourse of Español Ratatá
Delgado, R., Mora-Moreno, S., & Cervantes-Gómez, X. V. (2026) · Latino Studies · doi:10.1057/s41276-026-00579-w
- Authors
- Montrul, S., Foote, R., & Perpiñán, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Montrul, Silvina
- Venue
- Language Learning
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-08-22
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 503-553
- ISSN
- 0023-8333 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9922
- OpenAlex
- W2105947786
- Cited by
- 516
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 128.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Language Learning (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- gender agreement, grammatical gender, Spanish as a second language, Spanish heritage speakers, heritage language acquisition, age of acquisition, adult second language acquisition, oral expression, written comprehension
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