Language change is constant due to varied linguistic and sociolinguistic factors. Specifically, prolonged situations of language in contact have been observed to have a direct influence on language change and variation. Previous studies have documented several changes that may occur within bilingual speech communities in sustained circumstances of language in contact. This study examines the possibility of attrition of the simple present form of Spanish in bilingual speakers of Spanish and English due to prolonged interaction between the two languages. Specifically, it attempts to determine whether the value of the Spanish simple present tense diminishes, and the present progressive form gains prominence as a result of language transfer occurring where there is intensive contact between Spanish and English. In order to determine that this linguistic phenomenon has occurred in bilingual speech communities, data were collected and analyzed from bilingual Spanish and English speakers living in the United States. To demonstrate bilingual speakers' use of the simple and progressive present forms, participants were instructed to complete two tasks: 1) a background questionnaire designed to gather information regarding each participants' relationship with the Spanish language, and 2) a picture-narration task designed to reveal each bilingual's preference for the simple present or progressive …

The purpose of this research was to use a lexical approach, and information and communication technologies (ICT) as strategies to facilitate learning to students of Spanish as a foreign language, to answer the research questions: (1) if the use of multiword lexical units improves the lexical competence and (2) whether the use of technology is an effective strategy to facilitate learning. A lesson plan with different activities was designed and put into practice with two groups of students (experimental and control) of the intermediate level of the University of North Texas (UNT). The collected data were analyzed using the quantitative paradigm with the variance model ANOVA with repeated measures, and the qualitative or interpretive paradigm to offer a broader perspective of the learning process of multiwords lexical units (collocations and idiomatic expressions). The results of this investigation answered the research questions and confirmed the effectiveness of the lexical approach and ICT in the teaching-learning process and facilitated the student's acquisition of L2.

This thesis investigates the Spanish identity crisis through structural, political and representational intersectionality by means of the Law of Historic Memory, also known as LEY 52/2007 del 26 de diciembre. This work, written in Spanish, explores relational aspects of various contemporary themes within four post-Franco novels and four Spanish films: Réquiem por un campesino español by Ramón J. Sender and its corresponding film directed by Francesc Betriu; Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas and its corresponding film directed by David Trueba; La voz dormida by Dulce Chacón and its corresponding film directed by Benito Zambrano; and Los girasoles ciegos by Alberto Méndez and its corresponding film directed by José Luis Cuerda. Linked by a variety of human elements that affect the individual as much as the collective, the works explore sacrifice, betrayal, indifference and injustice. Each novel and movie pair offers a glimpse of individual memory that, at the same time, belongs to collective memory. Delving into the effects of LEY, this thesis considers the role of the Catholic Church, the general atrocities of war, the role of women in the Spanish Civil War, and the fractured family unit. Lastly, this thesis delineates how these effects apply to the healing …