The acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive by child heritage and L2 learners: evidence from a dual language program

Abstract Few studies have investigated the developing grammars of school-aged children acquiring Spanish as a heritage or second language (L2) in dual language immersion programs. The present project evaluated 57 English-dominant Spanish heritage speakers (HS) and L2 learners enrolled in a dual language immersion school on their production and recognition of subjunctive mood in volitional clauses. Older children (12–14 year olds) produced more subjunctive mood and selected it more frequently on a forced choice task than younger participants (9–11 year-olds). Specifically, the older HSs produced and selected more subjunctive than age-matched L2 learners. However, HSs’ earlier age of acquisition of Spanish provided this group with a modest advantage over L2 learners in their command of subjunctive across tasks. Participants were more likely to produce and select subjunctive mood with irregular verbs. Finally, participants were more likely to select the subjunctive than to produce it. Implications for bilingualism theory and pedagogy in dual language immersion programs are discussed.