The acquisition of language-specific features (phonetic & pragmatic) during a long-term study abroad program

This study examines the effects of a long-term study abroad program in Seville, Spain, on the phonetic and pragmatic acquisition of Spanish L2 and heritage speakers. It investigates if there are changes over the course of the semester in language-specific differences in phonetic production and pragmatic-politeness norms. Specifically, the production of the voiceless stop /t/ and the use of direct and indirect request forms. By analyzing linguistic production at two points during the semester, this research explores whether immersion in a Spanish-speaking environment facilitates phonetic changes and pragmatic shifts toward local norms. Additionally, individual factors such as bilingualism type, language attitudes, motivation, context, and language input are examined to assess their influence on linguistic changes. The study employs a semi-structured interview and a carrier-phrase task for phonetic analysis, and an Oral Discourse Completion Task and a Forced Choice Task for pragmatic assessment. The pragmatic study includes a comparison with two additional groups: speakers of the local Sevillian Spanish variety and Spanish speakers from the local variety in Texas (the home region of the SA participants). Results show that SA students reduced their Voice Onset Time values for /t/ over the semester, moving closer to Spanish-like norms, although this change was not uniform. Attitudes and desire to sound native-like, as well as daily use of Spanish, emerged as strong predictors. In pragmatics, the SA group shifted from speaker-oriented to more hearer-oriented requests, though they did not fully reach the levels of the Sevillian speakers. At the same time, their changes also showed points of similarity with bilingual speakers from Texas, suggesting that pragmatic development abroad reflects not only local exposure but also the influence of broader bilingual repertoires. Overall, the findings demonstrate that phonetic and pragmatic changes did occur during study abroad, but these changes were uneven and shaped by individual factors and social context. The study has implications for SLA and heritage language pedagogy, the design of study abroad programs, and second language pedagogy.