I need some time to process this

Abstract The present study investigates the effects of study abroad (SA) immersion on second language (L2) learners’ on-line processing of lexically-selected mood morphology in Spanish. Twenty-five participants completed self-paced reading (SPR) tasks at the beginning and end of a fifteen-week SA program in Spain. To assess potential effects of morphological regularity on learners’ processing of mood, the SPR tasks included both irregular verbs, which were expected to be more salient for learners, as well as regular verbs, which were expected to be less salient and therefore more difficult to process. In the first session, learners did not exhibit sensitivity to mood with either irregular verbs or regular verbs. In the second session, however, learners displayed a clear sensitivity to mood — but only with irregular verbs. This novel finding suggests that the benefits of SA immersion for non-native morphosyntactic processing may be greater in certain, more noticeable subsets of the L2 verbal lexicon.