The Role of Lexical Temporal Indicators and Text Interaction Format in the Incidental Acquisition of the Spanish Future Tense.

The present study utilizes traditional silent reading and a think-aloud procedure to investigate the role of lexical cues to meaning in the incidental acquisition of the Spanish future tense. A total of 161 beginning-level university students of Spanish participated in the study. Two versions of a reading passage that contained 13 target items were created: One version contained a title and lexical temporal indicators (LTIs) in each sentence that contained a target verb, whereas the passage appeared with no title and no lexical cues in the second version. Both procedures employed the same tasks to measure the effects of LTIs on learner comprehension and processing of the 13 novel forms. The tasks were scored and submitted to statistical analysis. Results indicate that for both the silent reading and the think-aloud conditions, LTIs augment learner comprehension and do not detract from learners' noticing of forms. Furthermore, the text interaction format of the think-aloud protocol was found to significantly enhance recognition and production of the previously unfamiliar forms in the input. I wish to thank James F. Lee, who guided me through the realization of this project and continues to provide intellectual support. Additionally, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement provided by Kimberly Geeslin, who read many versions of this article. This investigation was supported by the University of Kansas New Faculty General Research Fund. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the anonymous SSLA reviewers for their insightful criticisms and comments. All errors are my own.