Keywords

second language contact questionnaire development, standardizing SLA data collection tools, evolution of language contact profiles

Abstract

Efforts to gather data of various sorts—demographics, language-learning history, contact with native speakers, use of the language in the field—as they relate to participants in SLA research studies are inherent to understanding more about language acquisition and use. Scholars frequently develop questionnaires of their own, which are rarely shared widely in the profession. Consequently, much time and effort is invested in reinventing the process of gathering the types of data that are commonly needed.

The document we present here—a questionnaire to assess second language contact for students entering and completing language study programs in various contexts of learning (academic classrooms, intensive domestic immersion , and study abroad)—has proven useful to us, our colleagues, and students in a variety of projects. The form in which it appears here has evolved over the last decade since our first adaptation of prior language-learning questionnaires developed by a series of SLA researchers. A document entitled “The Language Contact Profile” was used by Seliger (1977). A year later, Bialystok (1978) adapted this questionnaire for her work, and Spada subsequently adapted it for her own use in 1986. In 1985, Day used some form of a language contact profile for his research.

Original Publication Citation

Freed, B. F., Dewey, D. P., Segalowitz, N. S., & Halter, R. H. (2004). The Language Contact Profile. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 349-356. https://doi.org/10.1017/S027226310426209X

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2004

Publisher

Studies in Second Language Acquisition

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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Linguistics Commons

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