Contact, Community, and Connections: Current Approaches to Spanish in Multilingual Populations

Gregory L. Thompson (Ph.D., Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, University of Arizona) is an Associate Professor of Spanish Pedagogy at Brigham Young University. He has taught classes on language pedagogy, bilingualism, Spanish phonetics, applied linguistics, as well as on the development of language skills. Thompson has published articles in Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, and other journals on his varied research areas including code-switching in the foreign language classroom; heritage language learners; service learning and language acquisition; bilingualism and languages in contact; and placement exams and language testing. He has presented extensively at regional, national, and international conferences. He also has published three books titled Intersection of Service and Learning: Research and Practice in the Second Language Classroom; Spanish in Bilingual and Multilingual Settings around the World; and The Changing Landscape of Spanish Language Curricula: Designing Higher Education Programs for Diverse Students.

Scott M. Alvord (Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics, University of Minnesota) is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Brigham Young University. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish Phonetics, Spanish Phonology, Comparative Linguistics, Spanish Grammar, and Second Language Acquisition of Phonology. His research interests include phonetics and phonology, Spanish in the U.S., and the second language acquisition of Spanish phonology. He has presented extensively at regional, national, and international conferences. Recent publications can be found in Spanish in Context, Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, and Sociolinguistic Studies.