Christine Shea
Biographic Data
| ID | 5435565 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Christine Shea |
| GIVEN NAMES | Christine |
| FAMILY NAME | Shea |
| SIGNATURE | SHEA C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2782-5868 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Orthography–Phonology Interactions in Applied Linguistics
This entry presents an overview of the research on orthography–phonology interactions, organized into four main areas (adapted from previous reviews): writing systems, scripts, and orthographies; systematicity and congruency across orthographies; phonological learning: perception and production of L2 phonemes and L2 graphemes; pedagogical implications. Recent research on how these four areas interact in the development of reading and processing i…
Perceptual Development of Second Language Sound Categories in a Study Abroad Program: L1 Mandarin Speakers in Spain
This study examines the interrelationships among the language learning context, cross-language perceptual mapping, and individual differences in the acquisition of perceptual categorization in a study abroad program over one academic year. Thirty Mandarin speakers learning Spanish completed an identification task that employed Spanish /p-b, t-d, k-ɡ/ contrasts on three continua differing in voice onset time upon arrival and at the end of their pr…
Finding our Role: How and why to reframe essentialist approaches to language
Do heritage speakers work harder in their heritage language? A dual task study of cognitive effort in bilingual language processing
This study tests the relative amount of cognitive effort required for Spanish language processing by L1-dominant speakers (Spanish-raised bilinguals, SRBs), heritage speakers (HSs) and late second-language learners (English-raised bilinguals, ERBs). In a dual-task study, three groups of bilingual Spanish speakers were presented concurrently with a linguistic and non-linguistic task, each at three levels of difficulty. When responding to the non-l…
“Emily in Paris”: Personae and L2 French learners
We test the interaction of French dialect (‘Standard French’ vs. Senegalese), phenotype (Black vs. White), and formality of dress (informal vs. formal) on the recall ability of L1 English/L2 French college students. Participants heard a text produced by a “French Instructor” and completed an 11-item recall task. Subsequently, participants completed nine semantic differential scale ratings on attributes associated with the speaker they listened to…
What do we know and how do we know it? Epistemic questions and debates
In this commentary I explore how non-generative approaches to phonology might address some of the issues Archibald mentions in his keynote. I end by encouraging researchers to think broadly and flexibly about the research questions they pose and how best to answer them
Changing the world language requirement: A case study of challenges and impacts
As is well‐recognized, World Language General Education programs across US higher education face challenges that have led many institutions to question whether these programs can persist in their current state. In this study, we present the outcomes of a new model for World Languages General Education introduced at a large US public university and analyze how its implementation affected enrollment across language programs and different levels of …
Bidialectal acoustic realization of tones is influenced by dialect experience and homophone status
While evidence shows that interlingual cognates can enhance cross-language phonetic assimilation in production, it is reasonable to assume that interlingual homophones can enhance cross-language phonological interference. Distinct from cognates, interlingual homophones do not share semantic content, which may affect the degree of co-activation observed across languages. The present study examines this hypothesis in a group of bidialectal speakers…
Bidialectal variety switching: The effects of language use and social contexts
While previous research shows that bilinguals' ability to mix and switch between two separate languages is influenced by both cross-language similarity and language use contexts, little attention has been paid to bidialectal populations. Given the linguistic and sociolinguistic differences between bilingualism and bidialectalism, it is thus unclear to what extent mechanisms underlying bidialectal variety switching resemble those underlying biling…
Challenging deficit ideologies in Spanish heritage language policies and programs
This study analyzes the programs and policies for Spanish heritage language (SHL) students in Iowa high schools. Previous research suggests that SHL students do not enjoy equitable educational experiences in Spanish language classrooms, which are often taught by and designed for traditional second language learners. In US states like Iowa, there is no language policy that provides a facilitative structure for Heritage language education, so issue…
Speaking Race or Racialized Speaking: Evidence from Perceptions of Lateral Variants by Puerto Rican Listeners
In this study we show that the perception of lateral variants by Puerto Rican listeners changes according to who the listener believes is speaking. Puerto Rican listeners heard sentences with target words featuring either rhotic [ɾ] or lateral [l] (amo[ɾ] – amo[l]) codas, a sociophonetic alternation that is common in Puerto Rican Spanish. Across four conditions characterized by the presence or absence of social cues, listeners judged speakers on …
Mapping different L1 dialects to L2 words
We ask how dialect experience affects the perception of modified L2 words by speakers of different L1 dialects. Colombian Spanish speakers from Barranquilla (s-aspirating dialect) and Bogota (non-s-aspirating dialect) carried out cross-dialect phonological priming experiments in Spanish and L2 English. For Spanish, primes and targets were counterbalanced across dialect features. For English, half the primes and targets exhibited the /s/-aspiratio…
Introduction to the Special Issue: Learning to Listen from Sounds to Words
The eight articles in this special issue ‘Learning to listen from sounds to words’ were presented at the conference Sound to Word in Bilingual and Second Language Speech Perception held at the University of Iowa in spring 2016. The selected contributions focus on how second language speech perception interacts with orthography, how phonology interacts with speech perception and how listeners use the cues in the input to segment and create the wor…
L1 English / L2 Spanish: Orthography–phonology activation without contrasts
We consider how orthography activates sounds that are in a noncontrastive relationship in the second language (L2) and for which only one variant exists in the first language (L1). Participants were L1 English / L2 Spanish and native Spanish listeners. Intervocalically, Spanish graphemes ‘b d g’ correspond phonetically to stops and approximants (e.g. lobo ‘wolf’, lo[β]o), and in English they correspond only to stops. In Experiment 1, native and L…
Methods for Researching Second Language Phonological and Phonetic Acquisition
In this commentary I provide a brief overview of selected research areas and methodology used to study adult L2 phonology and phonetics. I focus the discussion on studies that include Spanish as either the first or target language
Experience, representations and the production of second language allophones
In this study we examined the effect of language experience on the production of second language (L2) allophones. We analysed production data of the Spanish stop—approximant alternation (b d g ~ β ð ) from Low Intermediate and High Intermediate level native English/Spanish L2 speakers and five native Mexican Spanish speakers. This allophonic alternation is conditioned primarily by position in the word and lexical stress. We examined the use of tw…
Patricians, Professors, and Public Schools: The Origins of Modern Educational Thought in America
L1 English / L2 Spanish: Orthography–phonology activation without contrasts
We consider how orthography activates sounds that are in a noncontrastive relationship in the second language (L2) and for which only one variant exists in the first language (L1). Participants were L1 English / L2 Spanish and native Spanish listeners. Intervocalically, Spanish graphemes ‘b d g’ correspond phonetically to stops and approximants (e.g. lobo ‘wolf’, lo[β]o), and in English they correspond only to stops. In Experiment 1, native and L…
Experience, representations and the production of second language allophones
In this study we examined the effect of language experience on the production of second language (L2) allophones. We analysed production data of the Spanish stop—approximant alternation (b d g ~ β ð ) from Low Intermediate and High Intermediate level native English/Spanish L2 speakers and five native Mexican Spanish speakers. This allophonic alternation is conditioned primarily by position in the word and lexical stress. We examined the use of tw…
Challenging deficit ideologies in Spanish heritage language policies and programs
This study analyzes the programs and policies for Spanish heritage language (SHL) students in Iowa high schools. Previous research suggests that SHL students do not enjoy equitable educational experiences in Spanish language classrooms, which are often taught by and designed for traditional second language learners. In US states like Iowa, there is no language policy that provides a facilitative structure for Heritage language education, so issue…
Patricians, Professors, and Public Schools: The Origins of Modern Educational Thought in America
Experience, representations and the production of second language allophones
In this study we examined the effect of language experience on the production of second language (L2) allophones. We analysed production data of the Spanish stop—approximant alternation (b d g ~ β ð ) from Low Intermediate and High Intermediate level native English/Spanish L2 speakers and five native Mexican Spanish speakers. This allophonic alternation is conditioned primarily by position in the word and lexical stress. We examined the use of tw…
Methods for Researching Second Language Phonological and Phonetic Acquisition
In this commentary I provide a brief overview of selected research areas and methodology used to study adult L2 phonology and phonetics. I focus the discussion on studies that include Spanish as either the first or target language
L1 English / L2 Spanish: Orthography–phonology activation without contrasts
We consider how orthography activates sounds that are in a noncontrastive relationship in the second language (L2) and for which only one variant exists in the first language (L1). Participants were L1 English / L2 Spanish and native Spanish listeners. Intervocalically, Spanish graphemes ‘b d g’ correspond phonetically to stops and approximants (e.g. lobo ‘wolf’, lo[β]o), and in English they correspond only to stops. In Experiment 1, native and L…
Introduction to the Special Issue: Learning to Listen from Sounds to Words
The eight articles in this special issue ‘Learning to listen from sounds to words’ were presented at the conference Sound to Word in Bilingual and Second Language Speech Perception held at the University of Iowa in spring 2016. The selected contributions focus on how second language speech perception interacts with orthography, how phonology interacts with speech perception and how listeners use the cues in the input to segment and create the wor…
Mapping different L1 dialects to L2 words
We ask how dialect experience affects the perception of modified L2 words by speakers of different L1 dialects. Colombian Spanish speakers from Barranquilla (s-aspirating dialect) and Bogota (non-s-aspirating dialect) carried out cross-dialect phonological priming experiments in Spanish and L2 English. For Spanish, primes and targets were counterbalanced across dialect features. For English, half the primes and targets exhibited the /s/-aspiratio…
Speaking Race or Racialized Speaking: Evidence from Perceptions of Lateral Variants by Puerto Rican Listeners
In this study we show that the perception of lateral variants by Puerto Rican listeners changes according to who the listener believes is speaking. Puerto Rican listeners heard sentences with target words featuring either rhotic [ɾ] or lateral [l] (amo[ɾ] – amo[l]) codas, a sociophonetic alternation that is common in Puerto Rican Spanish. Across four conditions characterized by the presence or absence of social cues, listeners judged speakers on …
Bidialectal acoustic realization of tones is influenced by dialect experience and homophone status
While evidence shows that interlingual cognates can enhance cross-language phonetic assimilation in production, it is reasonable to assume that interlingual homophones can enhance cross-language phonological interference. Distinct from cognates, interlingual homophones do not share semantic content, which may affect the degree of co-activation observed across languages. The present study examines this hypothesis in a group of bidialectal speakers…
Bidialectal variety switching: The effects of language use and social contexts
While previous research shows that bilinguals' ability to mix and switch between two separate languages is influenced by both cross-language similarity and language use contexts, little attention has been paid to bidialectal populations. Given the linguistic and sociolinguistic differences between bilingualism and bidialectalism, it is thus unclear to what extent mechanisms underlying bidialectal variety switching resemble those underlying biling…
Challenging deficit ideologies in Spanish heritage language policies and programs
This study analyzes the programs and policies for Spanish heritage language (SHL) students in Iowa high schools. Previous research suggests that SHL students do not enjoy equitable educational experiences in Spanish language classrooms, which are often taught by and designed for traditional second language learners. In US states like Iowa, there is no language policy that provides a facilitative structure for Heritage language education, so issue…
“Emily in Paris”: Personae and L2 French learners
We test the interaction of French dialect (‘Standard French’ vs. Senegalese), phenotype (Black vs. White), and formality of dress (informal vs. formal) on the recall ability of L1 English/L2 French college students. Participants heard a text produced by a “French Instructor” and completed an 11-item recall task. Subsequently, participants completed nine semantic differential scale ratings on attributes associated with the speaker they listened to…
What do we know and how do we know it? Epistemic questions and debates
In this commentary I explore how non-generative approaches to phonology might address some of the issues Archibald mentions in his keynote. I end by encouraging researchers to think broadly and flexibly about the research questions they pose and how best to answer them
Changing the world language requirement: A case study of challenges and impacts
As is well‐recognized, World Language General Education programs across US higher education face challenges that have led many institutions to question whether these programs can persist in their current state. In this study, we present the outcomes of a new model for World Languages General Education introduced at a large US public university and analyze how its implementation affected enrollment across language programs and different levels of …
Orthography–Phonology Interactions in Applied Linguistics
This entry presents an overview of the research on orthography–phonology interactions, organized into four main areas (adapted from previous reviews): writing systems, scripts, and orthographies; systematicity and congruency across orthographies; phonological learning: perception and production of L2 phonemes and L2 graphemes; pedagogical implications. Recent research on how these four areas interact in the development of reading and processing i…
Perceptual Development of Second Language Sound Categories in a Study Abroad Program: L1 Mandarin Speakers in Spain
This study examines the interrelationships among the language learning context, cross-language perceptual mapping, and individual differences in the acquisition of perceptual categorization in a study abroad program over one academic year. Thirty Mandarin speakers learning Spanish completed an identification task that employed Spanish /p-b, t-d, k-ɡ/ contrasts on three continua differing in voice onset time upon arrival and at the end of their pr…
Finding our Role: How and why to reframe essentialist approaches to language
Do heritage speakers work harder in their heritage language? A dual task study of cognitive effort in bilingual language processing
This study tests the relative amount of cognitive effort required for Spanish language processing by L1-dominant speakers (Spanish-raised bilinguals, SRBs), heritage speakers (HSs) and late second-language learners (English-raised bilinguals, ERBs). In a dual-task study, three groups of bilingual Spanish speakers were presented concurrently with a linguistic and non-linguistic task, each at three levels of difficulty. When responding to the non-l…
Psychology (11 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (10 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (7 works) · Perception (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Language Development and Disorders (4 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (4 works)