Co-authored paper presented at the UIC Bilingualism Forum, Chicago, Illinois. [PDF]

This study examines whether the way code-switched sentences are presented in acceptability judgment tasks influences how bilinguals rate them, a question that matters given that such tasks typically rely on written, formal, decontextualized stimuli even though code-switching is often associated with informal speech. Thirty-five early Spanish-English bilinguals rated sentences with grammatical and ungrammatical switches presented in four formats, written in a formal or informal style and spoken aloud by either a heritage bilingual or a late L2 speaker. Participants reliably distinguished grammatical from ungrammatical switches across all formats, with no effects of modality or formality and only a limited, structure-specific effect of speaker type. These null results suggest that bilinguals’ judgments of code-switching are robust to presentation format, giving researchers considerable flexibility in how they design such tasks.

Co-authored paper presented at the Second Language Research Forum (SLRF), Montréal, Canada. [PDF]

This study examines whether late L2 bilinguals acquire structural constraints on Spanish-English code-switching, such as the restriction against switching between a subject pronoun and its verb or between an auxiliary and its participle. Over 200 L1-English learners of Spanish completed either an acceptability judgment task or an elicited production task, along with measures of L2 proficiency, code-switching experience, and language dominance. All three factors predicted sensitivity to the constraints on their own, but when considered together, code-switching experience showed the most consistent effect across tasks, proficiency was the strongest predictor of acceptability judgments, and dominance was largely subsumed by the other two. The findings show that late L2 bilinguals can acquire these constraints and that how this knowledge surfaces depends on both the task and the linguistic experience each bilingual brings.

Co-authored paper presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Conference, Chicago, Illinois. [PDF]

This study examines whether presentation variables influence bilinguals’ acceptability judgments of intrasentential code-switching. Using a within-participant Acceptability Judgment Task (AJT), it tests the effects of modality (written vs. oral), writing style (formal vs. informal), and speaker type (heritage bilingual vs. late L2 speaker) on judgments of grammatical and ungrammatical code-switched sentences. The participants are early Spanish-English bilinguals from New York who evaluate the same structures across four presentation formats. Analyses show no reliable effects of modality, formality, or speaker background on acceptability ratings. The findings suggest that, within AJTs, code-switching grammatical intuitions can remain stable across varied presentation styles, supporting the robustness of this method while leaving open questions about ecological validity beyond the task context.

Co-authored paper presented at the Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World Conference, Reading, United Kingdom. [PDF]

This study examines whether presentation variables influence bilinguals’ acceptability judgments of intrasentential code-switching. Using a within-participant Acceptability Judgment Task (AJT), it tests the effects of modality (written vs. oral), writing style (formal vs. informal), and speaker type (heritage bilingual vs. late L2 speaker) on judgments of grammatical and ungrammatical code-switched sentences. The participants are early Spanish-English bilinguals from New York who evaluate the same structures across four presentation formats. Analyses show no reliable effects of modality, formality, or speaker background on acceptability ratings. The findings suggest that, within AJTs, code-switching grammatical intuitions can remain stable across varied presentation styles, supporting the robustness of this method while leaving open questions about ecological validity beyond the task context.

Paper presented at the Cognitive Linguistics in the Year 2025 Conference, Kraków, Poland. [PDF]

This study examines how Spanish–English bilinguals judge the acceptability of code-switching, with a focus on whether the order of language acquisition influences sensitivity to structural constraints. Using an acceptability judgment task, the study compares heritage speakers, L1-English L2-Spanish bilinguals, and L1-Spanish L2-English bilinguals on their evaluations of pronoun-switch constructions. Results show that while all groups distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical switches, late bilinguals differ: those who learned English after Spanish were less likely to reject ungrammatical pronoun switches than those who learned Spanish later. Additional mixed-effects modeling demonstrates that both participant group and bilingual proficiency interact to shape acceptability patterns. Overall, the findings suggest that acquisition order may play a meaningful role in how late bilinguals internalize code-switching constraints.

Paper presented at the Congreso Internacional Nebrija en Lingüística Aplicada a la Enseñanza de Lenguas, Madrid, Spain. [PDF]

This study examined how different groups of Spanish-English bilinguals—heritage speakers, L1-English L2-Spanish learners, and L1-Spanish L2-English bilinguals—judge inalienable possession constructions in Spanish. The results show that all three bilingual groups most consistently rated the canonical (clitic + definite determiner) form as acceptable, while hybrid and English-like forms were judged more variably—especially by heritage and L2 Spanish speakers, who were more flexible than the L1-Spanish group. Across all participants, variables like Spanish proficiency, dominance, and language exposure correlated with acceptability, but subgroup analyses showed these effects were not uniform: many correlations disappeared or shifted when groups were analyzed separately, revealing distinct within-group patterns, particularly among heritage speakers. These results suggest that bilingual type crucially shapes how language background factors influence judgments of inalienable possession, underscoring the importance of analyzing bilingual groups separately rather than assuming a single bilingual profile.

Co-authored paper presented at the Conference on European Second Language Acquisition (EuroSLA), Tromsø, Norway.

This study investigated how task complexity, manipulated through the presence or absence of content support, influenced L2 writers’ pausing and revision behaviors as well as their perceptions of task difficulty and engagement in writing processes. While keystroke logging data revealed no significant differences in pausing or revision behavior between simple and complex tasks, participants in the complex condition reported spending more time planning and structuring their writing and revising language features afterward. The study offers new empirical insights into task complexity effects on writing and highlights methodological considerations for aligning process data with writers’ self-reported experiences.