Instituto Cervantes Manchester and Leeds presents a new lecture series: “Acquiring a Second Language: Why do we find it so difficult?”, coordinated by Idoia Elola (Texas Tech University) and Ana Oskoz (University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a forum aimed at teachers, language studentes, parents and the general public, which will consider how we learn a second, or a heritage language.

Presenters will discuss various elements and difficulties that come with second-language acquisition including: myths and realities surrounding language acquisition and age, the effect of explicit knowledge and how it can affect learning, the use of language according to the context in which it is spoken, and the effect of education on our ability to learn a second language.

Currently, it is recognised that linguistic contact between varieties is the natural linguistic context in all societies, and various factors determine the degree of use of each variety or the influence of one variety on another, such as the situations in which each variety is used, the density of the group that speaks it, or the social prestige associated with it. In this talk, we will discuss individual or subjective social factors, such as linguistic attitudes or identification, feelings, and positive beliefs towards an ethnolinguistic group and towards the out-group (a group to which an individual does not belong as a member or with which they do not identify). By these subjective aspects, it is the speakers themselves who determine the course of the evolution of languages or linguistic varieties in contact, by choosing to use them to varying degrees.

About the speakers
Gorka Elordieta is a lecturer of general linguistics at the University of the Basque Country. His research focuses on aspects related to prosody and phonology in Basque and Spanish (individually or in contact). His work has appeared in international journals such as Phonology, Language and Speech, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, and International Journal of Bilingualism, among others. On some occasions, he has co-authored publications with Dr. Romera and contributed to volumes from publishers like Oxford University Press, Springer, John Benjamins, or De Gruyter.

Magdalena Romera is a Spanish language lecturer at the Public University of Navarre. Her research focuses on discourse analysis and the interaction between language and social factors. She has worked on various projects related to the effect of linguistic attitudes on varieties in contact, especially Spanish in contact with Catalan in the Balearic Islands and Basque in the Basque Country and Navarre. She has also published on social aspects of language teaching. Her work has appeared in national and international journals such as Linguistics, Discourse and Society, International Journal of Bilingualism, and International Journal of the Sociology of Language.