Resumen de From theory to research: Contextual predictors of “estar + adjective” and the study of the SLA of Spanish copula choice

Daniel Woolsey

• The current study addresses the challenge of investigating the SLA of estar with adjectives when highlighting two specific contextual meanings: comparisons within an individual frame of reference and speaker reactions as a result of immediate experience with the referent. Estar is examined within these contexts using a picture-description task and a contextualized preference task specifically designed to create clear and unambiguous contexts of comparison and immediate experience. One hundred and eleven English-speaking Spanish students at four different levels of proficiency participated in the research. Findings from the study are examined in relation to recent predictive models as well as future directions for the study of the SLA of Spanish copula choice.