Alejandra Donoso

Alejandra Donoso’s research has since 2014 focused on the field of Heritage languages with a special interest in academic writing among university students of Spanish. Together with her colleagues, Rakel Österberg (Stockholm University) and Enrique Sologuren (Universidad de Chile), she has engaged in a research project entitled "Spanish as a Heritage Language in Sweden". In this project, Donoso and her colleagues have studied, among other topics, the written production of students of various linguistic backgrounds: L2 Spanish learners (L1 Swedish), Heritage language speakers of Spanish (bilinguals in Swedish and Spanish since early childhood) and Spanish native speakers. Variables such as language contact, motivation to maintain and to learn Spanish and attendance to mother tongue instruction have been under the scope of this research.

The project "Spanish as a Heritage Language in Sweden" has led to the organization of two International Workshops at Stockholm University (2014 and 2019) and an International Colloquium on the subject of Academic Writing in Multilingual Educational Settings (Universidad de Chile, 2021). The collaboration has also led to the participation on several international research conferences and symposia. As part of the project "Spanish as a Heritage Language in Sweden", Donoso and colleagues have also published a research article in the volume  "Multilingual contributions to writing research: Towards an equal academic Exchange" (2021). Another paper, entitled "Back to the Initial Condition: Experiences that trigger the need to develop language skills among university Spanish students" has recently been published in Humanetten 48 (2022).

Donoso is also currently engaged with studies that delve into the relation between home and school through pedagogical translanguaging (PT). In this line of research, Donoso actively works with Sofia Svensson (LNU). Their joint interest in PT builds on previous findings that point out to the benefits of seeing multilingualism as a pivotal resource. Svensson, S. Svensson, G. (LNU) and Donoso have recently published a paper on this matter: "Strategies for collaboration between school and parents – homework in general and translanguaging homework in particular" (2022).

Alejandra Donoso has a Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics from Stockholm University. She graduated in 2016 with a dissertation entitled "Motion expressions in Spanish as a second language and as a heritage language: Conceptualization and encoding of Path, Manner and Ground". At present, Alejandra works as a lecturer in Spanish linguistics at Linnaeus University where she conducts instruction in several subjects, such as academic writing, oral communication, and language didactics.

Publikationer

Österberg, R., Donoso, A. and Sologuren, E. (2022). Back to the Initial Condition: Experiences that trigger the need to develop language skills among university Spanish students. HumaNetten 48.

Svensson, S., Donoso, A. and Svensson, G. (2022). Strategies for collaboration between school and parents – homework in general and translanguaging homework in particular. HumaNetten 48

Donoso, A., Österberg, R. and Sologuren, E. (2021). Biliteracidad Avanzada en Usuarios Bilingües de Sueco y Español como Lengua de Herencia. In Natalia Ávila Reyes (Ed.) Multilingual Contributions to Writing Research: Toward an Equal Academic Exchange (pp. 145-171). The WAC Clearing house; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/INT-B.2021.1404

Donoso, A. och Österberg, R. (2019). Del 2, Textkompetens: att skriva olika texter. I Modul: Skriftlig produktion och interaktion, Språksprånget, Skolverket. (https://larportalen.skolverket.se)

Donoso, A., Henry, A. och Österberg, R. (2018). Del 6, Vilken roll spelar flerspråkighet och motivation för muntlig språkutveckling? I Modul: Muntlig språkutveckling, Språksprånget, Skolverket. (https://larportalen.skolverket.se)  

Donoso, A. (2017). Camino, Base y Manera en bilingües de español y sueco : Efectos de una segunda lengua en los patrones de expresión del movimiento de una primera lengua. Onomazein. 198-231.

Donoso, A. (2016). Expresiones de movimiento en español como segunda lengua y como lengua heredada : Conceptualización y entrega del Camino, la Manera y la Base. Doctoral Thesis. Stockholm, Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University.

Donoso, A., Bylund, E. (2015). The Construal of Goal-Oriented Motion Events by Swedish Speakers of L2 Spanish : Encoding of motion endpoints and Manner of motion. The Acquisition of Spanish in Understudied Language Pairings. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Publishing Company. 233-254.

Donoso, A. (2014). Los verbos de movimiento. Temas de gramática española para estudiantes universitarios : una aproximación cognitiva y funcional. New York, Peter Lang Publishing Group.

Donoso, A. (2014). The impact of Swedish L1 on the expression of path and manner in Spanish L2. Nordand : nordisk tidsskrift for andrespråksforskning. 9. 47-71.

Donoso, A. (2013). Camino, Base y Manera en español y sueco : Un estudio contrastivo. Revue Romane. 48. 1-31.

Undervisning

Alejandra Donoso imparts courses in Spanish didactics, second language acquisition, oral and written proficiency and academic writing.

Forskning

Currently, her research interests are related to the field of second language acquisition, multilingualism, pedagogical translanguaging, advanced biliteracy and Spanish as a heritage language.

Alejandra Donoso participates in the Educational Linguistics Research Group at Linnaeus University.