37.3241, Reviews: Second Language Identity: Paul A. Malovrh; Nina Moreno (2026)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3241. Thu Oct 08 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3241, Reviews: Second Language Identity: Paul A. Malovrh; Nina Moreno (2026)

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Date: 08-Oct-2026
From: Alina Bachmann [abachmann at uos.de]
Subject: Paul A. Malovrh; Nina Moreno (2026)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/37-857

Title: Second Language Identity
Subtitle: Awareness, Ideology, and Assessment in Higher Education
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/applied-linguistics-and-second-language-acquisition/second-language-identity-awareness-ideology-and-assessment-higher-education?format=PB&isbn=9781316625729

Author(s): Paul A. Malovrh; Nina Moreno

Reviewer: Alina Bachmann

SUMMARY
In “Second Language Identity: Awareness, Ideology, and Assessment in
Higher Education,” Malovrh and Moreno develop theoretically and
empirically supported hypotheses regarding the concept of ‘L2 language
advancedness.’ The book focuses on learners of L2 (i.e., a second
and/or foreign language) Spanish in tertiary education in the US, with
a primary emphasis on oral language use. The volume comprises an
introductory chapter, three main parts each corresponding to an
original empirical study, a concluding chapter, and an appendix
containing survey materials, as well as a name and subject index.
Chapter 1 highlights the ongoing need to investigate whether the
curricula, assessments, and beliefs of key actors in tertiary
education (specifically students, teachers, and researchers) regarding
L2 language advancedness align with the expectations of advanced
language users within global professional contexts. The subsequent
three parts of the book each consist of an introductory chapter
presenting the current state of research with regard to the following
empirical study, followed by one chapter of quantitative data analysis
and one chapter of qualitative data analysis. The book concludes with
chapter 11 which provides a comprehensive summary and lists the
aforementioned hypotheses.
Part I (chapters 2 to 4) investigates the beliefs of students of L2
Spanish at US universities regarding L2 language advancedness. Malovrh
and Moreno discuss earlier and current concepts of L2 language
advancedness from a psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspective
within second language research. Advancedness is then defined
according to Ortega and Byrnes (2008) as comprising communicative
competence, late-acquired linguistic structures, appropriateness, and
sophisticated language use in context. The present book is mainly
concerned with the latter which amongst other aspects manifests in
sociocultural awareness, a positive L2 identity and stance. Malovrh
and Moreno investigate students’ beliefs regarding these aspects in a
first study with 20 participants, all of whom were L2 Spanish learners
at tertiary level. The authors collected information about the
participants’ language background and their beliefs about L2 language
advancedness via a questionnaire. Additionally, the participants rated
the oral language production of two advanced L2 Spanish speakers
according to various criteria. In order to connect beliefs, identity
and advancedness in the collected data, Malovrh and Moreno follow the
Developmental Intercultural Competence Model (DICM) by Bennett (1986).
Using quantitative (chapter 3) and qualitative (chapter 4) data and
analysis methods they identify several factors that contribute to
building an L2 identity (e.g., age, classroom experience) and show
that L2 learners’ beliefs about advancedness are influenced by the
curriculum and assessment in tertiary education.
In Part II (chapters 5 to 7), Malovrh and Moreno discuss the structure
of language programs within tertiary education in the US with regard
to the concept of L2 language advancedness. They state that these
language programs usually focus on linguistic development in the first
years of study and on cultural literacy in the later years of study.
The authors then argue that because of this division, language
programs impede students from achieving advancedness, as this requires
both components (linguistic and cultural) to be developed
simultaneously. Against this backdrop, the authors aim to investigate
how advancedness is conceptualized by teachers and researchers within
these language programs. To that end, Malovrh and Moreno report a
second study in which they surveyed 77 Spanish language professionals
(i.e., teachers and researchers) in multiple countries via a
questionnaire with regard to their beliefs about advancedness as well
as their professional and language background. These participants also
rated the oral language production of three L2 Spanish learners.
Results from a quantitative analysis (chapter 6) show that, overall,
the professionals regarded sophisticated language use and linguistic
proficiency (especially grammar and pronunciation) as important for L2
language advancedness. However, those professionals with higher levels
of education tended to put more emphasis on sophisticated language use
than on linguistic proficiency whereas those who were more familiar
with the L2 learning process regarded grammar as more important. In
addition, the qualitative analysis (chapter 7) shows that regardless
of professional background most participants also took L2 identity
(which is part of sophisticated language use) into consideration when
rating L2 speakers. Malovrh and Moreno conclude that the structure of
language programs at tertiary level does not reflect the beliefs of
the professionals working in that field as they expect linguistic
proficiency as well as sophisticated language use. However, as the
authors described at the beginning of Part II, these aspects are not
fostered simultaneously.
Part III (chapters 8 to 10) provides a more detailed analysis of the
identity construction of L2 Spanish learners and its relation to their
beliefs regarding advancedness. The authors begin by providing further
context on the assessment of advancedness within tertiary education.
They also elaborate on the concept of ‘global citizens’ concluding
that current assessments do not align with the requirements for
becoming a global citizen (e.g., language and cultural awareness are
not adequately tested). Subsequently, they present the third study in
which they surveyed 67 L2 Spanish learners via a questionnaire
focusing on their level of critical language awareness and their L2
identity. Both quantitative (chapter 9) and qualitative (chapter 10)
results indicate that while participants display high levels of
critical language awareness, this awareness is not reflected in their
L2 identities.
Lastly, Malovrh and Moreno summarize their previous findings in
chapter 11. In doing so they develop 16 hypotheses about L2 language
advancedness, L2 learners’ and professionals’ beliefs, as well as L2
identity construction. These hypotheses can be tested in future
research to provide further insights for institutional changes and
discourses on L2 language proficiency.
Overall, the main findings indicate that when explicitly questioned,
students, teachers, and researchers value linguistic proficiency,
primarily pronunciation and grammar, as more critical to language
advancedness than pragmatic and interactional aspects, such as the
ability to take a stance. Nevertheless, these latter aspects play a
significant role in the implicit assessment of both others’ and one’s
own language use. Additionally, L2 Spanish students were found to
primarily identify as learners which may impede their ability to take
a stance and participate actively in global contexts. Furthermore,
Malovrh and Moreno highlight a discrepancy between tertiary level
language courses and assessments, the beliefs of students, teachers,
and researchers, and the actual expectations of advanced language
users in global professional contexts. Consequently, the authors
conclude that there is a pressing need to reform tertiary level
curricula, improve student counselling, and enhance communication
between practitioners (i.e., language teachers) and researchers.
EVALUATION
In this work, Malovrh and Moreno aim to develop a research agenda in
order to better understand L2 advancedness. This agenda in the form of
16 hypotheses is partly based on earlier work from the field of second
language research and partly on the authors’ own empirical analyses.
In developing these hypotheses, Malovrh and Moreno concentrate on a
specific linguistic, cultural, and educational context (namely L2
Spanish in the US within tertiary education). They also focus on
beliefs and identity construction rather than linguistic behaviour
(e.g., interactions between speakers). Given this scope, the research
agenda is logically derived and clearly stated. However, as they point
out themselves, the generalizability of these results remains to be
tested in different linguistic, cultural and educational settings as
well as in linguistic behaviour.
On the whole, the book is well structured. The three parts build upon
one another, with each section expanding the thematic scope of the
analysis. The individual chapters are logically connected, both
linguistically and in terms of content. At the beginning of each
chapter, the authors summarize their previous analyses and empirical
results, which makes the overall structure easy to follow.
Furthermore, these summaries facilitate cross-referencing and allow
readers to study specific sections of interest without having to
review all preceding chapters. However, the frequency of these
repetitions is high; in some instances, entire paragraphs appear
verbatim throughout the book. These passages can become somewhat
repetitive for those reading the volume in its entirety.
In the empirical sections, Malovrh and Moreno describe their methods,
methodological decisions, and data in detail, rendering the studies
and analyses transparent and easy to follow. Additionally, the
operationalization of constructs and the study designs are
well-grounded in theory (e.g., the aforementioned DICM or the
framework of metalinguistic awareness by Bialystok 1988) and prior
research (e.g., Leeman & Serafini 2021; Winke & Gass 2018). The
authors successfully integrate three critical dimensions namely the
concept of L2 identity, the beliefs of learners and professionals, and
institutional parameters (e.g., language course content) in order to
demonstrate that L2 language advancedness is currently insufficiently
fostered within tertiary education in the US. Further strengths of
this work include the extensive range of influencing factors
considered (e.g., age, language background, educational level, study
abroad) and the employment of mixed methods. The latter enables the
authors to draw conclusions about the distribution of different
beliefs within their participant groups as well as to gain further
insight into individual aspects of L2 identity construction.
Nevertheless, the quantitative nature of the data and of the analysis
tends to overshadow the qualitative components. Specifically, while
the analyses in chapters 4, 7, and 10 are labelled as qualitative and
are based on open-ended responses, the data mostly consist of only a
few words per participant. Furthermore, the analysis of these
responses follows a mix of qualitative and quantitative elements,
often comparing percentages rather than analysing the qualitative
content in depth. In addition, the sample sizes in each of the three
studies become quite small when divided by background factors (e.g.,
age, education), potentially affecting the reliability of the
statistical analysis of group differences. However, the authors
acknowledge this limitation and reflect upon their results
accordingly. Despite the partially small group sample sizes and the
quantitative bias, the studies provide valuable new empirical insights
into beliefs and identity regarding L2 language advancedness and serve
the aim to develop a new research agenda.
Furthermore, Malovrh and Moreno thoroughly discuss and define the two
main concepts (L2 language advancedness and sophisticated language
use). They also successfully convey the importance of these concepts
and their development in L2 learners. The concept of ‘heritage
speaker,’ however, remains unclear and partly contradictory. The term
denotes an L2 learner in chapters 6 and 7 but a native speaker in
chapter 9 even though, in the context of this book, ‘native speaker’
and ‘L2 learner’ are used as opposite characterizations.
Moreover, the authors criticize biases due to the notion of ‘elite
bilingualism’ (i.e., acquisition of prestigious languages through
schooling; see, for example, Ortega 2017). However, what they describe
as L2 advancedness and more specifically as sophisticated language use
are likely not abilities shared by every native speaker of a language
(in this case, Spanish). Critical cultural and linguistic awareness,
the ability to deliver a well-structured oral argument spontaneously
during an interview, or the capacity to take a stance in a
communicative situation are abilities and personality traits that
transcend everyday language skills as, for example, depicted by
Cummins’ (1979) distinction between ‘basic interpersonal communicative
skills’ (BICS) and ‘cognitive academic language proficiency’ (CALP).
In other words, cultural literacy and argumentative competence can be
displayed in a speaker’s L1 or L2 (or further languages); conversely,
they may be absent regardless of the language spoken if the speaker
has not acquired these abilities. Therefore, the question remains
whether linguistic advancedness as the concept is used by Malovrh and
Moreno is attainable only through higher education (i.e., a university
degree), implying that a native speaker is not necessarily an
‘advanced’ speaker without such education. Consequently, it may be
beneficial to draw a clearer distinction between L2 language
advancedness and elite bilingualism.
In summary, Malovrh and Moreno give a concise overview of the current
state of research concerning L2 language advancedness (with a focus on
the US and Spanish) as well as offering empirically indicated
hypotheses for future research to test. The book can be informative
for those who wish to delve deeper into what L2 language advancedness
can be, how it can be operationalized and how it is perceived by
different actors. It is also helpful for the research community in
pointing out future directions and open questions. In addition, the
authors appeal to teachers, researchers, and administrators alike to
further develop language education curricula and assessments at
tertiary level in order to take into account (more) notions of
sophisticated language use.
REFERENCES
Bennett, Milton J. 1986. A developmental approach to training for
intercultural sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural
Relations 10(2). 179–196.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(86)90005-2.
Bialystok, Ellen. 1988. Levels of Bilingualism and Levels of
Linguistic Awareness. Developmental Psychology 24. 560–567.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.560.
Cummins, Jim. 1979. Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency,
Linguistic Interdependence, the Optimum Age Question and Some Other
Matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism 19. 121–129.
Leeman, Jennifer & Ellen J. Serafini. 2021. “It’s Not Fair”:
Discourses of Deficit, Equity, and Effort in Mixed Heritage and Second
Language Spanish Classes. Journal of Language, Identity & Education.
Routledge 20(6). 425–439.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1777866.
Ortega, Lourdes. 2017. New CALL-SLA Research Interfaces for the 21st
Century: Towards Equitable Multilingualism. CALICO Journal. University
of Toronto Press 34(3). 285–316. https://doi.org/10.1558/cj.33855.
Ortega, Lourdes & Heidi Byrnes (eds.). 2008. The Longitudinal Study of
Advanced L2 Capacities. New York: Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203871652.
Winke, Paula & Susan M. Gass. 2018. Individual Differences in Advanced
Proficiency. In Paul Malovrh & Alessandro Benati (eds.), The Handbook
of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, 157–178.
Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119261650.ch9.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Alina Bachmann is a postdoctoral researcher at Osnabrück University
(Germany). Her research involves multilingualism, language acquisition
and literacy, with her recent PhD thesis titled “Literacy und
Mehrsprachigkeit. Schriftsprachliche Entwicklung ein- und
mehrsprachiger Kinder und Jugendlicher im fortgeschrittenen Erwerb
[Literacy and Multilingualism. Written Language Development in Mono-
and Multilingual Children and Adolescents in Advanced Literacy
Acquisition]” intersecting those research topics.



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