Patrick D. Thane
Contact details
About
Patrick D. Thane, M.Ed., Ph.D. is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Dual Language Education, Equity, and Inclusion in the Western Massachusetts Bilingual Hub, College of Education. Dr. Thane holds a Ph.D. in Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University – New Brunswick. His research focuses on heritage languages and second language learning in children, particularly within the dual-language immersion schools. He investigates how patterns of exposure to and use of heritage languages lead to their development, and evaluates how these data have implications for teaching in immersion programs.
Dr. Thane also holds a M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Second Language from The College of New Jersey, and is a certified teacher of TESOL and bilingual education. He has taught English language to newcomer students in Trenton, NJ and as a world language in Alcorcón, Spain. At the university level, Dr. Thane has taught graduate courses in education as well as multiple levels of Spanish language, and designed and taught a second-semester course for heritage speakers at Rutgers University – New Brunswick.
Dr. Thane’s responsibilities in the hub include overseeing the implementation of research-based pedagogies in secondary immersion programs, participating in the Bilingual Hub program evaluation involving mixed-methods research, carrying out research on Spanish language development in Bilingual Hub schools, pursuing pathways to the Seal of Biliteracy, and conducting professional development on bilingualism and dual-language education.
Research interests:
- Heritage language acquisition
- Second language acquisition
- Dual-language immersion
- Morphology and syntax of Spanish
- Heritage language teaching and learning
Publications:
Thane, P. D. (2018). The present state of the Aspect Hypothesis: A critical perspective. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4(2), pp. 261–273.
Thane, P., Goldin, M., Jimenez, A., Hur, E., López-Otero, J. C., & Austin, J. (2022). Where we are and where we ought to be: The need for research-based assessments for dual language immersion learners. NABE Journal of Research and Practice.
Sánchez, L., Goldin, M., Hur, E., Jimenez, A., López Otero, J.C., Markovits, J., Thane, P., & Austin, J. (2023). Input and the development of pragmatic knowledge in heritage bilingual children: Acceptance of null and overt subjects in Spanish and English. Heritage Language Journal.
Thane, P. D. (2023a). Frequency effects and aspect morphology with state verbs in heritage Spanish. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.
Thane, P. D. (2023b). On the explanatory validity of self-reported lexical frequency in heritage language acquisition research: Evidence from triangulated data in Spanish. Heritage Language Journal, 20(1), 1–20.
Thane, P. D. (2023c). Frequency matters in second language acquisition too! Frequency effects in the production of preterit morphology with state verbs in Spanish second language learners and heritage speakers. Lingua, 295, 1–20.
Thane, P. D. (2024). On the acquisition of differential object marking in child heritage Spanish: Bilingual education, exposure, and age effects (in memory of Phoebe Search). Languages [special issue on Current Approaches to the Acquisition of Heritage Spanish].
Thane, P. D. (In press). Age effects in the heritage language acquisition of differential object marking in Spanish: Late childhood to adulthood. International Journal of Bilingualism.