Abstract

The present longitudinal study is framed within applied linguistics in the teaching-learning of additional languages. Its objective was to determine the development of interlanguage (IL) in Spanish in a group of Haitian high school students in a Chilean school. For this purpose, we assessed students' IL development using error analysis methodology in two samples of written texts collected in two different periods. The results from the analysis showed that most errors were graphic and grammatical in both samples. From an etiological perspective, the errors were of simplification. From a psycholinguistic perspective, the errors originated from interference strategies and neutralization of the forms. Textual errors were the least frequent; however, this was due to the scarce production of coherence relations in the texts. Hence, the longitudinal analysis between the two samples did not indicate either progress or setbacks in the Spanish of Haitian schoolchildren. These findings should be observed with caution because the COVID-19 pandemic, during the years 2020 and 2021, imposed lockdowns that caused children from socioeconomically vulnerable schools to lose almost two years of classes.