COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT An Action Research Study Of Teaching Methods In My Beginning Spanish I College Classroom

8/9/2019 COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT An Action Research Study Of Teaching Methods In My Beginning Spa

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Amanda Wilson

RES 6000Final Research Report

Dr. Alecia Jackson

May 3, 2010

COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

An Action Research Study Of Teaching Methods In My Beginning Spanish I College Classroom

Introduction and Background

The college classroom is usually viewed as a setting full of mature adults. The general

consensus seems to be that these students are responsible for their own education. As teachers,

we need only enter the classroom and impart knowledge or facilitate discussion. The expectation

is that we are not responsible for the behavior of these adults in our classrooms. It is their own

responsibility; either they do the work and learn, or they fail. All the responsibility falls on the

student to be mature and focused on their education. This is simply not the case. We owe these

traditional students more than that. We must try to understand them a little better so we can

approach teaching them in a way that is productive for them and fulfilling for us.

In his paper, Principles of Adult Learning, Lieb (1991) quotes the pioneer of adult

learning studies, Malcom Knowless characteristics of adult learners. These proposed

characteristics include being goal-oriented, autonomous, and self-directed learners. In other

words, these students are expected to have their own ideas about what they want to learn. They

are seen as being capable of gathering this knowledge themselves. They are expected to have the

discipline to stay focused and on-task. While these traits may be accurate for describing non-

traditional community college students, I feel they are less descriptive of the more traditional, 18

year-old college freshman.


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I teach beginning Spanish at a public liberal arts university. Typically, I have 28 students

in each of my classes. They range from freshmen to seniors, from 18 years old on up into their

fifties. The majority of my students, however, are freshmen and sophomores, and they are mostly

between 18 and 22 years of agean interesting demographic to teach. Reflecting on the

educational path that led me to this career, I realize that most of the focus has been on teaching

children, adolescents, and non-traditional college students. I remember little that focused on

teaching in a traditional college environment or dealing with students in the 18 to 22 year-old

range.

If I approach my classroom thinking my students are there for the joy of learning, thatthey are totally self-motivated, autonomous learners, and that they carry within themselves all

the motivation they will need to succeed, I am failing them because I am not understanding

where they are coming from and what they need from me. I am also failing myself because I will

not be able to achieve my goal of teaching them to communicate in another language and be

more active global citizens.

I believe that students can be successful in learning a foreign language if they can interact

in an appropriate environment. This is why I always try to create a low-stakes, minimum-stress,

friendly classroom. I want my students to be comfortable and have a good rapport with each

other and with me. I set up my grading scale to take attention away from passing a test and

towards being engaged and active participants in the classroom. In general, my students seem to

like me and enjoy being in my class. The easy-going, friendly interaction we share makes them

more comfortable with themselves and more able to focus on learning and growing without the

debilitating fear of being wrong.

By creating this comfortable space, students have the freedom to become more


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autonomous learners. They are free to make mistakes without harsh judgments. Although there is

some lecture involved when explaining grammatical concepts, the majority of my classroom

time is engaged in allowing the students the opportunity to practice the language through

interaction with their classmates and myself. They are required to create, rehearse, and perform

skits, engage in dialogue with their group members, and create their own meaning by pursing

personal interests within the scope of the course materials. This demographic is generally not yet

aware of any intrinsic goals of language learning. They are simply fulfilling the requirements of

a degree program. By allowing space for personal interest, I hope to help facilitate this group

becoming more goal-oriented. The focus of the class is to allow the students a safe place to takethe basic building blocks of the language and create a relevant context that helps them become

more aware of themselves and the world they live in. When they decide what they are interested

in, the students are free to become more self-directed as they develop intrinsic goals to pursue

more global awareness. The ultimate goal is to help a student evolve into a more informed global

citizen.

My concern is that, although I feel I am providing a comfortable and supportive

environment, I still have two types of students in my classroom that I have difficulty

accommodating. These two ends of the spectrum are the extremely introverted and the extremely

extroverted students. The far end of the introverted side of the scale leaves me with students

who are too shy or reluctant to speak up and engage in the active learning I promote in my

classroom. I would like to help these more introverted students become more actively engaged in

my classroom. The other side of the scale leaves me with students who are so outgoing that they

either dominate the classroom or make inappropriate comments, distracting the rest of the class

as well as impeding their own progress. I would like to help these more extroverted students


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participate in a more democratic, or fair, manner. What I would like to learn through this process

is: What can I do to help promote active engagement and democratic participation in my

beginning Spanish I college classroom?

To this end, I further researched class participation, engagement, motivation, attention,

interest, and boredom as they relate to the college classroom. These resources not only provided

some insight, but also helped me formulate interview and survey questions. I interviewed five

former students to get their perspectives on what I can do to further facilitate engagement and

participation in my classroom. I also administered an anonymous survey to a larger sample of my

student population to find some general attitudes about certain aspects of my classroom and theway I approach teaching Spanish. Finally, I observed a very talented colleague as she

successfully engaged her students in her beginning Spanish college classroom. From this data, I

have gained insight into how I can improve the facilitation of engagement and participation in

my classroom and move toward more effective teaching and learning. Looking into both the

literature and my gathered data, I have developed five goals to improve my practice and three

suggestions that may be transferable to other college instructors.

Literature Review

Introduction

Upon researching the topics of class participation, engagement, motivation, attention,

interest, and boredom, I found certain themes throughout the literature. The themes influencing

and influenced by student engagement and participation in the college classroom can be

summarized into two main categories: student perception and student interaction. Student

perception involves how student attitudes, emotions, and perspectives effect their engagement

and participation. Student interaction deals with the ways in which faculty and students interact


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as well as how students interact with each other, and how these interactions effect student

engagement and participation.

Student Perception

Students' perception of the educational environment has been shown to influence the way

they engage and learn in the classroom. The term educational environment in this context is

meant to represent everything from the students themselves to the faculty to the class materials,

topics, assignments, and projects in any given course.

In regards to a student's self-perception, a 2007 study by Kozanitis and Chouinard

showed a relationship between how students perceive themselves and their abilities with the

effectiveness of their learning. Handelsman, et al's 2005 study assessed emotional engagement in

relation to student learning. This study found that by looking into how learning the class material

affects students personally, faculty can steer overall engagement in a positive way. By creating

and facilitating situations that students' perceive to be personally valuable, faculty can increase

emotional engagement and thereby increase overall relative engagement. Providing an impetus

for students to become emotionally connected to a subject will motivate them.

Students' perceptions of the faculty also play a role in their classroom engagement and

participation. A 2007 study published in the ASHE Higher Education Report on student

engagement in research and creative activities found that students felt satisfied with their efforts

to learn when there was meaningful interaction and collaboration with faculty and their peers.

Feedback helped spark and encourage their interest in learning. Being engaged in creative

endeavors, in which they had some control of the focus, helped keep them motivated, persistent,

and confident in their research. These types of activities and projects empowered students to take


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charge of their own learning. The motivation and confidence continues to fuel and facilitate

active learning, creating a positive cycle of learning.

Finally, students' perception of a course's materials, topics, assignments, and projects

influence their level of engagement and participation in class. In Hu et al's 2008 research,

students self-reported that being involved with active learning projects and activities had an

overall positive effect on their college experience, although the effects were conditional on the

students. Some students benefited more, while others did not benefit as much. The students'

perceptions of engaged, active, and hands-on learning promoted their sense of positive effects.

Beran and Violato's 2009 study shows that when students evaluated teaching effectiveness,

activities that created hands-on engagement increased satisfaction in learning. In addition,

teachers and classes that engaged in active learning and collaboration were closely tied to higher

ratings of teacher effectiveness.

The research shows that when students are engaged in active learning and they perceive

this engagement to be a positive learning experience, they achieve more. As the old adage states,

if you believe, you can achieve. Students learn more and learn more effectively, when they

believe they can. Engaging students in the active and creative learning projects helps them to

perceive themselves as more effective learners.

Student Interaction

Students interaction with faculty members and their peers influence the way students

learn. Unfortunately, as we learn from Heringtons 2008 article, situational and collaborative

aspects of learning have received little attention in higher education settings. Beran and Violato's

2009 study revealed that the more opportunities faculty and students had to interact, the higher


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students rated their learning experiences. This was attributed to the ability of instructors to help

develop and enrich students knowledge and skills as they had further opportunity to interact. In

Hu et al's 2008 study, continuous feedback was key in helping students to benefit in the broadest

terms and ways during an inquiry-based learning activity. Furthermore, this guidance and

feedback was necessary to maximize the desired learning and personal development outcomes.

The 2007 aforementioned study from the ASHE Higher Education Report also showed that

frequent and meaningful interactions between students and faculty were critical to learning and

personal development. The more contact inside and outside the classroom between faculty and

students, the greater student development and satisfaction, but the frequency and nature of the

interaction matters in producing desirable outcomes. The difficulty being that this requires a fair

amount a dedication and time from faculty. Faculty, especially at research institutions, seem to

have a difficult time justifying much extra mentoring time.

Additionally, the 2007 study showed interaction with other students and development of

collegiality with their peers was found to enrich the students own educational experiences by

providing new and multiple perspectives. Alfonsis 2008 study of discussion groups showed

ways in which peers can help facilitate each others learning experiences. She had a more

extroverted speaker help facilitate discussion and encourage classmates as a way to keep that

student from controlling the discussion by redirecting their energy. This also helped to encourage

the more reluctant speakers. She also used a sign to help the more dominant student be more

aware of when they were taking control of the discussion. Additionally, she allowed the more

introverted speaker to communicate with her through written feedback to begin with. This

allowed those students to participate in a less threatening way and to receive feedback on their


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thoughts that helped give them more confidence to speak up.

Collaboration in higher education, both student-faculty and students-peers, is a critical

component to student engagement and participation. The more meaningful interaction and

collaboration and the more feedback, the better a students learning experience will be.

Conclusion

Existing literature on students perceptions of their engagement in college helps us see

that encouraging these students to work on active and creative projects facilitates positive self-

perception. It is up to faculty to reflect on these findings and adjust curriculum planning in ways

that facilitate these attitudes. One weakness of the existing literature is the lack of the thread that

ties all this research together in such a way as to call attention to the need to encourage students

in these ways.

Faculty and peer collaboration in undergraduate study seems to be an aspect of learning

that is overlooked. While the research continues to show time and again that this type of

collaboration is one of the most effective ways to engage students, too often excuses like high

student to teacher ratios and encumbered teacher workloads hamper progress towards more

collaborative measures. The biggest weakness is allowing these concerns to outweigh or

discourage ideas for creating functional solutions to overcome these perceived difficulties.

Students perception of themselves and faculty must be taken into consideration in

curriculum and course planning. Faculty must find ways to promote engagement in creative

projects so students perception of their engagement and learning is promoted. Engagement in

class is imperative to continued improvement in learning. The first step in this direction is to

value student input in their learning. This is why I sought to illicit student input throughout my


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research, to determine what makes them feel more engaged. This information will help me adjust

the way I teach to work better with the way they learn.

Students interaction with faculty and their peers is invaluable to student engagement and

participation. The more feedback we can give students and the more opportunities we can give

them to collaborate, the more they will engage and the more meaningful the learning experience

will be. To this end, I currently employ these strategiesmaking myself as available to students

as possible by working in my office with the door unlocked whenever possible and by taking on

two instructional assistants with the skill to really connect with and help my students. In addition

to strategies I already use, I inquired of my former students as to how these strategies have

helped them and where they see room for further improvement.

Research Context/Setting

My research was conducted by gathering data from former students of my beginning

Spanish college courses. I teach at a public state funded institution and although we are moving

towards being a more research focused institution, the current focus is more aligned with

teaching. I am fortunate to have a great deal of freedom and control in my classroom. While it is

true that my general curriculum and my textbook are mandated by the tenured faculty of my

department, I am free to choose whatever path I believe will best help me achieve the course

goals. That is to say that while I am not free to choose what I teach, I am free to determine how

to teach. While I also receive feedback from peers once a year, I feel no other demands from any

supervisors on my teaching methods. This allows me to constantly experiment with ways to

improve how I teach my classes. I am currently in my fifth semester teaching these courses and I

can say with certainty that no two semesters have held very much in common outside of my

general teaching philosophy. I am constantly trying to improve my methods based on what I


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have perceived as being effective. This hands-off situation created by the administration allows

me to be fluid in my methods. While the freedom to teach the way I feel is best has many

advantages, it also carries heavy responsibility; I have to rely on my perceptions of my students'

learning with little feedback from anyone else.

The classes I teach are capped at 28 students. This is a moderate number of students for a

beginning foreign language class. While it would be ideal to have a smaller number because it

would allow for more individualized attention, there are advantages to this class size as well.

With this many students it is easier to employ group learning strategies, allowing students to

facilitate their own and each others' learning processes.

Participants

For this project, there were two primary participant groups. For the first group, I invited

28 freshmen and sophomore former beginning Spanish I students who fall into the 18-24 year

old demographic to participate in the broad attitude survey. While I did not expect all of them to

respond, I am fairly satisfied that I got 11 responses, which is a little over 39% and enough data

for a valid sample . The survey questions presented to the group, along with their responses are

located in Appendix A of this report.

The second group consisted of five former students who were interviewed individually

and classified into one of two groups, introverts and extroverts, with one individual classified as

somewhere in between the two extremes. These interviews were conducted with the aid of the

semi-structured interview guide found in Appendix B of this report. All data and reflectionsobtained during these interviews are represented in Appendix C.

The first individual, for the purposes of the study we will call her Mia, is 19 years old.

She's a freshman Criminal Justice major. Mia was in my 11:00 am section of beginning Spanish I


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in Fall of 2009. She is a very exuberant young woman, always smiling and joking around. She

tended to speak loudly inside and outside of class and showed no fear or anxiety when asked to

perform in front of groups. Her positive attitude and willingness to dedicate herself to her work

made her a model student. For the purposes of this study, Mia will be classified as an extrovert.

The next student I interviewed, Sabrina, is 18 years old. She's a freshman Political

Science major. Sabrina was also in my 11:00 am section of beginning Spanish I in Fall of 2009.

Sabrina is more reserved than Mia. Although she is always smiling and is a very pleasant person,

she is also much quieter. While Sabrina was always willing to work hard, she was less

enthusiastic about performing in front of the rest of the class or speaking up during group work.She always kept up with the work and excelled in tests and assignments, but she was much less

likely to practice her language in class because of her shy personality. For the purposes of this

study, Sabrina will be classified as an introvert.

Lorie is 21 years old. She's a sophomore Foods and Nutrition major. Lorie was in my

9:00 am section of beginning Spanish I in Fall of 2009. Outside of class, Lorie is a very cheerful

and boisterous person. Inside class she was a little bit less so. Although more often than not, she

had the right answers or knew how to pronounce words correctly, she was less likely than others

to put herself out there. When asked to perform for the class, she always did well; but her

confidence in this area never seemed to grow. She did well in the course, but might have done

better given more oral practice. Lori seemed to enjoy the more social and presentational elements

of class more than some. For the purposes of this study, and due to her performance in class,

Lorie will be classified as sort of in between the two extremes of extroverted and introverted.

When called upon to perform, she would, but not to the extent of some of the others.

Micah is 20 years old. He's a sophomore International Business major and was in my


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10:00 am section of beginning Spanish I in Fall of 2009. Micah is a nice, polite young man.

Although he did not always perform well on exams or get all his homework done, he was always

willing to speak up and practice his language skills in class. Micah was never afraid to step up

and show his peers how to put themselves out there. Micah will be classified as an extrovert for

the purposes of this study because of his willingness to speak up in class.

Dana is 19 years old. She's a sophomore English major and was also in my 10:00 am

beginning Spanish I class in Fall of 2009. Dana is very social outside of class, but very reserved

in my classroom. She came to class prepared most of the time but showed no desire to speak up

or take opportunities to practice her speaking skills. After speaking with her and some of her peers, I found out that Dana is quite outspoken in most of her classes, especially her English

literature classes, but because she is not confident with Spanish, she turned inward in my class.

For the purposes of this study, Dana will be classified as an introvert because of her performance

in my class.

One more participant was added at the last minute. Due to comments from Micah during

his interview, I chose to observe a colleague of mine as she taught a similar course in a similar

setting at the same school as myself. For the purposes of this study, I will call her Mariana. She

is a native speaker, holding a Master's degree in Spanish from a U.S. institution. She is new to

my university, having only started here less than one year ago, but students already know her

name and recommend her to their friends. Sitting in her class, it was easy to see why she is well

liked. She is patient, clear, and obviously cares about her students. Further reflections on this

experience are included in Appendix C.

Research Plan

I completed my research by three methods: individual interviews, a broad attitude survey,


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and an observation of my colleague. First, I employed a semi-structured interview method for the

above mentioned former students. The semi-structured interview guide I used can be seen in

Appendix B of this report. I asked the students about three main topics: what other experiences

they have in learning Spanish other than my class, what they thought about the methods I used in

the class they took with me, and what made them comfortable or uncomfortable in any class. By

asking them to reflect on other experiences they have had learning Spanish I was able to hear

what they liked or did not like about how those experiences played out. Here I gathered very

specific tips on things to avoid or new ideas to try. When the students were asked to reflect on

my methods from the class they took with me the previous semester, I received direct feedback on which activities were the most or least memorable, what they enjoyed the most, and which

methods did not seem useful to them. It was interesting to see the preferences differed in

expected ways depending on whether the students were generally more extroverted or more

introverted. Some specific implications did emerge here related to which methods are preferred

by which group and how adjustments to these assignments might make them more engaging for

both ends of the personality spectrum. Finally, by asking the students what made them

particularly comfortable or uncomfortable in any type of classroom, I became aware of where I

could focus my energies to make my own classroom a more comfortable and safe environment

for my students to take the risks necessary to learn a foreign language. To finish the interviews I

asked for any additional comments, ideas, or advice the students might for me. This allowed me

to hear more helpful comments that I had not thought to specifically ask about and showed me

what was important to the students. These comments will help me shape future interview guides

and survey questions as I continue this research in future projects. All comments, notes, and

reflections can be seen in Appendix C of this report.


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Additionally, I issued a broad attitude survey for a large group of former students to

complete. With this survey I hoped to measure general attitudes towards my teaching methods in

regards to active engagement and democratic participation in my classroom. The attitude scale

survey provided some insight into which methods students perceive as being the most effective

and the most interesting. While undergraduates may not be education specialists, they have been

going to school for more than a decade and they know what works and what doesnt. I believe

that learning what they think is effective and interesting will help me focus on the methods that

are most likely to help me achieve my goals of facilitating learning for both the introverted,

extroverted, and all the in between students in my class. The survey consisted of twentyquestions. The first question was simply consent to participate in my research; the last was a

place for additional comments. Questions two to nineteen asked the participants to rate nine

teaching methods they experienced the previous semester in my class on a scale from strongly

agree to strongly disagree about each method's usefulness and level of fun. The full-text of the

questions and the resulting data are included in Appendix A of this report. Some of the results

were surprising. I hope to revise the survey to reflect new methods developed as a result of this

study and administer it again to a future group of students to compare the results. Especially the

reactions to textbook activities were a bit surprising to me and I will be interested to see if the

results will be duplicated in future studies.

Finally, I observed my colleague, Mariana's beginning Spanish class. I took notes while I

observed her and wrote reflections immediately after the class on what I observed. This data is

cataloged in Appendix C, the research log of this study. The insights I gathered during this

observation were inspiring and I hope to model some of my future practice from what I learned

from watching her.


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Validity

I chose to focus on four types of qualitative validity, described by Hendricks in her text

on action research, to validate this study: democratic, outcome, process, and catalytic (2009). I

chose democratic validity as the first way to validate my study because I chose particular

students to voice their opinions. I have chosen students to interview whom I attribute to one end

or the other of the spectrum of students, both those who are more introverted and those who are

more extroverted, whom I am trying to help accommodate. In addition, I chose one student who

falls between these two extremes of personality measures. Since my research question involves

finding ways to facilitate oral participation and learning outcomes for both the reluctant, or introverted, and the outspoken, or extroverted, students, I have chosen to interview some of the

more introverted and the more extroverted students from my previous semester of teaching. By

looking at both ends of the spectrum and one in the middle, I have a clearer picture of the needs,

opinions, and perspectives of the full range of students in my class.

The second measure I chose is outcome validity because it speaks to how I will use the

results for continued planning, ongoing reflection, and deepening my personal understanding of

the topics I am exploring. Through this research I have learned which of my methods are

working well and which need improvement. I have also learned about new ideas while

conducting the interviews and observing my colleague that will help shape how I move forward

in my practice. I have taken what I have learned, reflected on what it means to me, and begun to

brainstorm ways to apply my understanding to the way I approach my classroom. I also plan to

continue to solicit feedback from my students in future research to continue the cycle and work

toward continual improvement of my practice. I hope that by taking their opinions into

consideration, I will continue to improve the way I teach and thereby help my students engage


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and participate in class and generally get more out of their learning experience with me. There is

so much more to learn and try as I continue my path to become the best teacher I can be.

Next, I chose process validity because I need to insure I have looked deeply at the

problem so I can understand the ways context and processes have impacted my results and how

this information carries me forward. To insure I have looked deeply and critically at these issues,

I have relied on two main methods: asking open-ended questions during the interviews that left

plenty of room for the students to tell me what they really think and writing out my reflections on

the interviews, the broad attitude survey, and the observation in a reflective journal style so I am

very conscious of conclusions I have drawn. All of these notes and reflections can be seen intotality in Appendix C of this report.

Finally, I chose catalytic validity because it allowed me to be aware of the ways my

processes and outcomes will change my practices. This is the most important part of my study. If

the results do not change the way I approach my classroom, I will need to revise my research and

try again. While I believe that I am a proficient instructor, my primary goal is to improve. Any

insight I can gain from this study will help reshape my perspective and improve my practice. The

primary insight I have gained at this point includes five personal goals to improve my teaching.

Ethics and Subjectivity

I am very invested in my research topic because I am my research topic. I knew the first

step for me would be to distance myself a bit and try to view the focus of my study as my

teaching methods rather than myself. By trying to put a little intellectual separation between

myself and my methods, I was able to be honest with myself about improving the way I do my

job, but also get my students to be as honest as possible with me about their reflections.

I tried to be as clear, honest, and open-minded as I could while I asked these students to


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dissect my performance as their instructor. I endeavored to make it as explicit as possible that I

was not interested in having my ego stroked. While I did want and need to know what worked

well for them, it was also imperative to be honest about the aspects of the class that were not

particularly helpful. I believe this attempt was successful because I did get feedback on aspects

of my methods and performance that could use work, like my tendency to be too variable in my

daily teaching methods and my inconsistent use of the target language in class.

Beyond assuring them that I was open to criticism, I had to really and actually be open. It

was essential that I be neither overtly nor subtly defensive in my responses or my body language.

The last thing I wanted to do was shut them down or squelch their opinions. This was another reason for including the broad attitude questionnaire. While I know who had access to the

survey, I set the responses to anonymous to allow for more freedom and honesty. I was open to

getting some negative or even potentially hurtful feedback in exchange for the chance of

obtaining some useful feedback to help me be a more effective teacher. Fortunately, I did not

receive any hurtful feedback. The students who participated in this research seemed to genuinely

want to help me. Their comments were not also positive, but they were considerably

constructive, especially considering the assumed maturity level of such a young research pool.

Data Representation

I ended up with three data sources, instead of two, once all my research was completed.

In addition to the survey and the interviews, I also observed a colleague's class and made note of

her methods. This was a pleasant surprise that came from one of the interviews. One student had

nothing but glowing recommendations of one of my newest colleagues. After speaking with her,

she agreed to allow me to observe and learn from her. Below, I will present the data for each

source and synthesize the themes I found.


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The Learning Survey

For the Learning Survey (see Appendix A), I asked a series of 20 questions, receiving 11

responses, from the 28 students surveyed, or 39% of the sample. The first question was one

requiring the participant to consent to the use of their opinions in this project. The next 18

questions, numbered 2-19, essentially asked first, if one of nine particular teaching methods were

perceived to be useful in their learning process, and second, if each method was perceived as fun.

The final question asked for additional comments. The entirety of the results and comments can

be seen in Appendix A, but the attitude scale responses to the 18 primary questions can be seen

in Table A below.

While for the most part, it can be seen that most students agree that all nine methods are

Q2: Skits-useful

Q3: Skits-fun

Q4: Oral-useful

Q5: Oral-fun

Q6: DVD-useful

Q7: DVD-fun

Q8: GrpCult-useful

Q9: GrpCult-fun

Q10: Review-useful

Q11: Review-fun

Q12: VocGam-useful

Q13: VocGam-fun

Q14: Text-useful

Q15: Text-fun

Q16: OralTBpairs-useful

Q17: OralTBpairs-fun

Q18: OralTBclass-useful

Q19: OralTBclass-fun

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Table A:Responses to Q2-Q19 of Learning Survey

SDD

NASA

Responses

Q u e s t

i o n s


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useful for learning Spanish and more than half are fun, which is good to know because this what

I strive for, some methods received more attention than others. The nine methods, in order of

questions asked in the survey are: skits, orals, the DVD project, the group culture research

project, student-led final exam grammar review, vocabulary review games, written textbook

exercises, oral textbook exercises done in pairs, and oral textbook exercises done as an entire

class.

The skits are prepared and practiced in advance, and students are allowed to use notes

while performing. The orals are prepared in advanced and memorized. They are performed

without the aid of notes, but students are permitted to have images as reminders of their sentences. The DVD project is a final project that students work on in large groups. They write a

script, film it, and then edit a newscast in Spanish. In most cases, they will also include

commercials in this project, but all I require is that they focus on the news, weather, sports, and

entertainment of an assigned Hispanic country. The group culture research project asks the

students to choose a topic they are interested in and that is related to an assigned target culture.

For example, a group might choose to read about sustainability practices in Peru. To allow for a

depth of research and reporting on the cultural aspects of this project, it is done in English. Once

the students collect some interesting data, they share it with the entire class via a blog. The

student-led final exam grammar review is another group project. Since the final exam is

cumulative, as a final presentation, I assign each group to a chapter we covered during the

semester. Each group then prepares and presents a summary of the grammar they learned in each

chapter to review for the final exam. The vocabulary review games are sometimes student-led,

and other times I lead them myself. Examples of these games include Jeopardy, Bingo, and a

hot-potato-style vocabulary recall game, amongst many others. The written textbook exercises


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are simply the exercises in the textbook in which the answers are written out on paper. The oral

textbook exercises done in pairs are the exercises in the textbook done aloud with a partner. The

oral textbook exercises, done as an entire class, are the exercises in the textbook done aloud as an

entire class.

Table B:Ranking of Methods by Percentage of Students

Who Agree Methods are Useful or Fun

Table C:Percentages of Students that Found EachMethod Useful or Fun, sorted by Method

Useful % Fun Method Useful Fun

written textbook exercises

91% skits 73% 46%

oral textbook exercisesdone as an entire classvocabulary games

82% oral textbook exercisesdone as an entire class

orals 64% 46%

oral textbook exercisesdone in pairsexam reviewskits

73% oral textbook exercisesdone in pairs

vocabulary games

the DVD project 55% 55%

orals 64% the group cultureresearch project

the group culture researchproject

55% 64%

the group cultureresearch projectthe DVD project

55% the DVD project student-led final exam grammarreview

73% 46%

46% student-led final examgrammar revieworalsskits

written textbook exercises 91% 28%

28% written textbook exercises

Oral textbook exercises done in pairs

73% 73%

Oral textbook exercises done asa class

82% 82%

The results of this survey were surprising in many ways. The tables above illustrate the

preferences for each method over the others. Table B ranks the methods from most useful and

fun to least useful and fun. Table C lists the percentages of students who agreed that each method

was either useful or fun in the order they were presented in the survey. I was surprised to find

that 91% of students perceived the written textbook exercises as useful ways to learn Spanish,


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but I was not at all surprised to find this method ranked the very worst on the fun scale at 28%.

As I reflected in my research log, simply putting an exercise in a textbook is a good way to turn

students off to it. I am not a big advocate of textbooks. I use Internet sites to help students

engage in learning. The same information will be infinitely more interesting in a browser than in

a book. Taking that activity out of the written arena slightly dropped the students' perceived

usefulness. The usefulness of activities done as a class went down to 82% which also matched

the fun level. The usefulness of activities done in pairs went down to 73% which also matched its

fun level. This shows that they believe writing exercises is the most useful and least fun way to

learn Spanish, but doing the exercises orally are almost as useful and much more fun.The other most useful methods, as perceived by the students, were the vocabulary games

ranking in at 82%, the student-led final exam grammar review and the skits at 73%, the orals at

64%, and the group culture research project and the DVD project at 55%. It is important to

remember that these measures are the students' perceptions of the effectiveness of these activities

and perhaps not necessarily true measure of the effectiveness. However, I would agree that these

statistics are valid based on my own observations of my students over the past few semesters. A

critical part of language learning is amassing vocabulary. Any activities that reinforce

vocabulary learning are going to be perceived as being useful because they are one more

opportunity to be exposed to and reminded of the language. It is also not surprising that the

grammar review project and the skits rank high on the usefulness scale. The grammar review

project essentially asks students to be so familiar with a grammatical topic that they can explain

to others. Modern day philosopher, Richard Bach, has it right when he says, You teach best

what you most need to learn. The skits allow the students to take all the grammar and

vocabulary from the chapter and build a potential conversation. Put together, these three


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particular activities, vocabulary games, the grammar review project, and the skits, allow students

to practice what they are learning, show they understand, and build a meaningful context using

the various elements of the language they are learning about.

On the fun scale, the vocabulary games ranked in at 73%, the group culture research

project at 64%, the DVD project at 55%, and the student-led final exam grammar review, orals,

and skits at 46%. Overall, I think it is interesting to note that for the most part, the methods were

ranked higher in their usefulness and lower on the fun scale, but the fun scale is relatively top-

heavy if you consider the fact that I am asking 18-22 year old students about how much fun they

are having while learning and working hard in a classroom. Over half of the methods were rated by more than half of the students surveyed as being fun. That has to be counted as at least a

minor victory on my path of making learning Spanish fun for my students.

Based on this survey data, I would be interested in asking some follow-up questions of

future students. I want to know how they think these methods can be improved. What would

make skits, for example, more fun and useful for the students? I did receive some useful

feedback in the additional comments section of the survey as well. The full transcript of these

comments can be seen in Appendix A. These comments, as well as the comments made in the

five semi-structured interviews I conducted, revealed some of these answers and followed some

interesting themes.

The Interviews

The primary themes I traced through the interviews and the additional comments from

the survey relate to 1) the students' self perceptions and comfort levels, 2) the students'

perceptions of and interactions with their instructor, 3) the students' perceptions of and

interactions with their peers, 4) the students' expectations of the course, and 5) the students'


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perception of the methods and materials of the class, many of which can also been seen reflected

in the 18 primary survey questions. My research log, which also contains my reflections on the

data gathered, can be found, coded to these themes as Appendix C.

Students' Self Perceptions and Comfort Levels

As I looked over the comments related to the students' self perception and comfort levels,

I found it interesting that the students' comments back up the ideas espoused in the literature

review related to active and creative projects facilitating student engagement and learning. For

Mia, one of my extroverts, I observed from her comments that anytime I gave an assignment that

required the students to go out, get the language, and build it up into a real context, it was mostmemorable and helpful for her. It was interesting to note that Mia was very excited about the

skits, and Micah, another extrovert, felt they were fun and good oral practice. On the other hand,

the most introverted two, Sabrina and Dana, thought the activities were fun, but complained

about having to deal with and get to know their peers. Neither was comfortable with these

exercises until they had time to get to know their classmates better.

Sabrina, the quietest of the five, named her favorite activity as the daily activities book,

saying that it made learning more visual. This activity requires that the spoken portion is

recorded individually. As an introvert, it is not surprising that she really liked an activity that did

not require her to speak up in front of the class. It is also interesting that Lori, who I classified as

near the middle of the introvert/extrovert scale, thought the sound recording was more trouble

than it was worth. She complained that the technology made it a pain when really the skits

accomplished the same task of oral practice of the language. She was not too shy to get up and

perform in the class and did not see any benefit to doing a project that allowed for a private

performance of oral skills. I was not surprised to find that this activity was preferred by an


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introvert, but not at all mentioned by the two more extroverted students. Although Lori, being

middle-of-the-road, did mention it, I was not surprised that it was in a less than positive light.

Dana, classified as an introvert in my class, is much more extroverted in classes where

the material is more comfortable for her, like her English literature classes. However, she did

really enjoy the exam review presentations. She did not mind getting up in front of the class to

explain a grammatical concept in English and was glad for the experience. Having to teach the

concept helped her understand it. Her comments seem to ring true with the survey results that

again had 73% of those surveyed agreeing that this particular activity was useful for learning

Spanish.In the survey comments, students asked that I allow more freedom in the methods they

choose for learning. One student said, We all learn differently and especially in a foreign

language we want to do it our way. This is what I hope to do, more than anything else. I want to

find the balance between my goals and theirs and find the space to allow them to learn in the best

ways possible. Overall, from these comments, I can draw the conclusion that creative and active

learning projects that allow for freedom of interest and learning styles are perceived to help

students feel more comfortable and therefore engage more effectively in their learning processes.

Students' Perceptions Of and Interactions With Faculty

Students' perceptions of and interactions with faculty were summed up best when Mia

said, When a teacher seems to care about your input, that matters a lot. Whenever any of the

students were asked about their comfort levels in class or what makes them confident in the

classroom, the comments overwhelming came back to the instructor's attitude. Teachers who are

perceived by their students as real people who care about them inside and outside the classroom

help students be comfortable and successful in the classroom. To engage students, we have to be


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real people, not just teachers, and we must care about who they are as real people, not just

students. Sabrina said that what makes her uncomfortable in class is a teacher who is rude and

disrespectful and leaves no room for students' opinions and interests. Dana felt comfortable in

my classroom because she felt like I wanted them to learn. Lori felt a teacher's attitude makes a

big difference. When teachers are relaxed, more personable and approachable, a good speaker,

and knowledgeable, they make learning possible for her. Similarly, Micah felt that a teacher's

personality should be not too serious. They should like to have fun and laugh in class. By

connecting on a personal level, teachers are able to engage their students more thoroughly.

These comments draw to mind Parker Palmer's ideas on bringing the heart back intoeducation that he promotes through the organization, the Center for Courage and Renewal

(2008). The idea is that by becoming detached from our classrooms and students and trying to be

too clinical, we perform a disservice to our students and impede their learning. Students need to

see that we are whole and genuine people, not just tools for learning. Making our relationships

more personal and less institutional adds a critical element of authenticity and trust that is a vital

component of learning and growing. Students need to trust us. They don't necessarily have to like

us, but they do need to believe we care. That trust allows them to be comfortable with

themselves, take risks, make mistakes, and learn. Effective learning and improved student

engagement will occur in an environment where students feel valued as people.

Students' Perceptions Of and Interactions With Their Peers

Students' perceptions of and interactions with their peers can be seen reflected in two

primary ways: the acknowledgment that when they know their peers well, it is easier and more

enjoyable to learn collaboratively, but that dealing with peers in issues of scheduling,

collaborating, and conflict resolution are tough. Mia disclosed that what made my class fun was


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making friends and working together on projects. Shy Sabrina said that while the skits were

awkward at first, they became more comfortable as she got to know her peers better. Micah,

commenting on the skits, said he appreciated opportunities to connect with his peers.

Unfortunately, all is not a bed of roses. Both Sabrina and Dana talked about having a hard

time both scheduling time to meet with peers and learning to collaborate in some sense other

than just dividing the work and sticking it back together at the end. In Sabrina, Dana, and

Micah's class there were several major conflicts among peer groups that were never resolved.

While peer collaboration can make class more interesting and learning more productive, students

need guidance on how to interact and collaborate in meaningful ways.

Students' Expectations

A huge theme in student comments dealt with their expectations of the class. Micah

spoke most strongly to this when he asked for more regularity in class. While my class tends to

be very free-flowing and variable, he felt that students should know what to expect every class.

For example, explaining one vocabulary theme and allowing a few minutes to practice, then

explicating one grammar concept and going over a practice exercise, are activities students can

expect with regularity. He felt that expectations help keep them on track and instill a sense of

awareness of their own learning. Dana also commented on needing to know what to expect in a

class and what would be expected of her. Their expectations of the class are vital to keeping

them focused.

Sabrina dreaded her Spanish class that didn't live up to her expectations. While she was

interested in learning to speak Spanish, the class was almost exclusively taught on the cultural

aspects. Mia also commented that she dreads a class if she feels she is not learning. Goals and

expectations are best when they are clear and shared. Students will learn what they want to learn.


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When teachers and students can collaborate and share their goals and make those goals explicit, a

more successful learning environment will be fostered.

Students' Perceptions Of My Methods and Materials

Students' perceptions of my methods and materials, as mentioned above being related to

their own self-perception and comfort-levels, are most successful when they are active and

creative projects that allow for student freedom of interest and learning style. The skits and exam

review projects seem to be most popular among my students. Even the introverts seemed to like

these projects when they are comfortable with me and their peers. While the survey showed that

students rank textbook activities high in usefulness, it is those that involve an element of collaboration with a partner or the entire class that have the highest overall ranking. From this, I

draw that it is vital to use methods that also contain collaborative elements, but there needs to be

an overt focus on how to collaborate effectively.

Observation Of A Pro

Thanks to Micah's comments in his interview, I had the opportunity to observe a truly

magnificent colleague in action. There are several elements I plan to steal from Mariana's style.

One of the first elements I plan to steal is her patient, clear, and concise interactions with her

students. She takes her time when explaining new concepts and slowly leads them through a few

examples. She then patiently gives them time to process the information and allows time for

practice and questions. Sometimes, I fear I get in too big of a hurry and rush my students. This

must be as frustrating for them as it is for me when at the end of the day, they simply do not

understand. As much as possible, I hope to adopt a more patient style that I believe will help my

students engage more actively in the classroom.

Secondly, I plan to adopt, again as a suggestions of Micah's that I got to see in action in


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Mariana's class, the way she organizes her class and lets them know what to expect next. She

scaffolds the materials she teaches, and she uses consistent methods that let students get into a

comfortable routine. As Micah said, she explains the grammar and then allows for practice,

before moving to the next grammar topic instead of explaining everything and then trying to let

students sort it all out.

Finally, I hope to speak the language more and with more confidence, using familiar

repetitive phrases and showing the language existing in context as much as possible. Granted as a

native speaker, Mariana has an advantage, but I do not want my students to be at a disadvantage

because of my language skills. I hope to continue to improve and practice my speaking skillsand, as almost everyone commented in the individual interviews, use Spanish more in my

classroom.

Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations

Introduction

As I began this project, I developed the research question, What can I do to help

promote active engagement and democratic participation in my beginning Spanish I college

classroom? Initially, I intended to focus on the most introverted and the most extroverted of my

students. I wanted to know how I could help my introverted students engage more actively in

class while finding ways to help my most outspoken students participate in a more democratic

and fair-handed way. Along the path, I found that my lens was a bit skewed. While focusing on

both ends of the personality spectrum, what I was really looking at were my students as a whole.

I believe that as I draw conclusions on the data I have gathered, and while there are specific

implications for particularly introverted or extroverted students, I have become aware of ways to

improve the way I do my job for all my students. The real focus group here is not necessarily the


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extroverts and introverts; it is the traditional college freshman or sophomore. These young

students are not yet mature adults, not yet the autonomous, goal-oriented, and self-directed

learners we expect older or non-traditional college students to be. These students are at a critical

point in their development toward becoming adults. They need their college instructors to

provide them with an environment that will allow them to grow and become more mature as they

learn more about whatever specific topic we are trying to teach them.

To this end, as I pour over this enormous amount of data, literature, and reflections, I am

satisfied to find five main points that I believe can help me be a better teacher in general for

these students, as well as help achieve my goal of helping to promote active engagement anddemocratic participation in my beginning Spanish I college classroom. From the start of this

project, I planned to learn about how changes in my behavior in the classroom could help make

learning more successful in my class. To that end, my five main points take the form of

statements of my future goals. Through this process, I also learned about some things that I do

already that seem to help promote engagement. Those I will list here as potentially transferable

suggestions to other instructors of traditional college freshmen and sophomores. These

suggestions might be applicable to any number of fields of study.

My Goals Suggestions for Instructors

Be patient. Be intentional in planning. Collaborate with my students on goals

and expectations. Help students become better and more

effective collaborators Model good language skills and

scaffold learning in a clear progression.

Be genuine. Value student input. Answer questions

Be patient


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First, I want to be more patient. As I saw in Mariana's classroom and heard in comments

from Micah, as well as from anonymous comments in the learning survey, I need to be patient. I

need to give students the time and opportunity to absorb and practice what they are learning

instead of rushing through explanations or asking for questions before students have time to

process the information. Some specific ideas I have to accomplish this are four-fold: 1) make

initial grammar exploration a homework activity, 2) slowly walk students through examples in

class, allowing them time to figure out the answers, 3) create and provide an easy to reference

grammar guide to use in class, and 4) use class time to work on more difficult activities to flush

out the students' questions and misunderstandings.My first tools on this journey are some wonderful videos I have discovered online. A

teacher named Seor Jordan has produced and published some very well done and free videos

online explaining grammar points for beginning Spanish students in a clear and interesting way

(2010). I plan to have students watch the video pertaining to the upcoming grammar topic for

homework. I will provide them with a guide to read over and use as a note-taking tool while they

watch the videos. The next class period, I plan to walk students through specific examples of this

topic on the board. These examples will afford me the opportunity to model the target language.

Additionally, I will give the answer to the first example, but allow the students time to think

about and answer the other examples themselves. This will allow them to see if they understand

what is going on or not right away.

I also plan to create and distribute a very concise grammar guide at the beginning of the

semester. This guide will summarize each grammar point in the order they will be presented in

the course. This guide, along with the note-taking tool for use while doing the homework, will

provide the students with a visual reminder of what we are covering and hopefully help them


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focus and be more confident in their knowledge of the Spanish language. Finally, after going

through several examples as a class, I will put students into pairs or small groups and have them

work on more difficult or complicated examples to flush out their questions and

misunderstandings. During this time, my instructional assistant and I can circulate through the

class answering questions, modeling good language use, and encouraging the students to

cooperate with each other and practice speaking with their peers. I believe these specific tools

and processes will help me slow down and become more patient and aware of my students and

their questions. As I begin my next round of research, I will solicit feedback from students on

these new methods to determine how they are playing out. This will allow me to be conscious of needed adjustments and able to make those changes, as the class progresses.

Be intentional in planning

I want to become much more intentional and aware as I plan future classes. Taking into

account the overwhelming demand for more active and creative projects that allow for freedom

of student interest and learning styles, on the one hand, and making sure my classes are more

consistent in format, on the other. The specific ideas for grammar lessons above really put the

learning into the students' hands. They must watch the videos and take notes. I am stepping back

as the all-knowing provider of knowledge, to become a guide and facilitator of learning. I feel

this will cause students to perceive themselves as being more autonomous in their learning

processes. I want to continue using projects like the skits, the vocabulary games, the daily

activities project, the DVD newscast, and others to offer students a chance to take these

grammatical topics we are practicing and create a more authentic context. I want them to feel

like they are doing something with the language, not just memorizing rules and vocabulary.

While I do want to develop more of these types of activities, I also want to make some


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strategic changes to the specific directions and conditions of the ones I already use. I plan to

bring the focus of these activities away from using the vocabulary and toward creating

something that is important to them. They need to use the language in ways that have meaning to

them personally to help them engage and become more self-directed learners. I want to find ways

to fuse culture and language study in more meaningful ways that interest the students. While

doing all of this, I want to find a rhythm in my planning that will allow for some consistency for

students to rely on without becoming boring. I plan to use the upcoming summer to instigate

these curricular changes for my upcoming fall classes.

Collaborate with my students on goals and expectations

Because I value student input and I believe that by engaging their interests, I help them

be more successful, goal-oriented learners, I plan to spend the first day of each of my upcoming

fall classes discussing goals and expectations of the course. While my course material is dictated

to me and there are certain topics that must be covered as a proscribed part of the course, there is

room for student interests. I want to take a little time and basically say: This is what I expect

from you, as well as, What do you expect from the class? and What do you want to learn?

This will allow me to collaborate with my students to create a set of shared goals and

expectations. I make to be very overt and clear about how what we do on a daily basis

contributes to those shared goals to keep students focused. I need to be very aware of how I

present information so that I can scaffold information in a logical and consistent manner. I

believe if students can be made aware of the why behind what I want them to do, they will be

more willing to do those things and begin to become more self-directed.

Help students become better and more effective collaborators

Another important goal I have is to spend a sufficient amount of time on positive group


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interactions and team building at the beginning of the semester. I know from the comments I

collected in this research that if my students can connect on a personal level with each other, they

will be more willing to engage in the classroom and they will enjoy the learning experience

more. I want to provide opportunities for them to make friends and learn together, finding space

for both introverted and extroverted students. I realize that not everyone will make fast friends.

To this end, I plan to research strategies to facilitate group interaction. I want to become more

aware of and provide resources to my students on topics related to working well with others.

Group work is important to learning but it is also essential to social maturity. Students need to

learn to cooperate with peers to be successful in pretty much any field. I believe emphasizing thisimportance and providing tools to help students refine these social skills will help them grow and

mature as members of the larger community, while they are learning the specific skills I need to

teach them for them to learn to speak Spanish.

Model good language skills and scaffold learning in a clear progression

As I have said in other sections, I want to model good language skills in class as often as

possible and encourage my students to practice even more. I want to be more intentional in

planning to be sure I am doing this and not just thinking about doing this. I may even write

myself a semi-script to help me remember to be intentional with my language use until the

practice becomes more natural to me. This will also help me to be less free-flowing and variable

and more consistent as teach. While adaptability is a key attribute for teaching because you never

know what will happen in a class, I know my students will be more comfortable when there is

more structure. I plan to accomplish this by creating more specific lesson plans and a broad

curriculum map to put myself into a routine.

Suggestions for Instructors


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Three suggestions that have served me well and I would encourage other instructors to try

to transfer to their practices are: 1) Be genuine, 2) Value student input, and 3) Answer questions.

I spoke a bit about Parker Palmer earlier and his ideas about putting the heart back into the

classroom. His ideas really expound well the idea of being genuine in what we do. His

organization, the Center for Courage and Renewal, with the tag line, Reconnecting who you are

with what you do, provides resources and information about how important it is to be true to

ourselves and our beliefs and to really care about our students (2008). By showing our students

that we are real and complete human beings and not just teachers, we can develop a sense of trust

that facilitates all aspects of learning. I am well aware that on the surface this seems a bit tootouchy-feely for most of us, but taking the time to really reflect on these ideas, they just make

good sense. If we show our students only one side of who we are and only consider one side of

whom they are, we miss building relationship and making connections that make all of our

experiences richer. My students are not just bodies sitting in my class to learn the grammar rules

of speaking Spanish. They are sons and daughters. They are friends. They are young adults with

hopes and dreams. They are human beings with their entire futures laid bare before them trying

to sort out what they want, what they need, and who they are. Yes, looking at them this way

makes my job more complicated because suddenly I'm thrust into the lives of my students. I want

to know why they missed class, not to punish them, but because I'm worried about them.

Connecting with students this way helps me know how I can help them on their personal

journey. This is a lot of work, but it is infinitely rewarding to help. Perhaps I believe this because

I see myself as not only their Spanish teacher, but also as their mentor. I am someone who has

experienced a bit more life than they have and can help guide them. Perhaps this isn't the path for

every teacher, but it is something that each teacher should reflect on and make a choice.


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My second suggestion to instructors is to value student input. Students are our livelihood

and while I do not prescribe to a consumerist view of education, that students are paying us to

put the information into their heads, I do believe that student opinions and input should be

considered in all aspects of planning and teaching. The traditional college freshman has been

going to school for more than 70% of their lives. Trust that they have some insight into being

successful learners. If they didn't, they would not be in your classroom because they would not

have been accepted at your institution. Try not to get jaded by a few bad experiences with

students. If you show them you value their opinions and input, you will begin to develop a

relationship that is beneficial for your class and fulfilling for your career. We all learn from eachother and even 18-year olds have something to teach even the most seasoned professional. Look

for opportunities to learn what they have to offer you.

Finally, we must answer questions. I know, what a silly suggestion, right? Unfortunately,

it is a common complaint of students and is again reflected in my research that students are,

justifiably, frustrated by instructors who won't or don't answer their questions. Remember, it's

okay to not know the answer, but it's not okay to pretend you do if you don't or ignore the

question entirely. Be sure you know your resources. I'm not above tracking down a colleague and

asking them a stupid question that I should really know the answer to. If you're uncomfortable

in these situations, it is okay to put the responsibility on the student to find the answer, but it

should be the instructor's responsibility to point them in the right direction at the very least.

Genuine instructors who value student input and can answer student questions are

valuable resources to any institution. These suggestions might help any instructor, in any field

improve their student and peer evaluations and become more likely to be hired or rehired, but

more importantly, following these suggestions might help create a more fulfilling teaching


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experience.

Conclusion

This study has been extremely valuable to me personally and professionally. It has given

me the opportunities to reflect and learn about how I do my job and how I can do my job better. I

have enjoyed learning how my students feel about their learning experiences and what

suggestions and ideas they have for me. Mostly, I've been inspired to widen my perspective and

continue this process of growth and renewal. Moving forward, I plan to setup further research

into how I can continue to modify and improve the way I approach my classroom with the

constant goal of providing the best learning experience for my students that I am able.


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Appendix A

Learning Survey Questions and Data

Questions text:

Q1: Participant consent for action research project: The following questions are part of a surveyto collect data on your preferences in regards to teaching methods and styles. The findings of theresearch will be written up as an action research study for a graduate course and used to improvepersonal teaching methods. The findings will not be published in any public forum. Youranswers to the following questions are completely anonymous and are in no way tied to anyindividual's name or user id.

Response: I confirm that I have freely agreed to participate in this action research project.I have been briefed on what this involves and I agree to the use of the findings as describedabove.

[Q2-19 response data in table, legend: SA (strongly agree), A (agree), N (no opinion), D (disagree), SD (stronglydisagree)]

Q2: Performing skits in class on chapter topics is a useful or effective way to practice speakingSpanish.

Q3: Performing skits in class on chapter topics is aninteresting or fun activity.

Q4: Memorizing phrases and reciting them at the end of each chapter is a helpful way of improving speaking skills.

Q5: Memorizing phrases and reciting them at the end of each chapter is an interesting or fun way of improvingspeaking skills.

Q6: Creating a video final project that encompasses all thevocabulary and structures learned in the course of thesemester is a useful way to practice and learn Spanish.

Q7: Creating a video final project that encompasses all the

vocabulary and structures learned in the course of thesemester is an interesting or fun way to practice and learnSpanish.

Q8: Working in groups to research Hispanic culture is a useful way to study Spanish.

Q9: Working in groups to research Hispanic culture is an interesting or fun way to studySpanish.

Learning Survey DataSA A N D SD

Q2: Skits-useful 1 7 2 1 0Q3: Skits-fun 1 4 4 1 1

Q4: Oral-useful 0 7 1 3 0Q5: Oral-fun 0 5 1 3 2Q6: DVD-useful 0 6 2 3 0Q7: DVD-fun 1 5 3 1 1Q8: GrpCult-useful 2 4 2 2 1Q9: GrpCult-fun 1 6 2 2 0Q10: Review-useful 3 5 0 3 0Q11: Review-fun 1 4 4 2 0Q12: VocGam-useful 2 7 2 0 0Q13: VocGam-fun 3 5 3 0 0Q14: Text-useful 2 8 1 0 0Q15: Text-fun 0 3 5 3 0

Q16: OralTBpairs -us eful 0 8 0 3 0Q17: OralTBpairs-fun 1 7 2 1 0Q18: OralTBclas s-us eful 3 6 1 1 0Q19: OralTBclass-fun 1 8 2 0 0


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Q10: Exam review presentations are a useful way to review materials and reinforce learning.

Q11: Exam review presentations are an interesting or fun way to review materials and reinforcelearning.

Q12: Vocabulary review games are useful ways to reinforce learning.

Q13: Vocabulary review games are interesting or fun ways to reinforce learning.

Q14: Written exercises in the textbook are useful ways to practice and learn Spanish.

Q15: Written exercises in the textbook are interesting or fun ways to practice and learn Spanish.

Q16: Oral exercises in the textbook performed as a dialog between partners are useful ways topractice and learn Spanish.

Q17: Oral exercises in the textbook performed as a dialog between partners are interesting or funways to practice and learn Spanish.

Q18: Oral exercises in the textbook performed as an entire class are useful ways to practice andlearn Spanish.

Q19: Oral exercises in the textbook performed as an entire class are interesting or fun ways topractice and learn Spanish.

Q20: Additional Comments: (unedited responses)

I really enjoyed Amanda's class. The only thing I would comment on is the video finalproject. While it was fun to do and film, the language skills - mostly the vocabulary-neccesary was above the level we had learned making the project stressful for thestudents and the TAs.

I thought the methods used were good. More dialogue between classmates would bebeneficial.

I thought the video project was fun, but it was hard writing sentences on a spanish onelevel. I also wish that we would have taken more notes and written more things in class tohelp practice skills we have learned.

Interesting survey. I have taken Spanish before and for me personally the best way tolearn it is to do the exercises, but not make them burdensome. Working in groups canhelp and writing stuff up on the board can help. Conversations between class mates canwork but it helps if people are confortable, and that you let them learn at their own wayand not to force your ways of learning on them. We all learn differently and especially ina foreign language we want to do it our way. I know this is not always possible, but givethem a chance. Does not mean you can not work them or help them, but letting them try it


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their way first can really help and sometimes even allows students to open up. I really enjoyed your class and you were very understanding and easy to work with when

it came to grading and making up work. More time actually speaking in class and being spoken to in Spanish would be beneficial.

The video project is a good idea, and is fun, however there is less focus on Spanish and

more on the technology requirments. Quia is the most helpful, I think that requiringstudents to complete quia on accuracy would increase retention.

You really need to put more emphasis on making sure that everyone has learned thetopics, especially grammar. You should really do more oral practice in class, notmemorized sentences that students read from a piece of paper but periods of you askingquestions in spanish and students responding in spanish using the vocabulary andgrammar from the chapter.


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Appendix B

Semi-Structured Interview Guide

Tell me a little bit about other Spanish classes youve taken and what they were like.Prompt: activities used, format of tests, amount you spoke up in class, what was theenvironment like?

I used various methods to teach Spanish, which ones do you remember most? Which didyou prefer? Which were not as helpful to you? Why? What do you think would help them

be more useful? What did you have the most fun with? What was difficult, boring, or too much work? What makes you comfortable/uncomfortable in a classroom? Tell me about a class in

which you spoke up and participated a lot. What did you like most about it? What do youthink that teacher did to help? How did you feel about the subject matter in that class?

What ideas or further comments would you like to share with me?


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Appendix C

Research Log and Theme Coded Data

Monday, March 15, 2010 I

Documents

COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT An Action Research Study Of Teaching Methods In My Beginning Spanish I College Classroom