As a sixth year student of Spanish looking back on her foreign language education, the author believes she has a greater understanding of what attracted her to and maintained her interest in the language. Yet she also recognizes areas in her education that could have benefited from change, including flexibility in creating her own program of study…

In this article we examine how instructors make decisions about task design in telecollaboration and the factors that influence these decisions during the actual implementation of the tasks. We begin with a review of the recent literature of online intercultural exchanges to identify and describe a typology of 12 different types of tasks and task…

Discusses using students' native language (L1) versus second language in testing instruments for reading comprehension in the second language (L2) classroom. Students of college-level Spanish were tested under different conditions involving combinations of the L1 and L2. Suggests using open-ended reading comprehension tests if some questions are…

Explores the role of a course on Spanish cinema in an undergraduate, university-level curriculum in terms of its potential to acquaint students with significant cultural issues and to develop language skills. (Author/VWL)

A survey of 358 university students enrolled in first- and second-semester French and Spanish classes indicates that students are overwhelmingly positive about the importance of knowing a foreign language. This article presents the results of this survey, along with its pedagogical implications. (Author/VWL)

Using sociocultural theory as a conceptual framework, this study examined selected features of student discourse of three pairs of third-semester learners of Spanish at the university level. Specifically the study investigated how these selected features, identified in an earlier research project, developed during opportunities to engage in five…

Discusses a new Spanish program for heritage language speakers at Peace College in North Carolina. While most programs designed for native speakers have been implemented in large institutions near a strong Hispanic community, the efforts at Peace College show how a program can be effectively developed even in a small women's college with a…

Emphasizes the goal-directedness of activity in relation to the intentionality of those involved, both individually and collectively, and with regard to sociohistorical and sociocultural contexts. Adapts and applies previous research to investigate the retention of new second language vocabulary. The study was carried out in a third semester…

The theoretical and pedagogical issues emanating from the practice of teaching Spanish to Hispanic bilingual college students are discussed. Distinctions are made between standard Spanish and the two most important United States varieties of Chicano and Puerto Rican Spanish, and structural differences are examined. Teaching suggestions are…

The author discusses the preparation of a test of reading comprehension in Italian as a Second Language for Spanish university students and analyzes the results of the test. The article includes the reading passage and the test. (CFM)

Provides information about some of the activities of the National Forum on the Future of Spanish Departments on College and University Campuses that took place in September 1999 and highlights issues that were discussed including enrollments, curriculum design, Spanish for instrumental purposes, and the structure of foreign language policies…

Argues that a gap exists in university-level foreign-language curriculum that requires a "bridge," that is, a course designed to take students from where they are to where they should be to study for a foreign-language major and describes the bridge course in Hispanic culture at the University of New Mexico. (four references) (CK)

The changes in written and spoken Spanish proficiency of two college students during a semester of study in Spain are examined in their oral and written performance and in their grades at a Spanish university. Both students were initially rated, according to American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines, at…

Discuses the use of micro stories--shorter short stories--in the Spanish language classroom. Highlights the use of one micro story--Monterrosos'"El dinasauro"--as a point of departure for teaching literary reading skill to intermediate college and secondary level students. (Author/VWL)

Describes a model for situating an English-as-a- Second-or-Other-Language (ESOL) methods course in a Spanish speaking community. Organized ESOL classes for children and adults in a Latino neighborhood that serve as a practicum for university students working for ESOL teaching endorsements and as a service learning project in the methods course so…