This multiple case study explored the influence of English teachers' methodological practices over undergraduate students' learning processes in two English as a foreign language mandatory courses for different majors, at Universidad de Pamplona (Colombia). Data were gathered through non-participant observations, field notes, stimulated recall…

Mastering analytical writing involves the proficient use of varied later-acquired grammatical, lexical and discourse forms and functions. Developmental studies have identified specific linguistic features as diagnostic of increasing proficiency. This study examines how these features change throughout educational levels and before and after the…

The number of pupils learning modern foreign languages (MFLs) beyond the age of 14 has fallen substantially over the last decade. Among other reasons, shortcomings in teaching methodology have been blamed for this situation. The methodology has been accused of applying the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in a selective way and not…

This study compares Spanish instructors' use of preterite and imperfect in the foreign language classroom to the distribution of these forms in large-scale corpora, which represent the input learners would potentially receive in a naturalistic learning context. Twenty-four 50-minute class sessions were recorded, and all tokens of preterite and…

This study examines the effects of processing instruction (PI) alone versus PI and output (O) on the acquisition of three conjunctional and infinitival phrases in Spanish. Seventy intermediate and advanced-intermediate high school participants received: 1) PI on three consecutive days (PI + PI + PI); 2) PI for two days and meaning-based output…

The 2015 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSCTFL) was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota together with the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures, who served as local host. This year's theme underscores the transformative nature of learning a foreign language. As language teachers we have a great…

This document consists of the four issues of a newsletter published during 1994. Issues contain current events articles in Spanish and classroom language learning activities based on those articles. The articles are brief, most reproduced from other publications. Topics include celebrity news, the arts, Spanish culture and geography, sports, and…

Ensuring that students spend time preparing for class has always been one of the challenges of teaching. Indeed, when students are given an assignment that they are required to do before coming to the next lecture--whether it be written exercises or just studying--one wonders how often they are actually doing it. There are many ways in which…

Through the use of a question notebook, students can practice grammar and develop their vocabulary. This class activity also helps students to begin to write and express their own curiosity. (Author/CK)

A collection of five board games for the Spanish language classroom contains gameboards, game markers, and directions for each game. It also contains general instructions for the teacher about the classroom use of board games. The games include: "Uvas," for use in vocabulary development and cultural awareness; "Montana Rusa," for general…

The problem of teaching the use of the verbs "ser" and "estar" in Spanish can be only partially addressed by current linguistic explanations. In the absence of rules that will enable the student to predict correct sentences using the verbs, the most effective teaching technique is to use a situational-functional approach providing students with…

Notes that one way to ensure that students understand the importance of developing communicative abilities is to utilize Spanish language resources in the United States, as in an excursion to a "tienda" (shop), where they negotiate with the Spanish-speaking owner. (seven references) (Author/CK)

Examined the differential role of comprehension and production practice in second language learning. Discusses the results of a study of 82 first-year students of Spanish as a second language that indicated that relative effectiveness of production versus comprehension practice depended on the morphosyntactic complexity of the structure in…

Argues that communicative competence in Spanish as a second language can not be taught without giving attention to the grammatical component of language. Compares aspects of the traditional and communicative approaches to language teaching, refers to theory on grammar instruction, and offers examples of classroom activities supporting the learning…