Interacting with native speakers in various types of virtual exchanges is becoming increasingly accessible for language learners and teachers around the world. The present study examined the experiences of beginning and intermediate level learners of Spanish in the United States as they interacted weekly with native Spanish speakers over the…

This current study suggests that future secondary Spanish language teachers must be more like athletic coaches to ensure student success and score a so-called win in the classroom. Teachers must retool and redesign outdated and ineffectual curricula and instructional strategies to improve student performance. Focusing on language proficiency,…

This article describes the process by which the authors created a Virtual Learning Community for cultural and linguistic exchange between college students of Portuguese in the United States and undergraduate and graduate students of English in Brazil. In addition to describing the way the so-called tandem model for telecollaboration was adapted to…

This pilot study investigates whether requiring participation in community-based learning can motivate intermediate level Spanish learners to engage in more frequent interaction in Spanish outside of the classroom and course requirements. Using the theoretical framework of willingness to communicate in a second language, this study combines both…

Although previous literature has discussed ways of promoting the study of Portuguese, to our knowledge no study has ever directly surveyed students to ascertain why they chose to learn the language. This study reports on a survey of the motivations of first- and second-year Portuguese students to study the language, and contrasts their motivations…

This article reports on an investigation of high-school students' motivations to study Spanish. An online Likert-scale questionnaire was administered to 631 students and 19 teachers. The most influential factors were determined and a principal axis factor analysis with Promax rotation was performed on the responses. The data indicated that the…

Discusses the usefulness to second language learning of an activity in which students assume a pen name and write letters under that name in the language studied in order to motivate their interest in the language and accelerate their mastery of it. (CK)

Discusses the importance of student motivation in the foreign language classroom. Suggests that although most foreign language teachers are well trained in methods and materials, the psychological principles related to motivation and reinforcement are more elusive than those related to learning activities. (NCR)

Describes three stages of an instructional method for involving language students in the study of foreign literature. Suggestions are offered for practical classroom activities. (MLS)

Describes and analyzes results of a questionnaire, addressed to 438 students of Spanish in grades three through college, which sought to determine the reasons behind students' interest in learning a second language. (AM)

Presents daily activities that facilitate complete sentence response, promote oral production, and aid the learning of vocabulary in foreign-language classes. Because speech is the primary form of communication in the foreign-language classroom, it is important to stimulate students to converse as soon as possible. (Author/CK)

Emphasizes that language taught in a meaningful context is readily acquired by second-language learners and suggests that stories from the oral tradition of any Spanish-speaking cultures are excellent sources of material for language in content. These stories may be used to supplement traditional textbooks and readers. (13 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a classroom version of a popular television game designed to provide students with practice in listening comprehension and speaking as well as an opportunity to review numbers and names of objects in Spanish. (Author/CK)

Integrating debate on controversial topics into the syllabus enriches learners' interaction with the Spanish language and stimulates intermediate students to express themselves in Spanish. This article lists some practical suggestions for setting up debates as well as criteria for evaluating them. (Author/CK)

Focuses on the problems accompanying the transition of students between secondary and postsecondary levels of foreign language study. Points out that the inconsistencies found in placement procedures among Florida's universities and community colleges suggest a need for discussion and collaboration. (23 references) (Author/CK)