Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone: Profiles of Third‐Year Spanish Students' Attempts to Develop Their Speaking Skills

Abstract

This qualitative study focused on the learning experiences of four third‐year Spanish students enrolled in a college‐level Spanish composition and conversation course. The study provided insights into the impact of expanding out‐of‐class opportunities to engage in communicative tasks through the use of streamed feature films, online chats, and video journal assignments on the development of higher levels of oral proficiency. Data sources included transcripts of in‐class and out‐of‐class speaking assignments, downloaded chat threads, SOPI results, ethnographic interviews, and a post‐course survey. The data revealed that learners utilize online resources to support different learning agendas. These agendas, in turn, influence the types of second language (L2) learning strategies students employ while processing richer input like feature film. Implications from this study suggest that design issues of control and manipulation in electronic course supplements are crucial to facilitate the intake necessary for developing higher levels of oral proficiency.

Got Film? Is It a Readily Accessible Window to the Target Language and Culture for Your Students?

“…Voller and Widdows (1993) and Joiner (1990) cautioned instructors to avoid slow-moving films that contain frequent monologues and that require detailed background knowledge. In a previous study (Bueno, 2006), I also reported that learners find monologues highly charged with emotion and action-packed scenes particularly difficult to comprehend. When films do not meet all of these criteria, or when they contain some of the challenges described above, instructors must find ways to scaffold aural comprehension.…”

“…With today's technology, instructors can utilize these instructional strategies more effectively and efficiently to mitigate the difficulty in comprehending feature films for learners. In regard to the delivery of feature film, course management systems allow instructors to show the film in segments appropriate for the proficiency level of the students and to include judiciously first language and target language captions (Bueno, 2006;Markham, 1989Markham, , 1999Nicholas & Toporski, 1993;Stewart & Pertusa, 2004).…”

“…When films do not meet all of these criteria, or when they contain some of the challenges described above, instructors must find ways to scaffold aural comprehension. In order to scaffold comprehension of rich input like feature film, students need to access a variety of resources: the target language dialogue, with opportunities to view scenes several times and to listen to isolated segments as needed; related readings in the target language; and access to the script or target language captions and English captions for complex scenes (Bueno, 2006). 4 Other sets of characteristics of film influence learners' abilities to make cultural comparisons and gain insights into the products, practices, and perspectives of the target culture.…”

“…127-129) With background information about the setting, including information about las yuntas, breakfast customs, and home remedies in rural Spain, and vocabulary lists with unfamiliar words, e.g., enjuto, guiso, and enjundia, students found these scenes comprehensible. They also recognized formulas for expressing hypothetical ideas and could readily apply them to their own ideas about the relationship of this young couple in their videotaped presentations (Bueno, 2006). A sample role-play activity appears in Appendix C.…”

Students' perception of supplementary, online activities for Japanese language learning: Groupwork, quiz and discussion tools

“…Previous research on the use of technology in second/foreign language teaching focused on: the effectiveness of the computer-mediated communication as a learning and teaching resource (Ramzan & Saito, 1998); the use of a telecollaborative learning environment (Belz & Kinginger, 2002); audiographic conferencing (Hampel, 2003); electronic discussion (Hanna & de Nooy, 2003); synchronous chat systems used to explain technical concepts to student (Day, Wood, Scutter & Astachnowicz, 2003); online role plays ( Milton, 2004); students use of electronic course supplements, such as film to improve their levels of proficiency (Bueno, 2006); the development of a tool to evaluate oral tests (Laborda, 2006); the use of computer technology in the assessment (Hunt, Neill & Barnes, 2007); problems and strategies in oral communication tasks (Lam, 2007); online interaction with native speakers (Lee, 2004;Mahfouz & Ihmeideh, 2009); Learners' scaffolding using social network service (Christensen, 2010); and video presentation on students' blogs to enhance public speaking skills (Shih, 2010).…”