Destinos, Can it Work
in High School Spanish II?
AUTHOR: Karen Sams Davis
SUBJECT: Spanish
GRADE: High School
SUMMARY:
As the opening of school drew near in August of 1993, I eagerly looked forward to implementing a comprehension and content-based approach with my three second-year high school Spanish classes. DESTINOS, AN INTRODUCTION TO SPANISH, VanPatten, Marks, Teschner, develops language learning through the content of a 52-episode video "telenovela" (soap opera).
When I chose DESTINOS, I knew that it was in use in first-year Spanish classes at the University of Illinois, where one of the authors, Bill VanPatten, is a member of the faculty; that it could be used as an independent study college-credit television course; and that two other teachers in Illinois had used the video to supplement their third and fourth-year high school Spanish courses the year before. I knew of no other high school teacher who was using the materials as the main course content at the secondary level.
After evaluating DESTINOS, I felt that the pace of the materials was best suited on the high school level to students who had a basic knowledge of Spanish, rather than for beginning students as it is taught on the university level. University students studying first-year language courses often have studied the language in high school and also generally are assumed to have developed self- discipline, study skills, and learning strategies. We can not assume this with our high school students. Another factor in my decision was that I felt our Spanish III students were too advanced for the level of grammar in the first half of DESTINOS. Therefore, if I wanted to experiment with this comprehensible-input approach, the logical choice seemed to be my three sections of Spanish II, a total of 70 students with a mixture of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Although DESTINOS is a one-year course in the university, my goal for Spanish II was to cover only 36 of the 52 lessons. Given the normal interruptions to classes that occur in a high school, that was an overly ambitious goal and I covered only 30 of the lessons. This year I may cover even one or two fewer.
The components of the program are the textbook, which reviews the story and vocabulary presented in the video, introduces several cultural concepts, and previews the grammar for each lesson; the workbook, which adds more information about the story or characters through a reading and/or tape passage, and deals in depth with the grammar to be practiced in each lesson; the 52-episode video; and the take-home audio-cassettes which correlate with homework assignments in the text and workbook.
During the first semester of using DESTINOS, I developed two instruments to collect information from my students, both of which were administered during the second semester of the course. Information collected included how much time my students were spending studying, how they were studying, whether they perceived a need for my help with grammar explanations and practice (since the materials are set up to be used independently of a teacher), whether they were using the take-home audio-cassettes in connection with their assignments, how they evaluated the various components of the program, and how they evaluated their own progress. In addition to providing me with input about materials usage, I hoped that these instruments would also aid and motivate students having difficulties to improve their study techniques.
The first instrument was a two-page overall self-report of students' use of and attitudes towards the materials and a self- evaluation of their progress in listening comprehension, reading comprehension, writing ability, and speaking ability. This was administered in mid-February and again in mid-May shortly before the final exam.
The second instrument was a weekly log turned in every Monday which asked specific questions about time spent studying, usage of the materials, and method of studying vocabulary.
The information reported in the logs/evaluation instruments is being statistically analyzed and correlated with test and quiz scores and the final grade for the semester.
EVALUATION:
At this stage of the research, several things can be reported. High school students did not feel confident that they could read the grammar explanations and always understand everything they needed to without teacher input. The first attitude/self evaluation/material usage report, administered in February, showed 86.2% of students felt that teacher-supplied grammar explanations were necessary. In May, 81.8% still felt that way.
Throughout the year I emphasized the importance of using the audio-tapes with assignments, fully aware that some students were not using them. Usage of tapes with assignments increased from 71.4% in February to 75.8% by May. Those with a positive attitude towards the benefits of using the tapes increased from 73.1% to 83.1% by the end of the semester. The correlation of grades to tape usage was also significant. Those who responded in the February evaluation that they used the tapes averaged 79.18% on lesson tests versus 70.21% for those who did not. By May the test average for those using the tapes was 77.47% versus 72.52% for those who did not.
Vocabulary quiz grades showed no significant statistical difference according to tape usage. However, like the lesson tests the final semester grade reflected significant statistical differences for those using and not using the audio-tapes: 3.79 on a 5 point scale for tape users versus 3.325 for non-tape users.
Student perception of success is an important part of any program. Following is a tabulation of February and May reports of students' perception of success in listening comprehension, one of the main goals of using a video/tape- based method. The percentages reflect students reporting their comprehension as good or excellent for the following types of listening activities.
February - Good or Excellent Comprehension Simplified Spanish directed to the student - 81.1% Teacher speech - 75.4% Videos - 68.1% Tapes - 68.1%
May - Good or Excellent Comprehension Simplified Spanish directed to the student - 81.8% Teacher speech - 75.8% Videos - 71.2% Tapes - 63.6%
In February, 90.8% and in May, 92.4% of students felt that their comprehension and ability to use Spanish was steadily improving. I feel that, because of the excellent comprehensible input in DESTINOS, students were able to increase their listening comprehension more than they might have with many other texts. This opinion, however, is not based on research, since I did not have a control group, but rather on many years of teaching experience. Further research to test this theory is necessary.
Karen Sams Davis ksdavis@.ilstu.edu University High School 7100
Illinois State University Normal, IL 61790-5900 ph 309 438-8346 fax 309 438-5198
Return to Exemplary
Practice: Volume II
Return to Exemplary Practice: Illinois State University Laboratory School
Journal