How can the use of comprehensible literature increase Spanish language acquisition and mindsets about learning language?

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“It is not acceptable for students graduating from high school to say, ‘I've had four years of Spanish, but I can't speak or understand it.’ “                                                                                                                         -Gomez et. al, 2012

 

            In the United States, it is difficult to find someone that has graduated from High School in the past few decades that feels successful in their acquisition of a world language as a result of their K-12 education. After years of taking a world language many people are left with a sense of failure and disillusion. Although it is unreasonable to think that students will become fluent in a language after a year or two in a secondary language course, it isn't unreasonable to ensure that students understand the skills and resources necessary to learn a language. Furthermore, students certainly have the potential to undergo authentic experiences in which they can apply the language as a means of measuring progress towards fluency. Given the common experience in the U.S. of 1-2 years of  language instruction in high school it isn’t hard to understand why language instruction in K-8 schools has actually decreased in the past ten years (Pufahl et. al, 2011) regardless of the growing value for bilingual people in the workplace and community. How can world language instruction ensure a better sense of accomplishment given the small window it is given in most public schools? If there is a better understanding of what can be accomplished in a second language class will language instruction increase again in the K-8 grades where studies show it is most effective? Furthermore, if making language learning more authentic is the goal what is authentic language learning?

           

           Given the lack of success that most people in the United States feel in regards to their world language experiences we know that language classes don’t often hit the mark. Even if language courses do provide a meaningful first step towards second language acquisition people may not feel like they’ve successfully made progress because they aren’t fluent, which is an unrealistic goal. Lightbown explains that, “both first and second language acquisition are best described as developing systems” (2013, p. 41). That said, language acquisition isn’t an immediate process and it won’t be “mastered” by the time one exits a year or two in a language program. Yet, there is still much to be gained from the offering of world languages as long as students, administrators and educators can agree on realistic goals of a world language program is “acquisition of the ability to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways with users of other languages” (NSFLEP, 2006, p. 3) rather than immediate fluency. This research looks at the impact of using comprehensible literature to engage students in Spanish. The goal of using comprehensible literature as input is to build capacity and confidence for students to use their Spanish outside of the class through meaningful projects.

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