Curriculum Research Project

Oscar Sandoval 2/22/2013 Prof Xiang Ling 583

Spanish BLP curriculum research outline

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Introduction: Roadmap the research will follow. Spanish BLP context and students: The program is in a University setting with students who are from different majors and who live at of proximity of Spanish Speakers. Students seek to learn Spanish because of the need of the language in their fields. Role of the program in the University and stakeholders: The program serves an enormous population of students which seek to fulfill the language requirement that the university has imposed. The amounts of sections offered make this program one of the most valuable for the university. Spanish BLP instructors, training and coordinators: Instructors are none other than student who are required to teach by their respective programs. Students are in turn managed by student who structure the program and create workload. Students are trained to be teachers before the semester begins since most of them are not teachers. Historical perspectives in the BLP that have influenced the current curriculum models: Van Patten was once the head of the Spanish BLP which had a tremendous effect on the program. Materials, resources and Book utilized in the BLP. The book utilized was chosen according to the necessities of the program and the students. Resources are available outside of the classroom instruction time and are structured in a way that student can have access to them. Current curriculum models and theoretical perspectives in the BLP: Instructors are facilitators rather than teachers and their practices are directed by the communicative teaching approach. Design as a blended course in the BLP: The purpose in the program, design of the activities, use in the curriculum, also overall effectiveness in terms of student progress and achievement. Spanish Basic language programs curriculum trend: Current Spanish Curriculum models are similar across the board. BLP Restructuring Considerations: Recommendations for change in practice based on previous studies conducted on similar programs on the effectiveness of these in terms of their goals and objectives.

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze the curriculum models and theoretical approaches of the Spanish Basic Language program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The research seeks to gain insight on the historical perspectives that have shaped the current program curriculum model. Further, the source of the information for this research derives from an interview that was conducted with the head the program Liz Aguilar who is in charge of overseeing every aspect of the program. As well, personal accounts since I was an instructor in the program, in addition to literature and research that focus on this type of program. Moreover, this research paper also attempts to discover whether the current curriculum goals are being achieved, during instruction and after the students complete the program and if not met how the program can succeed. Finally, relying on the literature review and studies conducted on the subject matter, recommendations will be suggested on the steps that the program should take in order to comply with their goals and beliefs. The focus of the research in terms of curriculum practices and models will be centered on a Spanish 102 course which I taught in the fall 2012 semester for 16 weeks. Spanish BLP context and students: The students enrolled in the class are from different mayors in the liberal arts and sciences, and also students from other colleges as well might be found in the class. Moreover, the students language backgrounds are numerous as the population of the University, but the dominant language spoken by students in the classroom is English. The city where the University is located has a vibrant Hispanic community which also has an impact on the enrollment of the Spanish BLP, since students view the language as popular and in need. The students are of

different nationalities and some of them speak two languages already which is a plus since its known that people that speak two languages are prone to learned a third language. A vast majority of the students in the class I taught are pre medical students, but I could not say whether this trend is similar in other sections. Spanish 102 is the second course in a sequence of 4 courses that are offered to either undergraduates or graduate students. This course is Spanish as a foreign language (SFL) and its a blended course as well, since the students are required to work on online activities at home. Further, the class meets three times a week for 50 minutes and the students have to complete one hour of online activities that the book publishers puts together. The class size limit for the course is 25 students, which fills fast in the beginning of the semester, but students tend to drop the course after the first week because of personal factors or they are not supposed to be in that level. The class is the first in the series that is taught completely in Spanish, which causes problems for the students in the beginning, but eventually they get accustomed to the pace of the class instruction. Role of the program in the University and stakeholders: Further, undergrad students have to take the course because they have to comply with a language requirement that is imposed by the University. According to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) catalog for undergraduates, in order for students to graduate they must have taken 4 semester of a foreign language or must place out by taking a placement exam. The placement exam will also determine whether the students have proficiency or not in the language they desire to take or use as for their requirement. Moreover, the Spanish placement test requires students to complete grammar, vocabulary and writing sections, since there is no listening, the department somehow measures an overall proficiency with the mentioned sections. Furthermore, according to the Illinois Association for College Admissions Counseling, UIC is among other

schools that require two years of a foreign language as a requirement for graduation. In the city of Chicago, all the city colleges require their students to complete 2 years of the same requirement. The trend follows other Universities in the United States as well who are also pushing for foreign language requirements for their students. According to Liz Aguilar the head of the department, the Spanish BLP currently enjoys a high enrollment rate and they have no problem filling classes every semester. In fact, there is a need for more classes but the department can only administrate so much personnel and the university has so much space for these classes. There was a problem with space in the past that attributed to a change in the curriculum framework, which I will explain further on this paper. Moreover, there is not a current push or pressure from the stakeholders since the department is running well and its certain that the University receives a lot of income from these sections of Spanish offered. Therefore, from the numbers she gave me of the sections offered every semester, I can confidently conclude that if there were a disruption in the enrollment rates then a higher authority would step in and would make changes to the curriculum or way of instruction. The reasons for these rates are clear and everywhere, since Spanish speakers can be found all over the state of Illinois and the language is getting bigger every day. Moreover, in the beginning of each semester I ask students about their decision for choosing Spanish versus other languages offered at UIC. The students always answer the same question, that the language will help them find more job opportunities after they graduate and also that the language is already all around them. On the other hand, the stakeholders for the Spanish BLP are unknown but it makes sense that it would be the University itself, since enrollment rates are highly important.

Spanish BLP instructors, training and coordinators: One of the questions that lingered in my mind was: why does the department let Master students teach courses in the BLP program? . The program director said that the reason was that those students take the same classes as the PhD students so therefore they are as qualified. Moreover, having no teaching experience as a Masters student makes no difference when they decided who is allowed to teach, since some PhD students also have no experience teaching. The only requirement that the students must have in order to teach is that they have a Bachelors degree in Spanish which can be either in teaching, literature, history, Hispanic studies or linguistics. Moreover, the board of trustees of the university appoints the students who are given the appointments to teach in the BLP and these students are in the Masters/PhD programs of Hispanic applied linguistics and Hispanic literature. According to Mrs. Aguilar, the students in these programs are mandated to take a teaching methods course in their first year, and they are observed by one of her assistants every semester in order to measure teaching effectiveness. Additionally, before the first teaching semester, students are required to attend a workshop, where they are instructed how to teach the class, using communicative teaching approach. These new students join other teaching assistants during the week in other workshops, since the established TAs are also required to attend workshops themselves. Moreover, the workshops are held during the week prior to the start of the semester, which the new teaching assistant have to attend all week, while all the other assistants attend two days a week. The coordinators of the program develop the course syllabus and Elizabeth Aguilar approves the content. The coordinators are also PHD students and they are assigned to each level to administer the courses. The coordinators also develop the tests that are given to the students in the different sections and these are similar for all the levels. The rationale behind this practice is tied to the idea of

maintain stability and uniformity within the different levels. That is the students should be able to transition to each of the levels with ease and all students should be at the same level when they come out of the sections. I definitely agree with the department controlling the curriculum and the instruction, since some teachers might teach different than others or some might have a different idea of what should be taught in each level. Leaving some students with less in the end, this will produce difficulty when they are in a new level. The director also mentioned that the size of the department is an important factor for their curriculum practices, since they have no way of controlling of monitoring over 80 sections in the basic program. Historical perspectives in the BLP that have influenced the current curriculum models: The program and course was developed around communicative teaching approach, which focuses on the goal of communicative competence. A former director of the Spanish program Bill van Patten who is a recognized researcher and professor in the field of linguistics and second language acquisition implemented the current model of instruction, which centralizes on the idea that communicative activities will lead to language acquisition. The idea came about from a change of instruction that swept language programs alike all over the country. The change came about in the 1990s when the practice known today changed from the classic communicative teaching approach. Further, classic communicate teaching approach was established in the 1970s when the notion of communicative competence was developed in linguistics. Grammar was no longer the objective and goal when it came down to the development of programs and thus syllabuses. Programs then shifted to make students communicative effectively, using the language effectively for purposes that are concrete, rather than made up purposes that students were never going to encounter. Further, before this approach the activities were meaningless and had no application to what the students wanted to do with the language and the classes were

developed around meaningless drills and repetition (Richards, 3-5). Further, Liz mentioned that before the current model, native speakers and non-natives were mixed in the same classes, which did not effectively target the specific needs of each of the groups. On todays model the students are separated, the native speakers of the language or/and the heritage speakers are bumped up to 200 levels. These students also have to take a placement test as the non-native speakers and the department makes sure that heritage speakers do not take the most basic courses, because it would create a disruption. Further, in terms of the activities that are promoted in program they have to be communicative and must be applicable to real life events that the students might encounter in their future careers or in a foreign country. Moreover, according to Bill Van Patten communicatively is the term that refers to all the modes of language use and is not restricted to speaking or so called productive abilities (Van Patten, 927). Materials, resources and Book utilized in the BLP. The book used in this course is Vistas; Fourth Edition, which comes with a supersite code which allows students to access the internet, based online activities (Workbook). Moreover, the book the program uses plays an essential role in maintaining a smooth consistency and stability within the program, since the book is used from level 101 to 103. This practice is reliable to attain smooth transition in my opinion since the students get to go back and review the sections they used for previous levels. Liz stated that the book was chosen among other books because of its cultural content that wraps around the grammar and vocabulary that the students need. The activities found on the book are what we would call communicative friendly, since they allow students to actively put use of the grammar and vocabulary onto contexts that are real life like through speech. The book that was used before was Sol y Viento, which according to Liz was not as well structured as the current book in

terms of the way the book organized. The current book sections each chapter into different themes or situations that might be encountered in real life situation. On the contrary, the other book was based on this soap that the students had to watch during instruction. The students then had to answer questions that related to the story, using the grammar learned in the book. The problem with this soap opera was that the context was not realistic and although some of the themes in the videos were useful, they had no relation with what the students might encounter in a job or even on the street. Moreover, the storyline of the soap centered around a wine farm in Chile and this man who had to go there from the states because his job required him to make a deal with the owners. This scenario would probably never be experience by any of the students, although the students did get to experience a different culture and certain speech acts that might be useful if they were traveling. The explanations on the book are pretty straight forward, but some are quite difficult to comprehend and the instructor has to explain these difficult grammar points. Modeling of activities is very important since the students can get a sense of how the grammar should be use and dissipate any doubts. Students are presented with a cultural reading that deals with the grammar and vocabulary discussed. Students have resources they can use if they have trouble with the content being presented in the classroom. Moreover, the department offers tutoring hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from 9am to 5 pm. During these tutoring hours students can visit any instructor schedule for that time and instructors have to help the students even if they are not teaching that level. This practice is great since some students might have difficulties understanding certain instructors and they can seek a different perspective or explanation. Not a lot of programs in the University can have such a valuable resource for the students,

plus the student can also seek advice during the instructors office hour. In the case of my class and other instructors classes, not a lot of students were eager to show up to the office hours, even if the student was failing the class, they rarely attended or made any effort to meet the professor. Current curriculum models and theoretical perspectives in the BLP: According to Liz Aguilar during the interview she stated that the goal and objective of the program is communication competence, which translates into the context and population of the classrooms. As I explained before, the students in the Spanish BLP are from different mayors, who will be working in numerous positions. Inevitably, these future professionals will encounter people who will speak Spanish in their places of employment, and other will need another language to attain the job they desire. Liz stated that the purpose of the program is to have students communicate effectively with other speakers of the language. She also commented that the program is also aimed for those students who want to pursue Spanish as a minor or major. Students are not expected to be able to write extensive literature criticism after they leave the Spanish BLP program, but they are expected to be able to communicate and be able to survive in an environment where Spanish is the main language. The goals of the program are in line with the goals of the director who firmly believes that the current approach is the most appropriate for the program. The director, Liz Aguilar was previously employed at DePaul University, where the practices of the department and instruction models were completely different as those in the UIC BLP program. Nevertheless, after being exposed to the practices and after extensive research, the director was converted into Van Pattens ideals and the communicative approach to teaching. The goal of the course as described in the syllabus deals with the types of information exchange that the department expects the students to learn. For

example, students will be able to ask for food in a restaurant, describing a heath condition and being able to talk about using electronic devices. The last goal is to gain general knowledge about the culture of Latin America, which is tied to the grammar points that the course attempts to teach the students. Moreover, a typical class session would start with an opening activity, which would focus on learn material or material which will be discussed. Then the teacher would present the grammar or vocabulary briefly and ask the students follow up questions dealing with what was discussed. For example, if the theme of that day was food then the teacher would ask how many people have had this type of meal and then the teacher would ask follow up question, did you like it? And so on. Moreover, a typical activity would ask students to describe how they would go about ordering a certain food item in a restaurant. Then the teacher would move on to a second activity that deals with a certain grammatical point, always making the student perform a production act. Moreover, the curriculum and instruction is developed in such a way that the teachers explains grammar points very little in class and focused more on production activities. The students are responsible for reviewing class grammar beforehand on their book and practice grammar points through the online workbook and exercises fund on the book. The syllabus tells teachers what is going to be covered on each day and the teachers have to come up with activities that will test whether the students did the homework and studied the grammar. Further, the main organization principle of the syllabus is theme based, since each unit in the book presents a certain topic. The topics usually run for a week and these wrap around certain aspects of the grammar that integrate the vocabulary of that theme. For example, technology as a theme is presented with vocabulary at the beginning of the chapter and students had used these words thorough out the different grammar aspects in that unit. These vocabulary words would also be

presented in the online activities and the cultural sections of the book. This procedure enables students to memorize the words and see them in context over and over again.

Design as a blended course in the BLP: According to Liz Aguilar, the Spanish program turned to the only component not because it would aid the students, but because the program was taking too much space the University needed for other courses offered. Additionally, instructors were complaining that they were being over worked because they had to hand grade every student workbook. Therefore, the department decided to implement the blended course which is designed to save time, money and space for the university and of course workload for the teachers. The design of the online workbook is simple; students are to answer multiple questions that deal with grammar which will be practiced the next day. The online software only lets the students answer three times and the answer is not given to them until the last try. Moreover, the online homework is divided by grammar sections which appear as in the book. Students are only given credit if they complete correctly 80 percent of each section; if not then the student is not given any credit, also the activities are timed. This is a crude practice since students get frustrated and get nervous as well, because they have to get a certain percentage correct in order to receive a grade. This practice might have an effect on the true scores these students might be able to produce without the pressure involved in it. On the other hand, the teacher can give feedback only on each answer that was written as text. Teachers are presented with multiple choice data and there is not a clear picture to what the student might be doing wrong in the activity. Additionally, I have heard complaints from students that they are not able to see the

correct answer after completed. This practice does not beneficiate the students, since they have no feedback what so ever until the next day in class when they have to produce the language. I believe more emphasis should be given on feedback on the online activities, since students can learn from their mistake as well. Furthermore, the online activity is graded based on how many of them the students completed correctly, which also is not beneficial for the students since they dont see this as a helpful learning tool, but rather tedious work. Spanish Basic language programs curriculum trend: Indeed the current trends of instruction are alike of UIC, in terms of the dominant position (CLT) communicative language teaching approach, not only in the United States but all over the world as well (Hubert, 233). Instruction is quite similar across the board in terms of the focus in genuine exchange of information through communicative activities. Moreover, UIC also follows other universities in terms of the major component that is address in the classroom, which is a focus on grammar. Students are tested on the grammar on exams that is practiced in and out of the class every day (224). Additionally, grammar is the focus of the online activities that ask the students to fill in the blank on numerous exercises, which may not be beneficial in terms of the communicative goal. Further, according to Aguilar, the online activities where implemented to replace the workbooks that the students where using previously and that the instructors had to collect and grade. Additionally, the online activities cut instruction time from 4 hours a week of instruction to only 3 hours a week, which cuts any communicative practice that the students might have done in class. This cannot be beneficial for the students and cannot be helping the department reach the goal of making students reach the level of competence desired. The blended part of the course was pushed more than anything by the University capacity, since the Spanish sections are numerous, there was a

classroom problem. The best solution they could come up with was to cut down instruction time to three hours and add an on online component which compensates for that time. According to research conducted on a Spanish program that use CTL as their model for instruction as UIC, it was found that Universities are focusing too much on grammar points at home and on exams, which does not influence production and may lead to learner avoidance. Spanish students in the study were tested in writing and spoken language on covered points of the grammar that were discussed in their pertinent classes. The data collected provided considerable evidence that because of the amount of time spent of grammar points the students were not able to communicate according to the expectations of the (CLT). The research states that the students in fact are asked to produce only a small part of the grammar being presented and hence missing out on the benefits that production has on language acquisition. In the case of UICs Spanish course 102, the students are also given numerous grammar points each day and there is so much that can be produced in a class. Since the class is only limited to 3 hours a week, students can only produce so much of the language used, which reflects on their overall communication skills in the second language. The problem also lies that the student grade is derived from the tests and online activities that are done at home and not on the production which is the overall goal of the program (237- 238). Moreover, in the Spanish 102 class at UIC, exams account for 40 percent of the grade, while participation which is formulated from student production in class, only accounts for 15 percent of the grade. There is one oral exam that the students have to take, which only accounts for 5 percent of the grade and the online activities account for 20 percent of the grade (Span 102 syllabus). The students learn Spanish, but the question remains: Are they able to communicate

effectively when they leave the Spanish BLP program? , this can be further answered in a future research.

BLP Restructuring Considerations: The Spanish curriculum models address the goal of communicative language teaching and attempt to give students the appropriate tools to survive in a Spanish speaking environment to some extent , nevertheless more can be done since too much emphasis is spent on grammar points and vocabulary during homework, test and quizzes , which take away production time from the students. The students will certainly not produce the language on their own and who knows if they are doing it correctly. In my opinion in order for students to be able to reach full communicative competence there needs to be a shift on the assessment procedure in the class. Moreover, oral production only counts for 5 percent of the overall grade and 60 is derived from grammar based test/quizzes and homework. Looking at this numbers, can we really say that the overall focus of the Spanish BLP is production of the language? Its obvious that more time should spent in the class, therefore class time should be extended, since during this time is when students can be pushed to practice the language the most. That is the reason why teachers are not allowed to teach in the BLP, because class time should be spent on communicative activities, and then shouldnt more time be spent on practicing this skill? Therefore, the program should change the percentages that are beign used to represent the class grade, which is not representative of their overall goal which is communicative competence. According to Hubert 2011, there needs to be an emphasis on communicative production rather than a focus on the grammar, since the purpose over all of

these programs is to make students achieve a communicative state that will enable them to properly exchange information with other Spanish speakers. Programs are spending too much time and resources on explaining the grammar rather practicing. (Hubert, 234).

Works Cited "2011 and 2013 Undergraduate Catalog." UIC Undergraduate Catalog. UIC, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013. "Elizabeth Aguilar." Personal interview. 15 Jan. 2013. Director of the Spanish Basic language program UIC Hubert, Michael. "Foreign Language Production and Avoidance in US University Spanishlanguage Education." International Journal of Applied Linguistics 21.2 (2011): 233-43. Print. Richard, Jack. "Communicative Language Teaching Today." Cambridge University Press (2006): 1-52. Print. Vanpatten, Bill. "Perceptions of and Perspectives on the Term "Communicative"" Hispania 81.4 (n.d.): 925-32. Print.

Needs-analysis instruments The online survey/questionnaire that the students will be responding to targets students needs in terms of the specific careers or goals they will pursue when they graduate the University. The information will be collected on a form and then it will be organized on a spreadsheet automatically which in turn will be turned into a GIS map. Further, students will be required to complete this questionnaire a week before classes commence and the link will be sent through their university emails. As described in the curriculum research paper, the overall goal of the Spanish Basic language program is to achieve a certain level of communicative proficiency that will aid students in their respective careers or education choices. In todays job market, Spanish is a highly value asset that employers seek for in resumes and the Hispanic influence is posed to increase with the coming years. Students are aware of these facts and that is the reason the Spanish BLP enjoys such a high rate of student registration. The needs assessment will also serve as a demographic tool that will illustrate students the Hispanic enclave in their community. This will tie to a class assignment that requires students to interact with the Hispanic hotspots in their neighborhoods which inevitably will lead to language practice. Likewise, the goal of each class is communicative practice, which can be expanded outside of the class with the GIS map integration of needs assessment. Furthermore, the data collected will be plotted automatically into a map that will illustrate students the Hispanic hotspots in that are close to their location. Subsequently on the form, students are asked the reason they choose Spanish, which ties with their expectations in terms of content during the course and their expectations after the program. This will the teacher devise the type of lingo the students will be exposed to during instruction. Perhaps, most of the students in the class are taking the class because of career

goals; therefore the class will be structured in such a way that the class will lean more towards communication in a more professional setting. Moreover, the questionnaire serves as a tool that essentially profiles each student, in terms of their previous Spanish exposure and level, which will be essential when deciding the speech rate type that will be used in the class. Further, the class is taught completely in Spanish and its crucial for the instructor to figure the level of Spanish the instructor should use in the class. For example, in the questionnaire students are asked to specify the numbers of years they took Spanish, and where the class was taken at. Therefore, If most of the students have taken Spanish 101 at UIC, then the instructor can be straightforward when speaking all Spanish with minimal repetition and gestures, since the students will have gotten exposed to complete Spanish instruction in 101. Further, if half of the student did not take Spanish 101 and were placed in the course because of their knowledge of the language, then the type of Spanish that will be used will be more slower passed with more had gestures and repetition. Moreover, high school Spanish and college Spanish is not at the same level according to the coordinator of the Spanish BLP, therefore half of the students will not be at the same level which will lead to confusion. The students are also required to state whether they are interested in visiting a Hispanic country in the future and they have to specify which country in particular. This part of the questionnaire assesses their cultural interests in terms of the types of cultures they want to learn about the most. This helps the instructor select which countries to focus on during cultural presentations since Latin America is a vast continent with numerous nations. The last part of the questionnaire asks students about the component of the language they have the most trouble with which students can select more than one if they like. This section can be utilized in terms of devising which parts of the language the teacher should be focus on.

The classroom activity that students will have to complete during the middle of the semester is tied to the needs assessment questionnaire that must be completed in the beginning of the semester. Students will be required to visit a Hispanic hotspot in their neighborhood where students will be required to interact with the surroundings and use the language. Students will be presented with locations thorough the GIS map which will have their locations and the locations of important Hispanic hotspots around them. Students will report on another section that will be added to the questionnaire given to them at the beginning of the semester. Students will write a small Spanish description on the space provided and the form will match the information with the hotspot. Then students will produce the language presenting their adventures to their class with the GIS map as their visual aid. Moreover, both of these assignments will be prepared in class and students will have to visit these sites on their own time. In terms of needs assessment, this activity will help the teacher decide which component of the language the students are still having problems with. The activity will use all the components of the language that the students have seen up until the date assigned. Further, the assignment incorporates culture, writing and production which are the main components of the curriculum structure. The teacher will have an opportunity to see the results of his instruction and can change his methods depending on the material production by the students. Overall students get to experience the language at first hand and experience a different culture within their own city.

The form can be found on this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iHmA9joCzTn9HlYc8xTCcSyq7pWcbRK6JDSmuTcSuGE/viewform

The excel sheet can be found on this link: https://docs.google.com/a/uic.edu/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtJSfr7ze205dE5DQkl6aEh4SV drLW9zbnh4cDBVRFE#gid=0