Publication Title
EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages
Document Type
Article
Abstract/Description
This paper presents a case study on the redesign of a Spanish for High Beginners (SHB) course at a large metropolitan university in Texas, USA. The first section presents a discussion on the diverse nature of students who can benefit from an intensive first-year Spanish course and the challenges that these learners’ mixed abilities pose for instruction. The second section describes the redesign process of the SHB course, including placement procedures, the Spanish Language Program sequence, and changes in the syllabus to integrate communicative and transcultural competences by implementing a combination of focused instruction, collaborative learning and task-based approaches. The last section introduces a short presentation of four activities implemented in the redesigned course, which provide paths for future development of advanced beginners’ integrative tasks. The final section focuses on the results of an exit survey measuring students’ perceptions of the course. The successful implementation of changes and its outcomes demonstrate that this course could be a relevant solution for Spanish programs at tertiary institutions with diverse populations, helping to solve challenges of placement, articulation, and time-to-graduation effectiveness.
Department
Literature and Languages
First Page
1
Last Page
19
DOI
10.21283/2376905x.2.55
Volume
2
Issue
1
ISSN
2376-905X
Date
8-1-2015
Citation Information
Belpoliti, Flavia, "Moving Forward: Revisiting the Spanish for High Beginners Course" (2015). Faculty Publications. 34.
https://lair.etamu.edu/chssa-faculty-publications/34
