COOPERATION: STUDENT PAIRS AS A CATALYST FOR LEARNING SPANISH (DYAD, FOREIGN LANGUAGE, CLASS STRUCTURE)

CAROLYN MAE TESKE HARTL, Purdue University

Abstract

A review of classroom needs of foreign language learners and the characteristics of dyadic interaction which could address those needs led to an experimental study of student-student pairs as a classroom structure to promote achievement and improve attitude in learning second-semester Spanish. The investigation was conducted at Purdue University in the spring of 1983. Three days per week, students in two experimental classes (n = 48) worked together in randomly assigned pairs to practice lessons, take quizzes, and prepare assignments, while students in two control classes (n = 46) worked as individuals on all tasks. Both groups experienced a Spanish language videotape series, Zarabanda, without pair activity during the fourth weekly class. Two teachers each taught one experimental and one control class. In the control classes, the teacher functioned in a traditional fashion as the central source of authority in the classroom, leading and directing a large class of individuals, each of whom worked alone. In the experimental classes, the teacher acted as a facilitator of the pair interaction, delegating responsibility to the dyad partners to initiate the assigned tasks, to perform them in sequence, and to evaluate the correctness of responses. All students were tested on the following criterion measures of achievement and attitude: three course examinations, including skill-specific subsections; the Modern Language Association Cooperative Tests of Reading and Listening; and an attitude inventory. Measures which affect foreign language learning were collected and used as covariates: previous experience in Spanish, foreign language aptitude, prior achievement in Spanish, initial attitude, and scholastic aptitude. Analyses of variance and covariance revealed significant differences in achievement on subsections of the first two course examinations in favor of the control group; however, on the final examination, the experimental group was favored significantly. The experimental group demonstrated a significantly more positive attitude than did the control group, due primarily to a significant effect of the interaction between method of classroom structure and teacher. The results of this study support the use of cooperating pair partners for learning foreign language and suggest a need for further research as to the traits of teachers who can use pair structure effectively.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Language arts

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