Preservando nuestra lengua materna: A project based curriculum created for high school Spanish for native speakers class

Author

Angela Tovar AlvaradoFollow

Graduation Date

Fall 2019

Document Type

Project

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in Education

Committee Chair Name

John Y. Lee

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Eric Van Duzer

Second Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Third Committee Member Name

Marisol Ruiz

Third Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Native Spanish speakers, Authentic curriculum, Project based learning, High school, Spanish language

Subject Categories

Education

Abstract

It is projected that by 2050, Latinos in the United States, who are a minority, will move to become a majority. With an increasing influx of Native Spanish speaking students in our schools, it is more than likely these students will take some type of Spanish class in their high school career. For many native Speakers, Spanish is their dominant the language, but the mechanics behind the language are unknown to them. In this paper, I review the literature on the history of Spanish language classes in the United States, and discuss how project-based learning (PBL) in the Spanish language classroom can lead to enriched Spanish skills for native Spanish speaking students. In this study, over a period of two weeks, I conducted two distinct lessons in my Spanish for Native Speakers Level II class on written accent marks. Each week, students were taught a week long lesson, either the traditional pedagogy, which consisted of worksheets, or the project based learning (PBL) pedagogy, which consisted of learning by doing and creating. I compared the two groups’ knowledge of regular (week 1) and irregular (week 2) accent marks using pre- and posttests. The results only partially supported my hypothesis that native Spanish speakers learn accents better using the PBL method than ‘traditional’ methods. I discuss the reasons for the mixed findings, steps to improve the unit, and the study.

Citation Style

APA

Recommended Citation

Alvarado, Angela Tovar, "Preservando nuestra lengua materna: A project based curriculum created for high school Spanish for native speakers class" (2019). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 334.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/334