Integrated Use of Videodisc for Intensive Spanish Language Learning

Abstract

Typically, the use of video materials in a language classroom is adjunctive rather than integral to the textbook and the instructor's procedures. Utah State University has reversed this pattern in its intensive Spanish program by using video simulations of real-life experiences as the basis for classroom procedure in lieu of following a textbook. The classroom becomes student-centered, rather than instructor-centered, through a problem solving group endeavor. This fundamentally inductive learning procedure is stimulated by the ready accessibility to students of experiencias on videodisc in the classroom itself. Both Utah State University and the National of the Humanities have provided grant support to this program.