Moving Spanish Language Programs into the 80's: Hypotheses and Questions

Abstract

In a Letter-to-the Editor (December 1985), Beth L. Losiewicz questions the role of Spanish teachers in the development of new teaching methodologies: Why is the English as a Second Language community on the cutting edge of this new research while we seem to ignore it, complacently burying our heads in the sand and calling ourselves professional educators? Topics of publications and sessions at professional conferences show that, generally, Spanish educators are not keeping pace with their ESL counterparts in providing and implementing new language teaching theories. Indeed, the average Spanish teacher has confessed a lack of familiarity with those theories which currently exist and a strong tendency to cling to antiquated methods that research has shown to be less effective in helping the students attain oral and written proficiency. A possible reason for the focus away from language learning theories which prevails in Spanish programs is that teachers of Spanish as a second or foreign language are products of college and university Spanish departments which are primarily oriented, in graduate and undergraduate programs, toward literary theory and analysis. In contrast, this orientation limits the exposure of future Spanish teachers to theories which the ESL students commonly study, for the primary goal of ESL programs is the training of instructors in the most effective current methods of second language acquisition and learning. Presumably, therefore, few practicing Spanish instructors have had more than minimal exposure to applied linguistics and psycholinguistic theories whereas ESL instructors with degrees in that area are well-versed in the theoretical foundations of their field.