Spanish Language Curriculum Research Articles

Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.

Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.

Parent engagement in an original and culturally adapted evidence-based parenting program, Legacy for Children™.

Legacy for Children™ (Legacy) is an evidence-based program focused on promoting sensitive, responsive parenting for socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Legacy has recently been culturally and linguistically adapted for Spanish-monolingual Latino families and is being piloted in partnership with an early childhood education program. We conducted a mixed methods study to identify barriers and facilitators to engagement, using program monitoring data sources from both participant and group leader perspectives. We conducted qualitative analyses of open-ended data to identify distinct barriers (e.g., employment challenges, health-related challenges and appointments) and facilitators (e.g., other mothers in group, interest in program topics) to engagement that emerged across English and Spanish language curriculum versions; curriculum-specific barriers and facilitators were also documented. We interpret these findings in light of quantitative data on measures of engagement, showing that participants in the Spanish curriculum evidenced comparable levels of parent-group leader relationship quality relative to the English group, and higher levels of parent's group support/connectedness and overall satisfaction. These results offer promising considerations for optimizing families' engagement in parenting programs in the context of early care and education settings.

NP1 - ¡Haz Espacio Para Papi!: Development of a Father-Focused, Family-Centered Program to Prevent Obesity and Strengthen Familie

Objective: To develop and pilot a culturally and contextually appropriate, family-centered intervention focused on engaging Mexican-heritage fathers, mothers, and children in an experiential, Spanish-language curriculum to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce screen-time. We will describe intervention development, building on the perspectives of families (fathers, mothers, children) and community advisory boards (CAB). Description: We used formative methods to examine perspectives of families and CAB members on dietary and activity behaviors and intra-family communication. These included a 3-session panel series of pláticas (conversations) with children and mothers separately, dyadic interviews with fathers, elicitation surveys of fathers and mothers, regularly CAB discussions, and intervention mapping. A skill-based curriculum was developed using multiple theoretical frameworks to improve dietary and activity patterns, parenting practices, family functioning, and the home environment. Evaluation: Data were collected in Spanish, transcribed verbatim, translated into English, and analyzed for 12 groups/36 sessions with children, 7 groups/21 sessions with mothers, dyadic interviews with 31 fathers, and monthly meetings with 3 CABs. Preliminary findings informed the development of an 8-session, group-based (5–6 families) intervention with father-mother-child and father-child activities around healthier dietary and activity behaviors and improve family communication. Using drawings, maps, photos, and narratives, children provided insights on activities, relationships, engagement, and parental co-participation. Mothers used discussions and photos to highlight challenges with father engagement in programs, their desire for increased father engagement and role modeling, and importance of social networks. Fathers acknowledged the value of co-parenting as a team with wife/partner, being willing to step out of their gender roles to please their children, fathers' participation benefiting the family, and enhancing their social networks. CAB discussions focused on strategies for recruitment and retention of fathers in a family-centered program. Conclusions and Implications: This study recognizes that behavior change occurs within a family system and develops a skill-based program that simultaneously addresses energy-balance related behaviors and the family. It is a game changer by engaging Mexican-heritage fathers, co-parenting couples, and children in a family-centered intervention. Funding: 2015-68001-23234. The following is the supplementary data to this article: Download .pdf (198.85 MB) Help with pdf files Poster

Cultivando Respeto (Cultivating Respect): Engaging the Latino Community

This article addresses an innovative approach to connecting an urban university with the surrounding neighborhoods comprised of Latino immigrants, who represent potential new students or current students’ family members. The National Latino Research Center (NLRC) uses popular education, culturally informed, and linguistically relevant strategies to engage diverse Latino communities in the northern region of San Diego County in California. Methods of engaging the Latino community include cultivating long-term relationships, responding to time-sensitive community crises, facilitating inter-generational connections, presenting material in a culturally informed and relevant way, providing hands-on experiences with civic engagement, and growing partnerships within the university and among non-profits. Preliminary findings described a two-year study on civic engagement testing the effectiveness of a Spanish-language curriculum based on popular education offered (free) to members of urban and rural low-resourced Latino communities. The Center statistically correlated Latino community members’ experiential learning, participating in social media, and voting with gains in civic engagement knowledge.

Forms of Address in the Spanish Language Curriculum in the United States: Actualities and Aspirations

This current study reports the findings of sociolinguistic research investigating the place of the voseo in the Spanish language curriculum in the United States. The study describes the results of questionnaire responses from 177 US Spanish teachers and survey responses from 560 US college students of Spanish. Both instruments sought to identify the presence or absence of vos, the second person singular pronoun, in Spanish language textbooks and instruction and the respondents' understanding of the voseo vis-a-vis grammatically and culturally appropriate usage. The results indicate that the voseo is simply not included in texts, not taught by the teachers, and not learned by the students. Given that up to two-thirds of the Latin American population are denoted as voseo users, the profession should address this gap in Spanish language instruction. The article concludes with recommendations for curriculum, instruction, and professional development to facilitate the inclusion of the voseo in the Spanish curriculum in the United States.

Critical Transitions: Toward a New Spanish Language Curriculum

Critical Transitions: Toward a New Spanish Language Curriculum

Translation in Spanish language teaching: the integration of a “fifth skill” in the second language curriculum

ABSTRACTThis article argues for translation as a fifth skill in language learning and for its integration in a systematic, purposeful, and informed manner in the Spanish language curriculum, with special attention to the situation in the United States. After reviewing the relevant literature in the fields of translation studies (TS) and language acquisition and teaching, we contend that a narrow, specialized, and one-dimensional view of translation, on the translation side, and a rigid ban on the use of the native language on the part of the SLA/teaching community prevented a fruitful integration of translation in the second language (L2) classroom. A broader conceptual definition of translation as cross-linguistic language mediation provides for a much more promising interaction. Taking this conceptual basis as the point of departure, the article suggests research directions as well as specific curricular ideas and strategies to implement the integration of translation in Spanish language teaching. It also highlights the benefits that can be derived from this reconceptualization of the field, e.g., an improved ability to prepare students and to address a much more complex language learning situation created by issues such as globalization, and increased immigration from/to Spanish-speaking countries.

Spanish Is Foreign: Heritage Speakers’ Interpretations of the Introductory Spanish Language Curriculum

This article presents a case study of the perceptions of Spanish heritage speakers enrolled in introductory-level Spanish foreign language courses. Despite their own identities that were linked to the United States and Spanish of the Borderlands, the participants felt that the curriculum acknowledged the Spanish of Spain and foreign countries but generally failed to address or legitimate U.S. Spanish. Their interpretations of curricular messages contradicted their own experiences. Their perceptions were that Spanish is for travel, though they routinely used it in local applications; that Spanish culture exists in other countries, though they had deep family and community connections in the United States; and that Castilian Spanish is the language ideal, though their own bilingual identities were tied to U.S. Spanish. Rather than fully internalizing and accepting these positions, the participants developed a critical reaction that challenged the messages and the curriculum itself as inauthentic, inapplicable, and misaligned with their identities.

Integrating Spanish language training across a Doctor of Physical Therapy curriculum: a case report of one program's evolving model.

As the Hispanic population continues to expand in the United States, health professionals increasingly may encounter people who speak Spanish and have limited English proficiency. Responding to these changes, various health profession educators have incorporated Spanish language training into their curricula. Of 12 doctor of physical therapy (DPT) programs identified as including elective or required Spanish courses, the program at The University of Texas at El Paso is the only one integrating required Spanish language training across the curriculum. The purpose of this case report is to describe the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of the evolving educational model at The University of Texas at El Paso. The University of Texas at El Paso is situated immediately across the border from Mexico. Responding to the large population with limited English proficiency in the community, faculty began to integrate required Spanish language training during a transition from a master-level to a DPT curriculum. The Spanish language curriculum pillar includes a Spanish medical terminology course, language learning opportunities threaded throughout the clinical courses, clinical education courses, and service-learning. Forty-five DPT students have completed the curriculum. Assessment methods were limited for early cohorts. Clinically relevant Spanish verbal proficiency was assessed with a practical examination in the Spanish course, a clinical instructor-rated instrument, and student feedback. Preliminary data suggested that the model is improving Spanish language proficiency. The model still is evolving. Spanish language learning opportunities in the curriculum are being expanded. Also, problems with the clinical outcome measure have been recognized. Better definition of intended outcomes and validation of a revised tool are needed. This report should promote opportunities for collaboration with others who are interested in linguistic competence.

The Evolving Undergraduate Language Major

The Evolving Undergraduate Language Major Sheri Spaine Long Over the last five years, there have been countless conversations across the United States that aim to “take the temperature” of the undergraduate Spanish and Portuguese majors. Leaders of traditional programs that focus on languages and literatures in Spanish and Portuguese are looking for effective ways to reform and innovate the traditional curricula. The study of film has become a staple in most language departments, along side a selection of courses on translation, business, and health, and Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) has gained traction during that last fifteen years in higher education. At all levels of instruction, most Spanish and Portuguese language educators are aware that there is a current privileging of applied knowledge in the educational sector. With these developments in mind, I invited José M. del Pino (see his bio below) to write a column about a gathering of educators that featured an important—if not representative—discussion that explored changes in Spanish language curriculum from a variety of perspectives. During several snowy days at Dartmouth College in December 2013, Dr. del Pino presided at the symposium titled “Spanish in the Liberal Arts, Professional, and Scientific World (its presence in the US)” where a group of language professionals discussed the future of language and literature curricula. In his column in this issue of Hispania, “Hacia un modelo de coexistencia en la enseñanza subgraduada del español,” del Pino captures key concepts in this collective debate that is taking place across the language profession. It is becoming more and more apparent that flexibility and adaptability are now indispensible characteristics of the most successful language educators because the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese is evolving. With summer upon us, the change in routine offers an opportunity to reflect on our curriculum. As our programs change, I urge you to join me by being a part of the professional conversation to enhance our Spanish and Portuguese programs and to double down on quality, relevancy, and explore broadly appropriate content and modes of delivery. Welcome to the June Hispania! Sheri Spaine Long Hispania Copyright © 2014 American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Inc

Integrated or Isolated Experiences?: Considering the Role of Service-Learning in the Spanish Language Curriculum

The principal aim of this project is to examine whether academic service-learning deserves a more intentional place in foreign language programs, given its success on the individual course level. The focus will be on Spanish language programs, since they teach the most commonly learned foreign language in the United States and have proven to be on the vanguard of service-learning and language instruction. Following a careful evaluation of the theoretical frameworks of service-learning pedagogy on the whole and in the realm of language instruction, we will explore national trends in the implementation of service-learning on the curricular level of language programs. Finally, this paper will discuss the future of implementing service-learning in language program curricula by examining the conditions necessary for the successful institutionalization of service-learning in the Spanish curriculum as well as potential drawbacks and obstacles to this increased presence in the language curriculum.

Instructional effectiveness of a computer-supported program for teaching reading comprehension strategies

This article examines the effectiveness of a computer-based instructional program (e-PELS) aimed at direct instruction in a collection of reading comprehension strategies. In e-PELS, students learn to highlight and outline expository passages based on various types of text structures (such as comparison or cause-and-effect) as well as to paraphrase, self-question, and summarize. The study involved 1041 fourth-grade elementary students from 21 schools distributed in three regions in central Chile. Participant teachers integrated this program into the Spanish language curriculum, instructing their students during thirty sessions of 90 min each during one school semester. Pretest-to-posttest gains in reading comprehension scores were significantly greater for students instructed with this program than for students who received traditional instruction (d = .5), with particularly strong effects for lower-achieving students (d = .7). The findings support the efficacy of direct instruction in specific learning strategies in a computer-based environment.

Structural modeling of variables related to parental support in Mexican childrens perfomance on reading and writing

This paper aims at analysing the structural relationships among some latent and observed variables related to the assessment of written language performance in 139 fourth grade students of Elementary School selected from nine public schools of the northwest of Mexico. Questionnaires were also applied to the children’s parents and teachers. The resulting model confirmed the structure of five latent variables: Parents´ educational level, parents´ support perceived by the children, parents´ support perceived by the parents, parents´ support perceived by the teachers, and written language performance. Good convergent construct validity was obtained in each one of these variables. It was also found that the latent variable “parents´ support perceived by the children” and “parents´ support perceived by the teachers”, were significantly explaining the latent variable “performance in written language” (regression coefficients = 0.40 and 0.23). Furthermore, students’ performance in written language was explained in a significant way by the teacher´ self - evaluation about their knowledge and about teaching according to the Spanish language curriculum in fourth grade (agreement). No significant relationship between parents’ educational level and written language performance was found. Key words: Parental support, reading, writing, structural Modeling, teachers.

Women's oral knowledge and the poverty of formal education in the SE Peruvian Amazon

Formal education is often assumed to be a positive force for change, enabling people to find a route out of poverty. However, this is not always the case. The Haramkbut community in the Peruvian Amazon are now questioning the widespread assumption that schooling can provide knowledge and skills for establishing alternative livelihoods. Indigenous knowledge and traditional forms of work have been devalued through economic changes forced upon the Haramkbut by ecological destruction and environmental degradation. The result of this has been a process of impoverishment, which has been worsened by missionary education and an adherence to the national Spanish-language curriculum. In contrast, the indigenous model of intercultural bilingual education which is currently being 'rolled out' to the Harakmbut puts indigenous knowledge and practices at the centre of its curriculum, pedagogy and philosophy. This in turn contrasts with the education reform measures currently being implemented nationally through the Ministry of Education. Education could and should be a positive force in the lives of the Harakmbut people, and Harakmbut women in particular, and in their fight against an impoverishment of their way of life.

Medical Spanish for Majors: Open Wide and Say "Yes"

A need exists for a Medical Spanish course designed specifically for Spanish majors, especially for those students that are following the pre-med sequence required for entrance to medical school. Often, Medical Spanish is not found in the undergraduate Spanish language curriculum. And generally students cannot acquire this kind of information from the more traditional course offerings in literature, linguistics, and culture. A cursory look at college level course catalogs verifies that many institutions do not offer a Medical Spanish course in their programs. Those that do offer one typically offer the course at a basic level where students possess little or no knowledge of Spanish. This restricts the course to only one group of students: non-majors.

Toward a Modification of the "Proficiency" Construct for Reading in a Foreign Language

In 1981, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) published its Provisional Proficiency Guidelines (generic and language specific descriptions) for speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In 1986, ACTFL published its updated and sometimes expanded Proficiency Guidelines (generic descriptions only). The changes in the descriptions were by and large improvements based on the experience of trying to implement the Provisional Guidelines and on the critical response of foreign language researchers. While much attention has been focused on the speaking guidelines and the Oral Proficiency Interview, only recently has attention turned to the reading guidelines which form the focus of this article. In particular, the specific references to the implicit and explicit theoretical underpinnings in the 1986 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for reading will be examined. Although they have been updated, certain problems remain in the 1986 Guidelines with respect to a definition of reading and to the assessment of reading proficiency. Herein, the Guidelines will be examined along four lines. First, given the role assigned to background knowledge, reading is defined as essentially a bottom up process where top down features compensate for underdeveloped linguistic competence rather than as an interactive process whereby meaning is found not only in the text but also created by the readers. Second, by assessing levels of reading proficiency via a hierarchy of skills, comprehension is implicitly defined as a quantifiable product rather than as a process. Third, by defining levels of reading proficiency according to text type without any reference to the readers themselves, the Guidelines account for only a partial model of reading. Fourth, the theoretical model of reading on which the Guidelines are based is a hierarchical one, not an interactive model, despite claims to the contrary. Finally, the role of reading and some reading exercises in one university-level Spanish language curriculum are discussed.1 An Historical Perspective