Evaluating intermediate Spanish students\u27 speaking skills through a taped test: A pilot study

A pilot study used the Spanish Oral Proficiency Test (SOPT)-a taped oral test to evaluate oral proficiency level of students of Intermediate Spanish. Based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986), the Intermediate-Mid was the appropriate level of oral proficiency for students at the end of two years of college- level language study. The study also examined what variables might affect the development of students\u27 oral skills. The results showed that foreign language learning experience in academic settings or outside of class, such as study abroad and travel abroad, might affect students\u27 overall speaking proficiency. In addition, lin- guistic inaccuracy from informal training may keep speakers to lower levels of proficiency. Learners should be more aware of the need to speak correctly to maintain a balance between function, content, and accuracy

Instruments as Playthings: An Alternative Methodology for the Study of Scientific Artefacts

This article proposes that thinking of scientific instruments as playthings or philosophical toys offers a method for looking at the ways in which we learn from made things and from the act of making in investigating the world. Rather than approaching artefacts as stable ob- jects, definable and categorisable in terms of their function, this method puts forward the instability and mobility of artefacts on several levels: in terms of their movements between hands, social contexts and systems of knowledge, in terms of their physical articulations and of their changing functions, and in terms of the flows and processes of materials at work within and through them

Using Portfolios to Develop L2 Cultural Knowledge and Awareness of Students in Intermediate Spanish

In spite of many efforts and contributions from previous researchers, the need for a systematic and consistent approach to teaching culture is still unmet. This pilot study shows that the portfolio is a meaningful way to integrate language and culture in a structure that provides opportunities for students to learn about foreign culture while using other skills-reading, listening, writing and speaking. In addition, resources from the Internet, such as Gopher, World Wide Web, and Listservs have great potential for cultural learning out-side the classroom. Foreign language teachers should be encouraged to explore and experiment with portfolios in other content areas of language learning, since producing a portfolio involves higher-order cognition as well as all four communicative language skills

Book Review: Mejor Dicho

Review of Garcia, Carmen and Emily Spinelli. Mejor Dicho. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1995, ISBN 066928906X (pbk). 307 pp

Lina Lee Professor Spanish; Languages, Literature, & Culture, College of Liberal Arts (COLA) travels to Italy

In August 2015, I traveled to Padova, Italy to attend the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL) annual conference. The conference took place at the University of Padova, 45 minutes outside of Venice. The University of Padova was founded in 1222 as a school of law and is one of Italy’s leading universities. I delivered a research paper entitled “Developing Learners’ Content Knowledge and Oral Proficiency Through Digital News Stories” and participated in a workshop at the conference. I also had the honor to chair a panel session on the evaluation of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research with a focus on how the use of digital media for virtual intercultural interaction and collaboration can help develop learners’ cross-cultural knowledge and awareness. It was very well attended