Tell a Personal Story…

A couple of years ago, I took an Introduction to Spanish class as a part of my foreign language undergraduate requirement. My undergraduate degree through Saint Joseph’s University was completely online, so I was excited to be able to have the opportunity to take this class in person at Campbell University’s Camp Lejeune campus. I was especially looking forward to interacting with classmates and a teacher in a real classroom again! I had chosen to complete my Bachelor’s degree online, because my husband was active duty Marine Corps, and I wanted to be able to take my school with me if we needed to change duty stations. However, I missed being in the classroom and having a “typical” college experience.

THE WHAT…

I had taken Spanish I and II in middle school and Spanish III in high school, and had done very well. While those courses were nearly a decade ago, I had always made an effort to practice speaking Spanish as often as I could. Therefore, I was fairly confident going into the class with some experience already under my belt, especially because this was an Intro to Spanish course. The class was centered around the foundational basics of Spanish, and while not much was added to my information base for the future, it was nice to have a refresher. I always welcome opportunities to practice and sharpen my skills. I also found it interesting to learn from a professor who was from El Salvador. My previous Spanish teachers were from Venezuela and Columbia. I always loved learning about their cultures and dialects of Spanish. For example, I learned that in the El Salvadoran dialect of Spanish, they don’t use the “V” sound at the beginning of words. They replace it with the “B” sound. I probably would’ve never known that if I didn’t have this class. However, that was probably the only new and interesting knowledge I gained from the course.

THE HOW…

The class was primarily taught right out of our textbook. Most of the time, the class consisted of a lecture about the content of a chapter and us following along in our books. I didn’t find this to be very engaging, and I often found it hard to stay focused. “Without support for sustained effort, persistence, and emotion regulation, even students who are momentarily excited about learning can become disengaged, losing out on deep learning” (Meyer, Rose, & Gordon, 2014). I preferred when the professor would encourage more engaging and active learning by asking us questions in Spanish, and having us answer back. Eventually, this built up to us having short conversations back and forth. I also think this is one of the most beneficial methods when learning a language, because you’re using the language in the most functional way. The class did had several opportunities for collaborative learning, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We would get into groups of 2 or 3 and have a prompt to base our conversation around, such as personal interests, food, and transportation. We would have to come up with a script, so we were practicing our writing skills along with our speaking skills. We were graded on our oral presentation of the conversation, as well as the accuracy of our written script. We also had paper and pencil quizzes and tests throughout the course, which were made up of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer questions. Finally, we had a workbook we used to complete homework assignments in. Like the quizzes and tests, the workbook pages were made up of a lot of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer questions. I understand that practicing reading and writing the language is important, but I didn’t find this method of learning to be very interesting or engaging. I know that a number of students used Google Translate to help complete these assignments, so how much were they really learning?

I don’t feel that the class format was really aligned with the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The class was structured as a more traditional learning experience, based heavily around lecture and paper and pencil work. While we did have some opportunities for active and collaborative learning, there weren’t any choices given in how to receive the material or work on projects. “Universal deigns reflect a more articulated understanding of learning and contextualize presentational environments (like books and lectures) in a broader palette of truly instructional environments where students are consistently supported in learning how to learn-mastering skills and strategies, not merely consuming information” (Meyer & Rose, 2000). I also think there was a lack of technology use, which could’ve been extremely beneficial to the overall learning process. “Teachers can expand their options for presenting information, for student expression, and for engaging students by assembling a variety of different software tools, digital content, and World Wide Web resources” (Meyer & Rose, 2000).

THE WHY…

In all honesty, I take some of the responsibility for my lackluster learning experience. I set myself up to be taught material that I already knew, and therefore, became more easily disengaged, and to be quite frank, bored. I could have taken a language other than Spanish, or perhaps even a higher level of Spanish. However, I was nearing the end of my degree and wanted to have the easiest experience possible, while still having the opportunity to practice Spanish. Therefore, I wasn’t left wanting to do any more exploring of the language. With that being said, I do believe I would’ve had a richer overall experience had the professor implemented more flexibility and technology into our learning. By the end of the class, I’m sure most people were just glad they didn’t have to do anymore bookwork or listen to anymore lectures. Like me, they had fulfilled their language requirement and were happy to be finished.

I know I will never see or hear from that professor again, but I genuinely hope he can make adjustments to his teaching habits and adopt a UDL approach. In my opinion, learning a language is one of the most challenging but rewarding experiences a student can have in school, so it makes sense to enhance the learning process as much as possible.

References:

Meyer, A., Rose, D., (2000). The Future Is in the Margins: The Role of Technology and Disability in Education Reform.

Meyer, A., Gordon, D., & Rose, D. (2014). Universal Design For Learning: Theory and Practice. Wakefield, MA: CAST Professional Publishing.