22, no. 2 (Winter 1991): 49-55 To the Editor Search

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PSYCHOLINGUISTIC research and common sense both tell us that the earlier one begins to study a second language and the longer one continues, the greater one's chances of gaining a useful command of that language (see Müller; Boyer; National Commission). At this time in Texas, however, students are offered exceedingly few opportunities for second-language study before they enter high school.

Research also indicates that, if students are to become proficient in a new language, they must hear the language extensively before attempting to speak it, they must receive accurate and comprehensible input, and they must feel secure enough to risk trying to produce language (see Krashen, Second Language ,Acquisition; Terrell ). Unfortunately, few teachers in elementary and junior high schools in Texas are sufficiently proficient themselves to provide these requirements. Most teachers in those grades did not major in a foreign language; indeed, only a few have as many as four semesters of language courses on their transcripts. Of those, most have never had good speaking skills; others have lost their oral proficiency while teaching other subjects; still others cannot provide a secure environment because of their own insecurity in speaking the language.

In response to parents' growing demand for foreign language instruction for elementary and junior high children, several school districts have been seeking ways of developing language proficiency in some teachers so that they can provide foreign language instruction in their school systems. Since Tarrant County Junior College, Northeast Campus (TCJC), has offered classes in French, German, and Spanish on its campus for children aged four through twelve during the last fifteen years, the administrations of nearby districts, in the Fort Worth area, looked to the college for assistance in faculty development.

To help the local districts develop ways to introduce language study in the elementary and junior high schools, TCJC designed a five-week program in language development and methodology for teachers. The workshop was intended primarily to develop skills in oral language communication and in contemporary instructional methodologies in teachers who (1) currently specialize in other areas but have some education and experience in a second language and (2) would like to enhance the international focus of their entire curriculum through the incorporation of foreign language and cultural information.

Workshop Goals and Objectives

The language-development workshop's primary objectives mandated that the participating teachers would

1. identify themselves as candidates in a survey instrument distributed throughout the school systems involved;
2. improve their oral proficiency in the language that they had previously studied;
3. increase their security and confidence in speaking the language;
4. develop new skills in current foreign language instructional methodologies appropriate for young students, particularly in Total Physical Response and the Natural Approach;
5. develop a repertoire of instructional activities and materials that encourage students' participation in class and interest in the language and culture;
6. use the computer to generate instructional materials;
7. expand the international focus of their other courses by incorporating material on foreign languages and culture.

Grant Information

TCJC acquired funding through the Education for Economic Security Act, Title II, to support this project. ¹ Monies were allocated for methodology specialists, language-development instructors, oral-proficiency interviewers in each language, tuition, materials, and travel stipends for participants, publicity, and teaching supplies. A total of $23,154 was granted to the college for the project.

Cooperating Local Education Agencies

The cooperating local education agency for the project was the Gifted Students Institute (GSI), located in Fort Worth and directed by June Cox. ² Four independent school districts-Fort Worth, Arlington, Birdville, and Cedar Hill-are currently working with the institute on the Pyramid Project, a program for talented and gifted children in the elementary grades of these districts. One of the project's goals is to provide instruction in foreign languages in elementary schools. Because of budgetary constraints, full-day curriculum demands, lack of appropriate and necessary instructional materials, and the inadequate training of faculty, no progress had been made toward this goal. With the encouragement of GSI's tuition stipends to teachers in the Pyramid Project schools, teachers from the Fort Worth, Arlington, and Birdville districts enrolled in the workshop and internship.

In addition, the Arlington district graciously provided an elementary school building for the model classes for children during the internship. Eighteen sections (11 in Spanish, 4 in French, and 3 in German) were offered daily during a three-week period taught by TCJC part-time instructors who were experienced in teaching languages to children and who teach regularly in the college's language program for children.

Recruiting Participants

Once the project was funded, the first concern was recruiting local elementary and junior high school teachers who met the language qualifications for admission and who were willing to trade five weeks of their summer vacation for the opportunity to upgrade their language skills and to study current instructional methodology. An informational letter was distributed to all teachers at these instructional levels in the Fort Worth, Arlington, and Birdville schools as partners in the Pyramid Project and to those in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District because of their proximity to the Northeast Campus. These schools also shared the information with private schools in the area. In addition, a second letter made a special appeal to teachers in schools enrolling large numbers of minority children. Both letters resulted in inquiries and applications from interested teachers.

Twenty-one teachers were accepted in the program. All of them completed the workshop and internship, earning ninety-six hours of advanced academic-training credit from the Texas Education Agency toward advancement on the career ladder. ³

Workshop and Internship Schedule and Curriculum

The following five-week schedule was developed to provide intensive language development for three weeks and an observation internship for three weeks by allowing the two to overlap for one week:

Workshop Participants

As table 1 indicates, the twenty-one participants in the workshop and internship varied in the grade levels they taught, in their racial or ethnic group, and in the type of school in which they taught.

Like the teacher participants, the students represented a cross-section of the population.

Program Curriculum

The program comprised three major components: (1) the methodology segment on the Natural Approach, Total Physical Response, and Color Connection; (2) the language-development units in French, German, and Spanish; and (3) the internship.

Each of the three methodology topics was allocated twelve hours of instruction. After initial sessions introduced the theoretical basis of each of these methodologies, consultants demonstrated typical classroom activities and engaged the participants in sample lessons. Near the conclusion of each topic, participants were encouraged to volunteer to teach a short segment in a children's language class already in session on campus.

The Total Physical Response component stressed the importance of comprehension before production and of meaningful communication as opposed to repetition. Participants were trained to identify and treat global errors versus local errors and to recycle vocabulary in novel variations. Films were shown that demonstrated the use of commands to evoke physical responses from students. ⁴ Sample lesson plans using the method were developed.

In the Natural Approach segment, participants were trained to identify natural sequencing in language acquisition and then to apply this sequencing to classroom activities. In addition, teachers were shown how to construct activities with a dual agenda, so that the student can focus on the content while a grammatical pattern, to be explicitly taught later, is implicitly structured.

The Color Connection workshop emphasized the development of a classroom environment that increases comprehensible input. The Color Connection, so named because the first step introduces abstract concepts through color coding rather than through grammatical terminology, advocates the use of grammar and vocabulary manipulatives. Activities and materials were presented to build a contextual reality for language acquisition. After participating in lesson demonstrations, teachers were assisted in preparing their own sets of classroom materials. ⁵

The language-development workshops comprised thirty-six hours of intensive language instruction and use. Believing that teachers tend to teach the way that they are taught, the instructional team employed the same methods as those advocated in the methodology sessions, thus reinforcing the newly acquired skills. Priorities in curriculum selection were established by the anticipated frequency of use in the elementary classroom, providing the vocabulary and structures needed for “teacher talk” on common topics.

The children's language classes that were selected to serve as models for the observation internship were held in an Arlington elementary school during the three-week period of the language-development workshop. Eighteen classes were taught daily, and each workshop participant observed a minimum of twenty-four hours of these classes. Participants spent part of their observation time in classes other than those teaching their first language choice, so that they could better judge the effect of the methodology on a beginning learner.

Evaluation

A number of factors must be considered in the evaluation of the project, including the oral-proficiency skills of the participants, their security and confidence in speaking their second language, and their acquisition of information about current methodologies and materials.

Oral Proficiency of the Participants

An oral-proficiency interview was conducted with each participant at the beginning and at the close of the language-development workshop. These interviews were conducted and evaluated by testers trained under the direction of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Of the twenty-one participants, twenty completed both the pre- and posttest oral interviews. The analysis of the data is based on only those twenty samples. Table 3 shows the oral-proficiency ratings of the participants at the beginning and at the close of the language-development workshop. A number of observations can be made about these data:

1. With this sample, a positive change in oral-proficiency skills occurred. The average rating increased from the midpoint between intermediate low and intermediate mid to eighty percent past intermediate low toward intermediate mid.
2. With this sample, no one at the advanced, advanced plus, or superior level demonstrated any measurable changes in oral proficiency.
3. If participants at the upper end of the scale-advanced, advanced plus, and superior-are excluded from the sample, the change in proficiency is more marked, almost one full level from a preworkshop level of near novice high to a post-workshop level of near intermediate low.
4. Comments noted by the oral-proficiency testers indicated that, while there were no measurable changes in proficiency level in some of the participants, several of them had “gained confidence” in their abilities, appeared “more enthusiastic” in their performance, showed “increased vocabulary” range, “reacted with greater accuracy” to questions, “understood more without undue repetition”-all worthy achievements in language development and necessary preliminary steps for increasing their oral-proficiency scores.
5. Individuals who have not actively used a language over a long period, like most of the participants in this sample, may have a greater growth potential than do students or teachers who are regularly engaged in language practice, since those whose skills have atrophied may have latent language abilities that will not be evident in the initial interview. Additional studies are needed to make such determinations.
6. It is possible that participants at the advanced and advanced-plus levels might show more progress in developing oral proficiency if novice and intermediate speakers were not included in the same instructional group. Additional studies are needed to make such determinations.
7. The average change in German was twice the average change in the other two groups, a jump of two levels rather than one. It is possible that with this very small group (only two participants and one instructor), such an increase in skill can be achieved. However, the sample is too small to make such a generalization. Furthermore, the interviewer for these participants was also their instructor. This may have decreased their test anxiety, making possible the greater difference in score. Additional studies are needed to make such determinations.

The foregoing observations lead to these conclusions:

1. In three weeks of language-development work, three hours a day and four days a week, approximately one level change on the ACTFL oral-proficiency scale is possible at the novice and intermediate levels.
2. Three weeks at twelve hours per week appear to be too short a time to effect a measurable change on the ACTFL scale at the advanced and superior levels in a mixed-level instructional group.
3. Gains in listening comprehension, vocabulary, confidence, and enthusiasm are possible achievements in three weeks at twelve hours a week and are appropriate goals for language-development workshops.

Perceived Language Skills and Confidence of the Participants

While the actual change in oral-proficiency skills of the participants is of primary importance in evaluating the success of the workshop and internship, the participants' perception of their listening comprehension and speaking skills is of similar importance. One must have confidence in one's ability to understand and to be understood before being willing to risk speaking. Therefore, a main objective of the language-development workshop was to increase the participants' security and confidence in using their second language. A questionnaire based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines was developed for use as a pre- and posttest of perceived language skills and confidence (see Appendix). Table 4 shows the average gains in confidence for each language and for the total group in speaking and in listening comprehension. The scores are based on a scale of 1 to 5. The data suggest these observations:

1. Much greater gains in perceived ability in both speaking and understanding were achieved by the participants in French (1.52 and 1.39) and in German (1.77 and 1.69) than by those in Spanish (0.35 and 0.41). It is possible that the variation resulted from the difference in the size of the groups (5 in French, 2 in German, and 14 in Spanish), since in the smaller groups each participant had more one-on-one attention and opportunity to speak. Additional studies are needed to determine optimal group size.
2. Another possible factor in creating the disparity between the gains by the participants in French and German and those in Spanish is the greater diversity of ability levels in the Spanish group. Among the participants in Spanish, there were speakers rated on the oral-proficiency pretest at every level from novice mid through superior. In French, with the exception of one superior-level native speaker, the participants were all rated novice low or novice mid. In German they were rated novice high and intermediate low. With participants at or near the same ability level, all instruction could be focused on functions appropriate for all learners. Additional studies are needed to determine optimal group composition.

These observations lead to the conclusion that gains in perceived ability and confidence in speaking and listening comprehension were evidenced by participants in all three language groups during the language-development workshop.

Development of Methodologies and Materials by the Participants

A third major set of objectives of the project centered around the development of new skills in current foreign language methodologies appropriate for young students, particularly in Total Physical Response and the Natural Approach, and the development of instructional activities and materials that encourage students' participation in class and their interest in the language and culture, as taught by the Color Connection method. Questionnaires were developed to allow participants to measure their level of knowledge about each of the methodologies at the beginning and end of each component. Table 5 shows the gains in information made by the participants in each of these instructional areas. The scores are based on a scale of 1 to 5.

Participants reported little knowledge of current methodologies in foreign language instruction at the beginning of the workshop and showed large gains in information in each of the segments on methodologies and materials. Practicing foreign language teachers might have begun the workshop with more background information in methodology.

Additional Results of the Project

In addition to the measurable outcomes and achievements based on pre- and postworkshop assessments, other results of the project are important. The addition of new instructors for the children's program who have been identified through the workshop will allow the Tarrant County Junior College to increase further the number of classes that can be offered. Indeed, six of the participants have already been hired by the college as instructors for these courses in Arlington and on Northeast Campus. Several of the participants have continued to work on the development of their oral-proficiency skills by enrolling in conversation and film classes during the fall and spring semesters following the workshop. A number of them have enrolled for additional language-development and methodology workshops offered at the college.

These results and the other achievements of the TCJC workshop suggest that similar programs may help school districts faced with identifying, recruiting, and training faculty members who can meet the growing demand for language instruction for elementary children. ⁶

The author is Chair of the Humanities Division at Tarrant County Junior College. This article is based on a paper presented at the Texas Stars Conference of the Texas Education Agency in Austin in 1989.

Appendix

Notes

¹ Grants are made under the Education for Economic Security Act, Title II, to qualified public and private institutions of higher education for the purpose of improving or expanding precollege instruction in mathematics, science, and critical foreign languages.

² The Gifted Students Institute is a privately endowed national organization that operates and sponsors programs for talented and gifted children and youth.

³ The Texas Education Agency is the government agency in charge of public school education in Texas. The career ladder in Texas is a state system providing recognition and increments in salary for public school teachers based on completion of state-approved courses and workshops and on classroom appraisals in a statewide evaluation plan.

⁴ The films, Demonstration of a New Strategy in Language Learning and Children Learning Another Language: An Innovative Approach , are available from Sky Oaks Productions, PO Box 1102, Los Gatos, CA 95013. Recommended readings include Asher.

⁵ Recommended readings include Krashen, Principles ; Terrell; Winitz. Additional information about the Color Connection method, and a catalog of materials, are available from the Color Connection, PO Box 13035, Arlington, TX 76013.

⁶ The activity that is the subject of this report was produced under a grant from the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System, and the US Education Department, under the auspices of the Education for Economic Security Act (Title II). The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System, or of the US Education Department, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Works Cited

ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines . Hastings-on-Hudson: Amer. Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 1986.

Asher, James. Learning Another Language through Action: The Complete Teacher's Guidebook . Los Gatos: Sky Oaks, 1977.

Boyer, Ernest L. High School: Secondary Education in America . New York: Harper, 1983.

Krashen, Stephen D. Principles and Practices in Second Language Acquisition . New York: Pergamon, 1982.

———. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning . Oxford: Oxford UP, 1981.

Krashen, Stephen D., and Tracy Terrell. The Natural Approach . New York: Pergamon, 1982.

Müller, Kurt E. “Language Education for Children.” Children and Languages: Research, Practice, and Rationale for the Early Grades . Comp. Rosemarie Benya. Ed. Kurt E. Müller. New York: Amer. Forum, 1988. 1–7.

National Commission on Excellence in Education. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform . Washington: GPO, 1983.

Terrell, Tracy D. “The Natural Approach to Language Teaching: An Update.” Modern Language Journal 66 (1982): 121–32.

Winitz, Harris, ed. The Comprehensive Approach to Foreign Language Instruction . Rowley: Newbury, 1981.

© 1991 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.

ADFL Bulletin 22, no. 2 (Winter 1991): 49-55

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