Teaching Language: Traditional or Technological?

Señorita Abigail BaxResearch in Spanish Education

Where I Go… For my Practicum II experience,

I am going to Jefferson City High School’s Spanish Department. My experience is unique because I am not working with one teacher and one class, but four teachers and eight classes. I work with Señor Johnson, Señor Williams, Señorita Zeiger, and Señora Zimmerman Lopez in Spanish IV (one section), Spanish II (three sections), Spanish I (three sections), and AP Spanish (one section). I go every Thursday, where I visit each set of classes in four blocks, alternating each week.

What the Classes are Like… All the classes utilize

technology. Each class is connected to a Google Classroom, where they view lessons prepared on Educreation, play games on Kahoot, turn in homework, everyday work, and even some projects. Each classroom has a set of iPads that are used each class. Each class also has a Smart Board, where worksheets are blown up and viewed by everyone to work on them as a class. The only thing not done on the iPads are quizzes and tests.

The Students…

With my study, I will be using one group of students, in the Spanish I class of Señorita Zeiger. There will be anywhere from 18-20 students in the class that I work with.

What do I want to know?

The purpose of my research is to see if students truly learn better through this new and advanced technology, or if it should go back to classic pencil and paper.

Research on this Idea…

MILLIRON, MARK DAVID. "Online Education Vs. Traditional Learning: Time To End The Family Feud." Chronicle Of Higher Education 57.11 (2010): B30-B32. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.› This article starts off discussing the feud between traditional and

technological teaching. He stresses that traditional teaching is becoming a thing of the past, and that schools all over the United States are losing more and more students before graduation. He lists good points in favor of technological teaching, such as follows: technology has been seen to increase student drive, is cost effective, can help students catch up if they are behind, etc. He ends with stating that educators should not be feuding over the two, but utilize the resources we have in appropriate manners.

› This article is not only important, but extremely insightful and fascinating. It will help my research in keeping me thinking not so much about quiz scores, but also student enthusiasm in the lessons and participation.

Research Continued

Mintu-Wimsatt, Alma. "Traditional Vs. Technology-Mediated Learning: A Comparison Of Students' Course Evaluations." Marketing Education Review 11.2 (2001): 63-73. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.› In this study, researchers placed business students in two

different groups: one with the instructor in a traditional classroom, and the other with the same instructor, but in an online format. Researchers based their findings on student evaluations. After completing the courses, it was found that students in the traditional classroom ranked the class higher than those who took it online.

› This article is important to my research in that it shows students tend to prefer traditional teaching over online teaching. This is important to note as it raises the question if this may be hindering student potential by placing them online.

Research Continued

Prows, Cynthia A., et al. "TECHNOLOGY-BASED Vs. Traditional Instruction." Nursing Education Perspectives 24.2 (2003): 70. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.› This article talks about a study conducted with nursing students at a

mid-western university. Half of the participants were taught traditionally with a lecture, demonstration from the instructor, and a hands-on experience with a manikin. The other half of the participants used CD-ROM and simulations to learn the same material. Both had a self-study module. At the beginning of the experiment, they all took the same pretest. All the results were similar. After going through the class/experiment, both groups were found to have the same level of cognitive gains, abilities, and satisfaction with their format. Both groups were similar in their ability to help a real live patient.

› This article will be helpful in my research as it shows that technology and traditional teaching can both teach the same material and yield the same results.

Research Continued

Girod, Mark, and Steve Wojcikiewicz. "Comparing Distance Vs. Campus-Based Delivery Of Research Methods Courses." Educational Research Quarterly 33.2 (2009): 47-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.› This article discusses a study at a Western Oregon

University, where they compared face-to-face teaching and web-based learning. Their findings showed great shifts in pedagogy. With this knowledge, educators can adjust and account for this and better the education system.

› This article is very important in that it does not really address the student performance, but educational pedagogy. This in turn looks at the educators instead of the students, which is a crucial aspect to research in this area.

Procedure

I will be teaching three different lessons in a Spanish I classroom using solely pencil and paper kinds of lessons. I will have some kind of mini projects or worksheets for the students to fill out, and will grade them. I will compare the grades to those of similar lesson worksheets to look for improvement.

To begin, I will have a pre-assessment on what they already know from the previous class on the subject using the technology. I will then teach my lessons, and after give a post-assessment to assess learning.

Data Collection

I will use an operational definition for enthusiasm and participation to measure the levels of both in the students. › Enthusiasm: students volunteer, jump at the

chance to participate, and keep that feeling throughout the lesson.

› Participation: students stay on the topic, are not distracted by outside sources, and keep in time with the lesson.

I will also use grades on my worksheets and mini projects compared to other grades to look for improvement.

What are my Variables?

Dependent: › Grade change

(improvement or no)

› Enthusiasm level with the lesson (increased or no)

› Participation level with the lesson (increased or no)

Independent:› Lessons void of

technology they are used to using

My Intervention

Since I will have to teach three different lessons in this class, I will utilize those as my intervention/change to see if it works better to learn Spanish.