Needs of High School Heritage Spanish Students

Needs of High School Heritage Spanish Students Beth Hennes

What do heritage learners actually need from a Spanish language course (that can be used to drive instruction)? Research Question

A case study, using student questionnaires and behavior observation Research Strategy

Rural high school of 1000 students, of which 7% are Latino and 3% are English Language Learner (with definite overlap) • 16 students enrolled (initially 19) in Heritage-Speaker section of Spanish for the 2013-2014 school year • Co-teaching arrangement between AP/Level 3-5 Spanish teacher and ELL teacher (myself) • Pilot year before official course approval with School Board: currently no “official” materials The situation

Behavior problems! (off-task behavior, vulgar language, disrespect, extraneous talking) • Lack of motivation, low assignment completion • 50/50 success rate of planned activities (could go well, could flop—who knows?) • Growing teacher frustration Need for study

Behavior problems are due to inappropriate materials/activity selection • If we know what students need/want and plan instruction around that, behavior will improve. Assumptions

Tools • Placement Test Results Conference and Goals Worksheet • Learning Expectations and Needs Survey • Nonnative-speakers Learning Expectations and Needs Survey (given to 5 students in AP/Level 5 Spanish, just for basic comparison purposes) Collection of data

Follow these links to see survey results for: • Heritage Spanish Speakers • Advanced Nonnative Spanish Speakers Summary of Data (Google Forms)

Nonnative Speakers compared to Heritage Learners: • Our high school nonnatives rated themselves higher in literacy domains (reading and writing) • Heritage learners rated themselves higher in oral language (speaking and listening) Findings

Heritage Learners valued: • the work they had done with writing (7 mentioned this) • learning about accents (4 mentioned this) Heritage Learners were frustrated by: • poor behaviors of other students, such as not working or too much talking (5 mentioned this) Findings

Generalizations: • Heritage learners want to improve writing and reading. • They need help with accents and spelling. • They were also frustrated by discipline problems. Analysis of Findings

Heritage Learner honesty and candidness was heart-warming! They seemed to want to learn and were frustrated by similar things as the teachers. • Is this a confirmation of our assumption? (That if we give them what they want, behaviors will improve…) My reaction to survey data

For Unit 2: • Changed from Level 4 World Language Spanish textbook-centered lessons to Project-Based Learning • Included drop-in mini-lessons on accents and spelling Epilogue: We made changes

Some improvement in behaviors (definitely less discipline referrals during this unit) • Still encountered some “I-can’t/I-won’t/I’m-too-lazy/This-is-dumb-because-I-already-know-everything” attitudes Result of changes?

More talk than walk • Perhaps we were asking the wrong question—maybe it wasn’t supposed to be “What do they need?” Conclusion

Consider motivation (intrinsic/extrinsic) as a cause for instructional difficulties • Look for and experiment with appropriate Heritage Spanish course materials/textbooks • Use this study as a basis to REALLY compare Heritage and Nonnative Learners • Consult more literature from the “experts” Suggestions for future research

I chose the Big6 because I had heard of school librarians in several local districts using it too. I thought I should get some experience. • I used Barbara Jensen’s “Research Project Organizer (7-12),” which I found here. Research Model: Big6

Step 1: Task Definition • EASY! My information problem came from a real-life problem I was having. • The information I needed seemed to be right in front of me (in the students) Research Model: Big6

Step 2: Information Seeking Strategies • Students, experts, literature • For the scope of this research, I should have stuck to the kids. (I wasted some time on the “experts.”) Research Model: Big6

Step 3: Location and Access • Again, EASY! I saw the kids everyday from 1:25 to 2:10pm. • Gave them surveys Research Model: Big6

Step 4: Use of Information • Used Google Forms to compile data. The summary graphs helped me analyze and see patterns quickly. • Discussed with my co-teacher to confirm my thoughts Research Model: Big6

Step 5: Synthesis • The hard part for me: I tried to do too much and got really bogged down. • My solution was to use this presentation to boil down my findings and re-write my paper. Research Model: Big6

Step 6: Evaluation • Big6 got me where I needed to be, though I didn’t realize it at the time. I spun my wheels, re-examining Steps 4-5. • Probably just didn’t have my focus refined enough Research Model: Big6

I didn’t even realize that I got lost in the model until I had reached my frustration point. • I just assumed I was spending a lot of time on Step 5, but was actually stuck. • No stop-gap for that: watch out! Critique of the Big6

Sure! But I don’t think it’s much different from other models—I’m sure others do just fine. • I liked that it helps learners make a plan, which novice researchers really need. Using the Big6?

FIN ¡Gracias!

Needs of High School Heritage Spanish Students