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The current study investigates how foreign language enjoyment (FLE), foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and attitude/motivation (AM) of 360 learners of English, German, French and Spanish in a Kuwaiti university was shaped over the course of one semester by three teacher behaviours: frequency of using the foreign language (FL) in class, predictability and frequency of joking. Linear mixed modelling revealed a positive relationship between the three teacher behaviours and FLE as well as AM, but no significant relationship emerged with FLCA. Multiple comparison analyses showed that levels of FLE dropped significantly among students whose teacher joked very infrequently and infrequently. It thus seems that the absence of teacher jokes had a delayed cumulative effect on FLE. No interaction effects were found with time for FLCA and for AM. We conclude that teacher behaviours affect both AM and FLE, and that frequency of joking actually shapes FLE over time.

Presentación interactiva sobre la repetición espaciada como método para memorizar. Se muestra su funcionamiento de una manera muy clara.

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Most research on task-based language teaching (TBLT) has focused on specific factors that play a role in task-based performance and learning, whereas considerably fewer studies have paid attention to how TBLT curricula have been developed and delivered in second language (L2) teaching contexts. However, it has been argued that the latter type of evaluative inquiry is crucial in order to advance the educational significance of the approach. While more evaluation studies have been published in recent years, few of them adopt a multi-methodological, longitudinal and cyclical perspective. The current study examines the planning and implementation of task-based instruction in a university-level Spanish as a foreign language program over a five-year period, with a particular emphasis on instructors’ and students’ perceptions about the approach. Data sources consisted of notes from meetings with instructors, classroom observations, students’ perceptions collected through journals, focus groups and questionnaires, and instructors’ perceptions collected through a questionnaire. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of these data revealed critical aspects of the planning phase, positive and challenging components of the approach, modifications made in response to participants’ perceptions, as well as a gradual increase regarding the level of acceptance of task-based instruction throughout the implementation. Implications for the implementation and evaluation of TBLT in other second language educational contexts are discussed.

Each year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of undergraduate students enroll in introductory Spanish courses. For many students, passing these classes is a prerequisite for graduation. Consequently, it is imperative that the exams used in these courses are of the highest possible quality. For decades, the Rasch model (a special case of logistic regression) has been used to evaluate high-stakes language assessment, but has rarely been applied to exams used in classrooms. The current study employs the Rasch model to evaluate a midterm exam administered in the fourth week of an introductory Spanish class (n = 399 across 17 sections). This model identifies which questions best evaluate students at different proficiency levels and shows that the test reliably assigns scores near the pass-fail cutoff. The results of this study suggest that for this sample, items testing article-noun agreement were the most appropriate for the average student.

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Cada año en EE.UU. cientos de miles de estudiantes universitarios se matriculan en clases de español LE/L2 de nivel elemental. Para muchos estudiantes aprobar estas clases es un requisito para la graduación. Por lo tanto, resulta imprescindible que los exámenes sean de la mejor calidad posible. Durante décadas, se ha usado el modelo de Rasch para evaluar exámenes estandarizados. No obstante, dicho modelo apenas se ha empleado con exámenes de clase. Este estudio toma como base el modelo de Rasch para evaluar un examen de una clase de español elemental (n = 399 en 17 secciones). El modelo indica qué preguntas sirven para evaluar mejor a los estudiantes con diferentes niveles de competencia y demuestra que este tipo de examen puede identificar de manera fiable a los estudiantes con el riesgo de suspender. Los resultados del estudio sugieren que, a partir de la muestra analizada, las preguntas sobre la concordancia entre artículo y sustantivo son las más apropiadas para el estudiante medio.

Pese a que existe un cierto consenso en la didáctica de lenguas extranjeras respecto a la conceptualización de la Competencia Comunicativa Intercultural (CCI), surgen discrepancias en cuanto a cómo medirla, aspecto al que se dedica este artículo. Así, en primer lugar, se revisan diversos marcos teóricos de la CCI para, posteriormente, abordar los obstáculos conceptuales, éticos e instrumentales que supone la evaluación y medición de esta competencia. Partiendo de esta base, se analiza un conjunto de herramientas de medición de la interculturalidad de acuerdo con sus características psicométricas. Dada la ausencia de instrumentos enfocados hacia la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y, en concreto, hacia el español como lengua extranjera, se ofrecen los resultados obtenidos mediante una nueva herramienta, la Escala de Recursos Interculturales (ERI): un cuestionario Likert de 5 puntos y 97 ítems administrado a 663 estudiantes de lenguas extranjeras de diez universidades diferentes de Egipto, España, Italia y Reino Unido.

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Although there is a certain consensus in Foreign Language Teaching concerning the concept of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC), there are differing views regarding its measurement, which forms the basis of this article. Firstly, various theoretical frameworks of the ICC are reviewed followed by an analysis of the conceptual, ethical and methodological obstacles regarding the evaluation and measurement of this competence. At this stage, a set of tools to measure interculturality is analyzed according to their psychometric characteristics. Due to the absence of research instruments focused on the teaching of foreign languages and, specifically, of Spanish as a Foreign Language, the results obtained through the use of a new tool, the Escala de Recursos Interculturales (ERI), are offered consisting of a five-point Likert scale with 97 items administered to 663 foreign languages students from ten different universities, located in Egypt, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Research on ‘heritage/community language education’ (HCLE) has a relatively recent trajectory, but it has generated a large number of scholarly publications, particularly in relation to Spanish in the United States (U.S.) where the growth of Spanish heritage language learners (HLL) has been exponential. However, to date, limited research attention has been given to the intersection between heritage language learning and the development of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). This may be attributed to the assumption that, on a daily basis, such learners are required to move and effectively operate between languages and cultures and, therefore, already possess adequate levels of ICC. With the development of ICC, now considered an integral component in language education, the time appears ripe to examine its implications within HCLE. This paper articulates the key similarities and differences in the trajectories of ICC research in relation to university level heritage learners of Spanish in three distinct geographical contexts: Australia, Europe, and the United States.

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La investigación sobre el “español como lengua de herencia o lengua comunitaria” (ELHC) tiene una trayectoria relativamente reciente, pero ha generado ya múltiples publicaciones, particularmente en el contexto estadounidense, donde el número de estudiantes de español como lengua de herencia (ELH) ha crecido exponencialmente. Sin embargo, hasta la fecha, la investigación centrada en la intersección entre el aprendizaje del ELH y el desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa intercultural (CCI) es limitada. Esto puede atribuirse a la convicción de que estos estudiantes deben atravesar diariamente el umbral entre idiomas y culturas y que, por lo tanto, ya poseen niveles adecuados de CCI. Con el desarrollo de la CCI, considerada actualmente un componente integral en la instrucción de idiomas, es oportuno examinar sus implicaciones dentro del ELHC. En este artículo se desarrollan las diferencias y semejanzas clave en las trayectorias de investigación de la CCI en relación con los estudiantes de ELH de nivel universitario en tres contextos geográficos distintos: Australia, Europa y los Estados Unidos.

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Esta contribución pone en tela de juicio algunos casos de interferencia lingüísticas del francés en la muestra de informantes marfileños de la Universidad Alassane Ouattara de Bouaké, Costa de Marfil. El propósito es resaltar los casos de interferencias léxicas, los más significativos, por su frecuencia, en las producciones escritos de aprendices marfileños del español, lengua extranjera. La metodología utilizada para alcanzar esta meta es mixta, o lo que es lo mismo, un enfoque descriptivo y otro explicativo. Los resultados nos permiten afirmar que las interferencias léxicas observadas en las muestras analizadas se refieren mayoritariamente a los verbos en infinitivo o conjugados, y en menor medida, a los sustantivos. los análisis han demostrados también que los informantes se apoyan en procesos de morfológicos y fonéticos para adaptar las unidades léxicas del francés que trasponen al español.