Honors Senior Theses/Projects
Date of Award
6-2014
Exit Requirement
Undergraduate Honors Thesis/Project
Department
Honors Program
Faculty Advisor
David Hargreaves
Honors Program Director
Gavin Keulks
Language
eng
Abstract
Fostering communicative competence goes far beyond throwing students into conversation groups. A communicative approach to language teaching involves using authentic language from the very beginning of instruction, presenting real or at least plausible language tasks, and focusing on use of language not on specific grammatical function. What this tends to mean for a classroom is much less time spent on explicit grammar instruction and more time spent on students “getting their hands dirty” and exploring the language for themselves. For all the shifting away from constant grammar lessons in second language teaching, there is still a time when some of the fine inner workings of grammar must be explained. This type of grammar instruction requires that teachers and students engage in “metalanguage,” the vernacular or language used to talk about language. This is where my project fits into the scheme of second language Spanish instruction.
Recommended Citation
Olsen, Emmy Lou Pearl, "What's the Subjunctive, Again? Preparing English Speakers for Learning Spanish" (2014). Honors Senior Theses/Projects. 13.
https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/honors_theses/13
PDF/A Version