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Relationship building, language acquisition, and anxiety in the world language classroom: utilizing the family model
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| Title | Relationship building, language acquisition, and anxiety in the world language classroom: utilizing the family model |
| Author | Kuegle, Elke Karin |
| Published | 2009 |
| Subjects | Foreign language instruction
Speech anxiety
Language learning and language teaching
Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects
Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects
Second language acquisition
German language -- Study and teaching -- Psychological aspects
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| Location | Archives P53.7.K84 2009 |
| Notes | Thesis (Master of Education in World Language Instruction)--Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.), 2009. |
| Rights Management | Copyright owned by Elke Karin Kuegle. |
| Language | English |
| Abstract | This study describes a test of instructional strategies used to increase student relationships in the world language classroom, decrease communication apprehension and foreign language classroom anxiety, and increase student communication in the target language. The instructional method followed Jo Sanders' family model that places students in heterogeneous learning groups throughout the school year. One, level 1, German class was divided into three table groups, each representing a different family who stayed together throughout the semester. Another level 1 German class had the same seating arrangement but switched table groups periodically. This provided students with a variety of different partners to work with throughout the semester.
The targeted population consisted of two, level 1, German high school classes in the Midwest. Students were given three pre- and post surveys to determine changes in student-student relationships, level of communication apprehension, and foreign language classroom anxiety. The researcher used McCroskey's (1982) Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA-24) and Horwitz, Horwitz , and Cope (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to determine student's changes in communication apprehension and anxiety. A relationship survey was constructed, based on the students in each class, to determine how they knew each other and whether relationships changed over time. To measure language acquisition, a communicative partner activity in the form of a skit, was analyzed at the end of the first semester. The study showed no significant decreases in student communication apprehension and anxiety within the family setting. The final role play showed an increase in natural language use and oral performance by students in the family setting compared to the control group. Furthermore, the family model classroom showed differences in the number and strength of the relationships students made by the end of the first semester. |
| External Resource | http://plus.mnpals.net/vufind/Record/007105156/Holdings/TRC |
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