nos vamos de viaje- content integration through task

Task-Based III: Expanding the Range of Tasks with Online Resources

NOS VAMOS DE VIAJE: CONTENT INTEGRATION THROUGH TASK

Laura Marqués PascualUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Alvaro Llosa SanzUniversity of California, Davis

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a task-based project in which the use of several web-based applications has been combined and incorporated in order to integrate the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The project, Nos vamos de viaje (http://nosvamosdeviaje.wikispaces.com), is a comprehensive Web-based activity involving the task of planning a vacation to a Spanish-speaking city, designed for a Spanish language classroom of high-beginners to intermediate L2 learners.

INTRODUCTION

Several key theories underlie the design of the task we present here. Preeminent among these is communicative language teaching with its view of the teacher as a facilitator leading a student-centered class (Lee & VanPatten 2003). Such an approach calls for new learning tools that can enhance students’ performance as self-learners. We employ one of those new tools—a wiki, a multi-collaborative dynamic web-based space—in the activity presented here. Wikis provide a means to connect students to one another and to allow them to communicate among themselves as they develop ideas, content, and other products of their learning process.

Additional web-based technologies enhance L2 learners’ contact with the target language by providing students access to a wealth of authentic cultural materials that neither texts nor individual instructors alone (or combined) can provide. The fact that texts must artificially limit the amount of page space they dedicate to culture, and that no individual language instructor can be a master of all cultural knowledge from every target language country, makes promoting cultural understanding in the classroom a daunting task at best.

The use of authentic materials mediates to some extent these two challenges. Access to authentic materials also often makes language and culture learning more meaningful for the students. While language teachers had to collect such realia in the past, the web now provides a means for students to gain access to these directly and on their own. By opening an internet window students can access endless opportunities of viewing, and even interacting with, the target language and culture. Through the use of the internet, students can read about real people, learn about them, or even talk to them through

http://nosvamosdeviaje.wikispaces.com/

Laura Marqués Pascual & Alvaro Llosa Sanz Nos Vamos de Viaje: Content Integration…

computer mediated communication. They can take a virtual trip to far away countries to which they may never go, or listen to real conversations and news broadcasts from TV stations. Moreover, texts accompanied by video or rich images like authentic pictures appeal to the learner’s visual memory, and provide connections that make it easier to remember the language that accompanied the images (Underwood, 1989).

Keeping this in mind, we can use technology in the language classroom to create or enhance those learning environments that will promote second language acquisition. The interactionist hypothesis, which posits that the opportunity to interact in the L2 is central to developing L2 proficiency (Gass 1997, Doughty 1998), underlies the goals of a communicative classroom in which linguistic interaction takes place in contexts that are as authentic as possible. Web-based technologies such as blogs, wikis or chat rooms can encourage a learner-centered environment that favors such contexts and social interaction. Paired with a task-based approach, the implementation of those technologies can help us to create contexts in which L2 learners have to collaborate in order to solve a specific task and are forced to interact and negotiate meaning when communication breakdowns occur.

The project presented here aims to integrate the use of new technologies in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language, focusing on vocabulary and grammar learning in authentic and original contexts within a task-based approach. This approach promotes the interactive aspect that is a crucial component of communicative language teaching, and makes the students active participants in the learning of the pragmatics of the target language. The activities presented through the project are communicative in that they offer students the highest level of interactivity: they permit one-on-one, personal exchanges, as well as group discussion and individual web search of authentic materials. These activities also combine both asynchronous (i.e. differed time) as well as synchronous (i.e. real-time) communication, to accommodate different learning styles and strategies, as well as to provide a relaxed, less threatening atmosphere.

Nos Vamos de Viaje: A Practical Example of a Multimedia Task-based Activity

Nos vamos de viaje (http://nosvamosdeviaje.wikispaces.com) is a comprehensive web-based activity for a high-beginners to intermediate Spanish language classroom. It is an interactive, multimedia project which consists of five contextualized lessons focusing on the different steps involved in completing the task of planning a vacation to a Spanish-speaking city. Each lesson contains a set of exercises and activities that pertain to different steps of gathering information, reading authentic texts, negotiating meaning and cooperating with peers. The outcome of each step prepares students for the subsequent lesson. The activities in each lesson unit aim to promote both practice and learning of vocabulary, grammatical structures and cultural aspects of the target language communities. The structured organization of the project fosters process-oriented learning through the recycling of vocabulary and grammatical structures that proves more valuable than simple learning or practicing new lexical items and grammar in isolation. As a by-product of having to complete the project, students gain cultural knowledge and awareness through their exposure to authentic target language materials in the real

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http://nosvamosdeviaje.wikispaces.com/


context of planning a trip. In accordance with a task-based approach that focuses on form rather than on formS (Ellis, 2005)1 students also practice vocabulary and grammatical structures in context, integrated within the activity as a means to attain the goal of the task.

The technological tool used in the creation of such a multimedia project is a wiki—a collaborative space on the web where different users can work asynchronously on the same project, editing or adding new information and/or pages. Several open-source web resources offer different versions to create free wikis; wikispaces.com2 was used for Nos vamos de viaje. The use of a wiki affords, in addition to text, the inclusion of images, videos, podcasts and audio materials through easy-to-use integration techniques and the insertion of the corresponding files. For example, a photo image, a video clip or a podcast extracted from another internet site can be easily inserted into the wiki project as a straightforward process that resembles the creation of an e-mail message. Thus, a wiki offers a multi-collaborative and dynamic space that can be easily accessed and modified by any one of the authorized multiple users. Another advantage is that it permits the administrator to follow up on the elaboration and updating of the project, since each addition or edit by any user is registered automatically in an accessible history, providing the instructor with the opportunity to follow the development of any given student’s contributions at any time.

Nos vamos de viaje was developed during the fall of 2007 for a first-quarter, second-year Spanish class at U.C. Santa Barbara. Major topics from the textbook used in class were chosen by the instructors who created the activity (for a list of these topics, see Appendix A). The language classes at this institution have an enrolment limit of 25 students. Students were taken to the language computer lab to complete the first set of activities in each of the five lessons during one class period of 50 minutes. The 25-station language lab in this institution is installed with a variety of language learning-supportive software, such as Wimba, Xclass and Yackpack3, some of which are incorporated in Nos vamos de viaje.

Though this activity was created with a particular set of learners in mind, it can be adapted to different levels (end of the first year to second year of college instruction, or high-beginners to intermediate learners) depending on whether it is used as a context to introduce new materials (i.e. travel vocabulary, weather expressions, comparison

1 A focus-on-form (as opposed to focus-on-formS) approach to language teaching emphasizes a form-meaning connection and teaches grammar within contexts and through communicative and task-based activities (see Ellis 2005).

2 For more information on wikispaces.com, the reader is advised to visit http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction3 Wimba (http://www.wimba.com/products/wimbaclassroom/) is a “live virtual classroom” software that supports audio, video, application sharing, and content display, enabling instructors to add vitally important elements of interaction that cannot be provided in a text-based course. Yackpack (http://www.yackpack.com/) is a similar application, which permits voice message recording and allows instructors to chat with their students. Both Wimba and Yackpack have to be purchased by the institutional language laboratory. Skype or MSN Messenger can be used as alternative options and are provided free of charge.

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structures, etc.) or to practice materials already learned in previous classes.Each of the five lesson units that make up Nos vamos de viaje, follows a parallel structure in terms of the activities included, and each lesson guides students through various stages involved in the planning of a trip. The first activity of each of the five lessons provides guided practice and structured inputs, which students complete in class (in this particular case, in the lab) with instructor guidance. In the first lesson, ¿A dónde vamos?, students have to decide where they would like to go, which will in turn help define the ultimate make-up of the student work groups. In the second lesson, ¿Cómo viajamos allí?, students decide on the means of transportation to be used to arrive at their destination, and for the short trips within that destination. In ¿Qué necesitamos para el viaje?, students have to create a list of clothes, documents, and other necessary items they may need to take with them. The fourth stage, El alojamiento, deals with lodging reservations. In the last stage ¿Qué queremos visitar?, students decide on several important sights and places that they will visit during their trip. The trip plan and itinerary that comprises the final product is the result of real and meaningful negotiations and exchanges among students as they have progressed through the various steps of the project.

Lesson One: ¿A dónde vamos?

Let’s examine this concept more closely by looking at the first lesson of the activity: ¿A dónde vamos? When planning a trip or a vacation, the first task the student needs to resolve is where to go. Throughout this first lesson, students familiarize themselves with two Spanish-speaking cities. By closely examining materials available on the web, students form an opinion about these cities to decide which one they would like to visit. Students use authentic materials, such as the four videos (taken from YouTube) posted in this first lesson (two for each city), (see Figure 1) to accomplish this task.

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Figure 1. Front page of Nos vamos de viaje

After viewing the videos, the students brainstorm about the characteristics of these cities. The images on these videos activate vocabulary that students should be already familiar with (i.e. cities and places). This activity also offers the possibility of reviewing comparisons structures (or teaching them, in context, for the first time). Students are also encouraged to explore on their own those aspects that they find more interesting. This exploration can also be done through a search of a virtual community of photographers. By exploring such pictures, students are spectators of authentic, culturally-based images of the cities that have been provided by real users, both tourists and locals, who want to share their images. Weather is another aspect that students are encouraged to explore in the first section of the activity. The teacher, simulating “the weather person” of a news program, will provide a structured input using a weather forecast posted on the web (in this case, on Yahoo: El tiempo). By having the instructor talk about the weather in different Hispanic cities and pointing at them on a virtual map, the students familiarize themselves with the weather seasons and temperatures, and also with the location of the different cities on the map. This structured input can serve as a model for the students, who in turn will have to describe the weather in another city or country (in this particular case, Buenos Aires and/or Argentina). This step also provides the class with an opportunity to practice

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comparison structures. As a third step, the teacher should encourage students to search for any other relevant information about the cities in question, with the help of a list of keywords. This step insures that students read and get minimally informed on each city.

Once the students have gathered information collectively, they are ready to decide individually which city they would like to travel to. At this stage, each student is asked to provide five specific reasons why that city is the one they would like to visit. This step takes place in the form of a small group discussion, in which students share their reasons for choosing one place over another, defend their choices and then try to convince the other group participants that their choice is the best one. This stage of the activity can be done through synchronous, face-to-face communication, or through the use of a chat program such as Wimba or Yackpack, depending on the course structure and available technology resources.4 Ultimately, the students’ choices make them connect with other students in the class that are interested in the same city and trip, and groups are formed according to this criterion. This step takes us to the next part in which students will be working asynchronously within their groups.

In this next stage, students develop a text within a wiki describing the specific characteristics that made them choose the city of their preference. The text is constructed collaboratively through the contributions and modifications of the members in each group. The goal of this first section is to foster negotiation of meaning by having students reach a consensus on which place to visit, and to gain cultural understanding by exposure to authentic materials. At the same time, students will practice a variety of grammatical structures (comparisons, weather expressions, description) as the means to reach the task goal.

Lesson two: ¡A volar! ¿Cómo viajamos allí? ¿Qué medios de transporte vamos a usar?

Each of the stages of the overall project follows the same structure. The first activity always involves the instructor’s presentation of an input, which will serve as a model for the students’ individual exploration of authentic materials on the web in order to find the information they need to proceed through the next step. After gathering all the relevant information, they have to discuss with their group partners in order to reach a consensus regarding the lesson’s objective. This discussion and negotiation of the different ideas students may have always culminates in the collaborative exchange of the writing task using the wiki tool.

The main task in Lesson 2 ¿Cómo llegamos allí?, is the selection of the means of transport needed both to get to the main destination as well as to travel within the country of choice. The lesson starts with an input provided by the instructor. Since the purpose of this input is to provide students with a model of what they are to do to accomplish the main task of the lesson, the instructor should have planned his or her own trip in advance. The instructor will show the students the websites that he or she has browsed in order to make transportation arrangements, will give detailed information on the different means

4 For the benefits of computer-mediated communication (CMC), see Blake 2006, Blake & Zyzik, 2003 or Chun & Reder Weder 2004.

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of transport chosen, the reasons why each particular choice was made, and some details about the schedule and prices. After listening to this input, students are ready to start exploring different travel websites in the target language (www.viajar.com, www.rumbo.es, etc.) on their own. By browsing this sites and having to make a decision on which means of transport they consider a better choice, which schedule works better for their plans and how much money they are willing to spend, students are practicing their skimming and scanning reading comprehension skills. After students have completed this phase of the activity and have gathered all the relevant information, they proceed to the chat discussion with the other members of their group. In this stage of the activity they share their information and opinions about what is best for their trip, and reach a consensus.

After reaching a consensus, students are ready to move on to the next stage of the lesson, the collaborative writing of the wiki, where they write about their itinerary and how to get to their destination. They also start a budget section where they can start recording the expenses of the trip. Since the writing of a wiki makes use of an asynchronous mode of communication, this last stage of the lesson should be completed outside class. The instructor can provide a set of guidelines on what is to be included in the writing section of each lesson, and the students can develop their writing assignment during the days following the lesson.

Lesson three: ¡Vamos a hacer la maleta! ¿Qué necesitamos para el viaje?

Following the same structure as Lessons 1 and 2, the main task of Lesson 3 is to prepare for the trip by making a packing list. To begin the lesson the instructor will provide an input on clothing and other travel items related to his or her own trip, using a picture bank or web images (such as the one provided by Google, www.images.google.com). After the input activities, students are ready to explore the web and come up with their own list. As a means to practice clothing vocabulary interactively, each student should create his or her own full-body avatar. Avatars are computer user's representation of themselves, an alter ego image that can be customized (es.avatars.yahoo.com). Creating an avatar through a website in the target language provides an interactive way to practice clothing and physical appearance vocabulary, since the user sees an immediate visual effect on his or her avatar depending on their choice (i.e. the user can choose any clothing option, such as tejanos azules y camiseta blanca [blue jeans and white t-shirt], and see how the avatar changes accordingly). Once students have created their avatar and have their own list, they should do an online search to locate town business where they can purchase their listed items (a website such as www.maps.google.com would be a useful tool for this search). After completing this step, students get together to practice interpersonal communication and go through the negotiation phase of the lesson. For the wiki assignment, students will start a new section on clothing and travel items, with their corresponding group lists, and they will update the budget section from Lesson 2, if applicable.

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http://www.maps.google.com/

http://www.images.google.com/


Lesson four: ¿Dónde dormimos? El alojamiento

The main task of Lesson 4 is to find appropriate lodging with adequate amenities for the trip being planned. To begin the lesson the instructor will provide an input on a specific hotel reservation made for his or her own trip. The same travel websites used for Lesson 2 can be used for the instructor’s input and students’ search in Lesson 4. Once students are familiar with lodging vocabulary, they are ready to explore the website of their choice and find appropriate lodging by considering the location, price and different amenities. Once students have gathered all the relevant information and have found lodging of their liking, students proceed to the negotiation phase through the use of the voice chat program. In this oral communication activity students will practice comparison structures, numbers (for different pricing options) and other structures such as tener que, necesitar or ir a+inf. After reaching a consensus, each group will have to give a detailed presentation of the chosen hotel to the rest of the class, thus practicing presentational communication. Finally, for the wiki assignment of this lesson, students will write a section describing their lodging choice, along with a second lodging option. They will also have to incorporate photos, links to the hotel URL, and reviews, and update the budget section.

Lesson five: ¡Plan de visita! ¿Qué queremos visitar?

Lesson 5´s main task is to plan a sightseeing itinerary that includes one sight for each day of the trip (i.e. five sights for a total of five days). By showing an interactive map such as Google Earth or a maps website (e.g. www.maps.google.com), the instructor’s input will cover a schedule for a sightseeing tour in the city of his or her choice, and how to get to each sight. Once students are familiar with the task they are to complete for this lesson, they will explore the website of their choice individually, they will look for different sights and things to do in their destination city, and will plan how they will get there. Once students have gathered some information on different sights, they are ready to discuss with their partners which places they would like to visit, or which activities they would like to do during their trip. The goal of the discussion is to reach an agreement on which five places they will develop their travel plans for. The wiki assignment of this lesson will include an itinerary for the trip, with a detailed description of each place they will visit, how they will get there, and the activities for each day.

Lessons Six and Seven: ¡Ya tenemos nuestro plan!

The last two lessons of Nos vamos de viaje serve as a conclusion in which students have the opportunity to share their travel plans with the rest of the class. The objective of the final two lessons is for students to get a sense of accomplishment through the completion, revision and exposition of the multimedia page they have created during the previous weeks. They also provide the instructor with an opportunity to help students in the writing process of the preparation, revision and edition of the students’ work. The written work that students have developed over the course of the entire Nos vamos de viaje activity will be later used in class presentations. During Lesson 6, students should polish their page, and prepare a slide presentation that they will use to share their travel plans

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with their fellow classmates. Each group will present their travel plan to the class in Lesson 7. Thus, the two different types of communication included in the National Standards (http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324), interpersonal and presentational communication, are practiced throughout the different lessons in Nos Vamos de Viaje.

The web materials available at http://nosvamosdeviaje.wikispaces.com provide a set of basic guidelines that an instructor can model and customize to fit their particular teaching situation. Each of the lessons follows the same four-part sequence consisting of: structured input activities; exploration and information gathering through exposure to and reading of authentic materials; discussion and negotiation; and the collaborative writing in a wiki as the final product. Different sets of language skills, including vocabulary themes and grammatical structures, are practiced during each stage of the task. A variety of multimedia tools are employed, with overlap among lessons. Each lesson can be completed in one or two class periods, and the writing of the wiki can be completed outside class during the following days. Table 1 summarizes the main components of Nos vamos de viaje, organized by lessons.

Table 1. Main components of Nos vamos de viaje

Lesson One: ¿A dónde vamos?Main task: choosing a destination city taking into account urban characteristics and weather conditionsGrammatical structures: Weather expressions, comparison structures, city descriptionVocabulary practice: cities and placesPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsInput activities Listening comprehension (description of

a city by comparing and contrasting)Students’ brainstorming

Videos on Spanish-speaking cities (www.es.youtube.com)

Weather websites (www.tiempo.espanol.yahoo.com)

Images website by geographical location (www.flikr.com/map)

Information gathering Reading comprehensionIndividual search, skimming and scanning information on particular cities and their characteristics

Discussion and negotiation

Speaking, interpersonal communicationClass discussion and group set up according to the city of choice

Voice chat program (www.google.com /talk , Wimba, Jackpack)

Collaborative Wiki Writing practice: reasons for choosing a particular city, including videos and other URL found by members of the group

Wiki (www.wikispaces.com)

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http://www.wikispaces.com/

http://www.google.com/

http://www.flikr.com/map

http://www.tiempo.espanol.yahoo.com/

http://www.es.youtube.com/

http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324


Lesson Two: ¿Cómo llegamos allí?Main task: deciding on the means of transport to be usedGrammatical structures: expression of future plans with ir a + infinitiveVocabulary practices: dates, schedule times, pricesPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsInput activities Listening comprehension (details on

flights and schedules, means of transport)Students’ brainstorming on specific travel dates

Travel sites (www.viajar.com, www.rumbo.es)

Search engine with maps and services (www.maps.google.com)

Information gathering Skimming and scanning travel informationIndividual search for flights and other means of transport within the destination city


Speaking, interpersonal communication practiceGroup discussion on the search results

Voice chat program (www.google.talk.com, Wimba, Jackpack)

Collaborative Wiki Writing practice: explanation of how to get there, including useful URL and mapsStart budget section with travel expenses


Lesson Three: ¡Vamos a hacer la maleta! ¿Qué necesitamos para el viaje?Main task: Making a packing listGrammatical structures: tener que + infinitive, necesito + infinitiveVocabulary practices: clothing, documents and travel itemsPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsInput activities Listening comprehension (clothing and

travel items)Web images bank (www.images.google.com)

Information gathering Interactive vocabulary practiceCreation of individual lists

Store search

Full body avatars (es.avatars.yahoo.com)

Search engine with maps and services (www.maps.google.com)


Speaking, interpersonal communicationItem selection and comparison with a recommended packing list from the web


Collaborative Wiki Writing practice: packing list, including in-town stores informationUpdate of the de budget section


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http://www.google.talk.com/


http://www.images.google.com/




http://www.rumbo.es/

http://www.viajar.com/


Lesson Four: ¿Dónde dormimos? El alojamientoMain task: Find appropriate lodgingGrammatical structures: Ir a + infinitive, necesito, tener que + infinitive, comparison structures Vocabulary practice: lodging vocabulary, amenities, pricesPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsInput activities Listening comprehension (detailed

description of a lodging reservation)Travel sites (www.viajar.com, www.rumbo.es)

Information gathering Skimming and scanning informationIndividual search of appropriate lodging


Speaking, interpersonal communicationSelection of the best lodging option


Class presentation Presentational communicationDetailed presentation of the hotel and its amenities

URL for specific hotels

Collaborative Wiki Writing practice: detailed description of the hotel, including the URL and picturesUpdate of the budget section


Lesson Five: ¡Plan de visita! ¿Qué queremos visitar?Main task: plan a sightseeing itinerary for each dayGrammatical structures: giving directionsVocabulary practice: prepositions of place and direction, leisure activitiesPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsInput Listening comprehension (detailed

description of a sightseeing itinerary)

Interactive map or maps website, search engine with services and places of interest (e.g. Google Earth or www.maps.google.com) Information gathering Reading comprehension

Skimming and scanning maps and directionsIndividual search for sights to visit and how to get there


Speaking, interpersonal communicationSelection of five places the group will visit


Collaborative Wiki Writing practice: day by day sightseeing itinerary

Lesson Six and Seven: ¡Ya tenemos nuestro plan!Main task: complete, revise and present the travel planPhase Processes and Activities Multimedia toolsCollaborative writing Writing process, revision and edition Web service for multimedia

presentations (www.slide.com)

Collaborative multimedia page (www.wikispaces.com)

Presentational communication

Speaking, presentational practice of different travel plans

Discussion Speaking: questions, answers and comments

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http://www.slide.com/




http://www.rumbo.es/

http://www.viajar.com/


CONCLUSION

A project like the one presented here enhances the foreign-language curriculum by turning the language classroom into a linguistic and cultural experience that could be the next best thing to study abroad. Technology tools provide a means for this virtual study abroad experience to serve as a communication and transition bridge to the everyday life of the target culture. Close contact with the everyday culture in an authentic and real life context in this virtual space promotes cross-cultural analysis and develops an understanding that will ultimately help students function successfully within the target culture.

Projects like Nos vamos de viaje can enhance the language classroom in a way that is familiar and pleasant to today’s students. The world wide web is an extraordinary starting point for language teaching professionals who wish to integrate technology applications and multimedia resources into their classes. Many open source tools are available free of charge so that instructors can easily integrate them into the language curriculum. Web 2.0 tools promote collaboration and can therefore be easily integrated into a task-based syllabus, or even be the primary materials around which to design a content-based course.

Instructors often feel intimidated by the wealth of technological applications currently available and fear planning a lesson around one or several of these tools; however, today’s students are so familiar with these applications that many times the role of the teacher as a “technician” in the language lab is minimal. Our students already know how to use a chat program, a wiki or a blog; they are able to add their classmates as friends into their online social networks and register into a course management system. The role of the instructor when using these technologies in the language classroom, should be, as in the communicative language classroom, that of a facilitator who suggests the tools, organizes approaches to them, and directs students to the resources required to accomplish the task of second language learning.

APPENDIXVocabulary topics and grammatical structures included in Nos vamos de viaje

Vocabulary topics Grammatical structures5

Travel

Dates and seasons

Cities and neighborhoods

Weather expressions

Geography and maps

Ser vs. estar: description and location

Ser + emotions

Hace + tiempo

Hay

Adjective agreement (e.g. chaleco rojo)

5 Not all of these structures are included in the current online version of Nos vamos de viaje. However, because of the flexible nature of the project, each section could be expanded in order to include all of them.

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Clothes and accessories

Stores and shopping

Numbers, currency, prices

Means of transport

Lodging

Sights and places of interest

Activities

Present vs. preterite tense

Future tense for expressing plans (voy

a…)

Comparisons

Expressing likes and dislikes (e.g. gustar,

encantar, odiar)

Subjuntive (e.g. quiero que vayamos...)

Prepositions (to express movement and

with means of transport)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Laura Marquéz-Pascual is the Language Program Director in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of California, Davis. In the context of Spanish as a second language, she has explored specific problems such as the acquisition of word order and the impact of study abroad on language learning. Additional research interests include Spanish syntax, Spanish as a heritage language, and language teaching methods and pedagogy.

Alvaro Llosa Sanz holds a M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Nevada, Reno. He is currently an Associate Instructor at the University of California, Davis, where he is currently involved in the development of web-based materials for Spanish language instruction.

REFERENCES

ACTFL. Standards for foreign language learning: Executive Summary, 1996. http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3324.

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Blake, Robert and Eve Zyzik. Who's helping whom?: Learner/heritage speakers' networked discussions in Spanish. Applied Linguistics, 24, 4 (2003): 519-44.

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Chun, Dorothy M. and Evelyn Reder Weber. Collaborative Cultural Exchanges with Asynchronous CMC. In Teaching with Technology, ed. by Lara Lomicka and Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz. Boston, MA: Thompson Heinle, 2004. Doughty, Catherine. Acquiring competence in a second language: Form and function. In Learning Foreign and Second Languages, ed. by Heidi Byrnes, 128-156) New York: The Modern Language Association, 1998.

Ellis, Rod. Principles of instructed language learning. System, 33 (2005): 209-224.Gass, Susan M. Input, Interaction, and the Second Language Learner. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997.

Gonglewski, Margaret R. Linking the Internet to the National Standards for Foreign Language Learning. Foreign Language Annals, 32, 3 (1999): 348-362.Lee, James, and Bill VanPatten. Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen, 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

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