Date

6-2015

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

David E. Holder

Keywords

CLT, Foreign Language Teaching Approach, LLOS-IEA Scale, Motivation, STAMP 4S, TPRS

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Education | First and Second Language Acquisition

Abstract

The purpose of this comparative study was to examine the effects of two foreign language teaching approaches--communicative language teaching and teaching proficiency through reading and storytelling--on motivation and proficiency for Spanish III students in high school. These two teaching approaches have gained prominence over the last couple of decades and no consensus exists between second language (L2) researchers and practitioners on which approach might be best to increase students' motivation to learn and to become proficient. One hundred and seventeen Spanish III students in high school studying with the TPRS or the CLT teaching approach, completed the LLOS-IEA Motivation Scale in order to collect L2 motivational data and took the Standards-Based Measurement of Proficiency test (STAMP 4S) to collect data on proficiency. The researcher used descriptive and parametric inferential statistics to examine mean scores differences on the variables between both approaches. Looking at the results of the analyses run for this study, the researcher observed that the TPRS teaching approach had statistically significant higher levels of L2 motivation for IM Accomplishment, IM Knowledge, and IM Stimulation ( p = .001), whereas the CLT approach had higher levels of proficiency in Reading (p = .001); Writing (p = .001); and Listening (p = .29).

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