Part IV: Evaluation
The impact of this transformative technology will be apparent in how students are able to communicate with Spanish-speakers. Through thinking about backwards design, I noted that I wanted students to be conversationally fluent at their appropriate levels (Spanish 1, Spanish 2). In order to complete this goal, I would need to provide listening and speaking practice along with comprehensible feedback. I would examine how well the noise-canceling headphones with microphone had altered learning by observing conversations in class, giving holistic summative assessments, and student reflections.
Too many language tests right now have a emphasis on regurgitation rather than language production. With headsets, students would be able to answer questions aloud, which is the closest simulation to what a student would experience abroad. I would be able to give much more holistic assessments, focusing on mixing prior knowledge with new information rather than isolated information (matching vocabulary lists, fill-in-the-blank with conjugations, etc.). These holistic, communicative types of assessments would also show students that it is okay to make errors in language learning, but they have to be careful that errors do not impede comprehensibility. Changing these assessments would show me how much a student understands aural language and how well they can produce oral language to respond.
Another way to test the impact of the headsets would be to ask students to keep a journal of their learning. They could note how comfortable they are with listening and speaking, what questions they have and want to discover after listening to the native speakers, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I would encourage them to write about their understandings of the Spanish language and Spanish-speakers, thus uncovering their new perspectives, empathy, and self-knowledge by comparing their lives to the lives of the speakers in the recordings. I would be able to see how the aural and oral practice and assessments have changed students’ view of Spanish as the year goes on.
Too many language tests right now have a emphasis on regurgitation rather than language production. With headsets, students would be able to answer questions aloud, which is the closest simulation to what a student would experience abroad. I would be able to give much more holistic assessments, focusing on mixing prior knowledge with new information rather than isolated information (matching vocabulary lists, fill-in-the-blank with conjugations, etc.). These holistic, communicative types of assessments would also show students that it is okay to make errors in language learning, but they have to be careful that errors do not impede comprehensibility. Changing these assessments would show me how much a student understands aural language and how well they can produce oral language to respond.
Another way to test the impact of the headsets would be to ask students to keep a journal of their learning. They could note how comfortable they are with listening and speaking, what questions they have and want to discover after listening to the native speakers, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I would encourage them to write about their understandings of the Spanish language and Spanish-speakers, thus uncovering their new perspectives, empathy, and self-knowledge by comparing their lives to the lives of the speakers in the recordings. I would be able to see how the aural and oral practice and assessments have changed students’ view of Spanish as the year goes on.
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