Jillian Fritz and Dr. Laura Catherine Smith, Germanic and Slavic Languages
My project is part of a larger, college-wide study that is seeking to quantify the progress students make in acquiring the German language while on study abroad, specifically in the areas of vocabulary acquisition, pronunciation, writing composition, and language comprehension. My own research attempts to determine if language immersion in a study abroad setting better enhances vocabulary learning than in Foreign Language Student Resident or classroom settings.
For my project, I administered several language tests to students on the Vienna study abroad Fall 2008. Among these tests was a vocabulary assessment consisting of identical pre- and post-tests, which were completed eleven weeks apart. This vocabulary assessment consisted of 50 commonly used German terms and was set up to test the students’ vocabulary knowledge on multiple levels. Each word had six answer options, testing the students’ level of familiarity with the word and included space to provide the meaning (correct or conjectured) and context of the word.
Following the study abroad, I examined the students’ responses as I entered them onto a spreadsheet for comparison of the pre- and post-tests. I entered the data from the pre and post-tests in two formats. First, I entered the actual responses to the questions exactly as the students had answered them, whether they were correct or not. I then used these actual responses to code them into a specific format, using point values for correct and incorrect answers, which will be used further in this college study to calculate the progress that the students made in vocabulary acquisition and awareness.
As I evaluated these responses, coded and non-coded, I was able to survey the different areas in which the students made progress. For example, over the course of eleven weeks, a student may not have learned the actual meaning of the word itself, but was able to apply grammatical rules learned throughout the immersion period to recognize and determine the noun article or plural form or put the word in subject context.
I focused my comparison primarily on the Vienna fall 2008 study abroad. The majority of the students in Vienna participating in this study were not German majors and had only completed German courses up to a 101 or 102 level. Therefore, many students were unfamiliar with the terms on the test and when responding, left the answer area blank or indicated that they had never seen the word before.
I initially hypothesized that after the immersion period, the students would increase the value points of their answers. For example, I supposed that students who had in the beginning of the program answered 1) I don’t remember having seen this word before, would likely progress to the next response to answer, 2) I have seen this word before but I don’t know what it means, at the end of the program. This hypothesis was correct because rather than leave the post-test response area blank or answer that they were not very or at all familiar with the term, most students attempted to make educated guesses, drawn from grammatical instruction received over the course of the program. As well, these educated guesses were often correct.
There was one significant flaw in the data collection, however. Many of the students felt little motivation to participate in the study. This for several reasons – the multiple area tests administered were time-consuming and could not be completed in one sitting on such a tight and unreliable schedule, as was the case in Vienna. Also, as the students would not see the end results of their progress after the tests had been completed, there was no incentive to put forth their best effort for a series of tests that were only for the benefit of a college department or future study abroad program that was not their own.
Despite this, the majority of the students that participated made measurable improvements in German language acquisition, as can be seen by the raw results contained in the data spreadsheets.
My area of research is but a portion of a larger, college-wide study, for which data will continue to be analyzed throughout the following months. Though the final results of the students’ responses have not yet been fully calculated, it is possible to notice significant progress students have made by examining the raw responses.
After all the data for this study has been entered, statistics will be run and the results of the language gains will be submitted for publication to Unterrichtspraxis. The department will further utilize the data to make adjustments to future study abroad programs to enhance the language experience for students to make gains in the German language. I am confident that my contribution to this study will enable the department to effectively make these decisions to provide a positive experience for the students our university.