Date of Graduation

2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

Committee Chair

Maria Amores

Committee Member

FLES programs, children, foreign languages

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in the development and implementation of foreign language programs in elementary school throughout the U.S. However, as some experts on the field of teaching foreign languages to children have pointed out, very often those programs are implemented without prior planning or thorough investigation. The present study was conducted in five schools in Morgantown, West Virginia, in order to determine the major strengths and weaknesses of the foreign language after school classes currently carried out at those schools. Questionnaires (to parents, classroom teachers, Spanish instructors, and site coordinators), class observations and interviews were the ethnographic techniques employed to gather information. The analysis of the data obtained was done in light of research findings on the field of foreign language teaching and current instructional trends. After the analysis of the data, a model for a FLES program in Morgantown is presented.

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