Gamification is a methodological strategy that uses "game design elements in non-game contexts" (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, and Nacke 2011). The purpose of gamification is to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems. This chapter describes examples of Spanish content gamifications that integrate different game…

This case study examined second language (L2) instructors' use of technology in high school and junior high Spanish classrooms in the state of Texas. Specifically, this work sought to investigate the kinds of technologies teachers employ in their practice and how they apply them in the classroom, and what personal and institutional factors…

Speaking in a foreign/second language is a challenge for many learners, even when they have linguistic knowledge. Drawing on González-Lloret and Ortega's (2014) framework for technology-mediated tasks and MacIntyre's (2007) framework for willingness to communicate in a second language, this mixed methods study investigated the impact of…

In this article the authors present a new concept, activeness, as a dynamic psychological and cognitive state of effective engaged language learning. It is defined in terms of "investment," "integration" and "performance," and empowers vulnerable students to exercise control of their learning and progress based on…

This essay examines the state of Digital Humanities work in the subfield of literature from the Spanish speaking world. It provides a case study of a multiyear digital mapping project conducted with undergraduate students at a highly selective liberal arts college. This project serves as a means of examining the digital state of the field and…

This study reports on how the affordances of the WebEx platform were used as multimodality resources during the negotiation of meaning by participants engaged in an English/Spanish eTandem video-conferencing exchange. The exchange involved five dyads of university students with an intermediate level of language proficiency. A total of seven tasks…

The objective of this investigation is to determine if the "flipped" model can be combined with hybrid learning in order to create the "flipped-hybrid" classroom. The flipped classroom refers to an educational model where the traditional practice of dedicating class time to direct instruction is inverted, so that students…

This article provides an overview of a digital storytelling proyecto final (final project) completed by 18 young bilingual Latinxs as part of a Spanish for "heritage/native" speakers course at a university in the U.S. Midwest. Specifically, the article charts out the move from concepto (concept) to proyecto, zooming in on key aspects of…

The "NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements for Intercultural Communication" (2017) task educators with helping students better recognize "obviously inappropriate behaviors in familiar everyday situations" (p.15), yet today's L2 classroom rarely includes pragmatic speech acts in curriculum, especially with regard to online language…

In recent years, writing in Spanish as a foreign or heritage language has assumed more prominence in research and curricular policy in the United States. Increasing numbers of heritage language learners, the emergence of social media tools, renewed interest in writing genres, and changing instruction methods have all influenced how we understand…

Mobile devices are increasingly promoted as tools to facilitate ubiquitous and individualized learning, allowing learners to work at their own pace in authentic and meaningful settings. However, in the case of second language learning, there is a paucity of apps and tools related to improving students' reading comprehension in both Spanish and…

We tested the effectiveness of the spaced-repetition flashcard application, Anki, on improving 62 university-level learners' second language (L2) learning in a semester-long beginning Spanish course. Using effective study strategies is critical for L2 learning, but college students learning an L2 often study with strategies that are only useful…

This article examines the use of technology-mediated, task-based language teaching (TBLT) in a hybrid environment as an instructional approach in an intermediate-level Spanish course. It (a) evaluates elements of a hybrid course that was developed with computer-assisted language learning (CALL) materials to help learners improve their Spanish,…

This current study describes an object-based learning approach to teaching "Don Quixote" as part of the curriculum for Spanish majors at a small liberal arts college. In order to maximize students' engagement with the narrative and the material culture of the novel, students worked with rare books, collaborative translation using Google…

This study investigates the ways in which synchronous and asynchronous activities create an online language laboratory that mediates second language (L2) learning for 188 L2 university participants over a 6-week period. Completion of tasks and pre-, post-, and weekly surveys were analyzed. Statistical analyses were run on self-rated questions…