Despite increasing attention on literacy-based approaches to foreign language instruction (e.g. Allen & Dupuy, 2013; Barrette, Paesani, & Vinall, 2010; Byrnes, 2005; Kern, 2004; Magnan, Murphy, & Sahakyan, 2014) the communicative approach's emphasis on oral proficiency continues to shadow reading practices. Although research findings…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an animated pedagogical agent on Spanish vocabulary learning. Furthermore, the study examined learners' reactions and attitudes towards the presence of the pedagogical agent in the web-based environments. A total of 47 university students enrolled in two fourth-semester Spanish classes…

Reviews the content of the courseware contained in "EXITO: Survival Spanish," noting that this course is divided into 10 chapters and contains material typically covered in a beginning Spanish course (e.g., vocabulary units including greetings, family members, time expressions, etc.). The primary strength of the EXITO program is that it is a…

Provides a description of the Nuevos Destinos CD-ROM, a joint production for students learning Spanish at the advanced-beginning, intermediate-low, or native-speaker level. Nuevos Destinos involves students in meaningful ways by asking them to solve real-world problems encountered in law offices. (Author/VWL)

A comparison of the effectiveness of different ways to organize instructional materials and different strategies for error feedback used the computer as a research tool and took as subjects first-year junior high school Spanish students, who were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. To investigate materials organization, computer…

Describes the design and testing process that resulted in the production of "Un Meurtre a Cinet" and "Un Misterio en Toluca," two role-playing applications that ask students of French and Spanish to collaborate to solve a murder mystery using e-mail, listservs, and a culturally-rich Web site. (Author/VWL)

This guide to the use of computer software in Spanish second language instruction contains a series of lesson plans based in part on software content. The topics covered by the lesson plans are common to Spanish level 1 and 2 courses, and are intended not as a sequential course but as a reference for teachers. All lessons involve computer use and…

Discusses two computer programs designed for third-year university-level Spanish composition classes. The programs are based on the process model of composing and consist of pre-writing, writing, and revision. (SED)

Discusses the theoretical basis, implementation, and pedagogical considerations of CALLE (Computer-Aided Language Learning Environment), a dialogue-based beginning Spanish language instruction system. CALLE uses Lexical Functional Grammar Theory to analyze errors in student input. Sample screen is shown. (Author/LMO)

Describes a specialized authoring system known as a template, which usually targets only one subject and one format at a time. A template called DICTATE, which allows teachers to use the dictation format to practice auditory discrimination, aural comprehension, and orthography is discussed in detail. (SED)

Outlines the steps taken in developing and using computer-based instruction with interactive videodisc material in a language class. The goal of this particular project was to develop a series of listening comprehension activities in Spanish using 30 minutes of Level 2 Interagency Language Roundtable videodisc material. (Author/SED)

A federally funded project to develop Spanish for Agricultural Purposes, a set of instructional materials for agricultural specialists planning to work in Latin America, is reported. The materials are intended for use by individuals with at least a year's college-level study of Spanish. They include: a series of authentic readings, each with an…

Describes the computer hardware and software programs developed by Anne Arundel County, Maryland to integrate the use of the computer into upper level literature classes. A study undertaken to determine whether computers in Spanish and French classes made a difference in language learning is also described. No significant differences were found.…

In its second year of Title VII funding, James Monroe High Schools's Proyecto Nuevos Horizontes (Project New Horizons) served 344 limited-English-speaking recent arrivals from Latin America and the Caribbean, in grades 9 through 12. The program has built on the strengths of the high school's extensive computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program,…

The proceedings of a conference on computer-assisted language instruction include the following reports and papers: (1) a report on computer-related developments in speech research and their implications for therapy and communication; (2) descriptions of courseware and authoring aids for grammar and comprehension instruction and language practice…