Date of Award

5-2017

Document Type

Action Research Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Kristy Cook

Department/School

Education

Abstract

This action research examined the impact of incorporating blogging into a middle school classroom and the effect it had on student motivation and their ability to use conversational Spanish. The research took place with a class of eleven seventh grade students in an urban charter school. Students were given vocabulary and grammar instruction during the week and then asked to synthesize the knowledge that they have gained into a post on Kidblog. Students then commented on or asked questions about their classmate’s posts. Data was collected using a pre- and post- research proficiency rubric, a blog portfolio, a grading checklist and a student attitude questionnaire. The results of the study indicated that as students grew more accustomed to using the blog as a way to communicate, their language structures increased in complexity and length. The feedback on their attitude questionnaire also indicated that most students were motivated by the use of technology and felt confident in their ability to communicate their ideas using Kidblog. Future research would show how incorporating other social media into the classroom would affect their use of Spanish outside of the classroom.

Keywords: Blogging, Foreign Language, Spanish

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