Mrs.+Lassen's+Research

Action Research in the ELL and Foreign Language Classroom



The following are examples of Graduate Level Research conducted by Mrs. Lassen during her M.Ed. program at Middle Tennessee State University.

"Content Area and Reading Fluency in the Spanish Classroom" Abstract This qualitative action research study identified and developed strategies to promote reading comprehension and two higher level reading skills in the foreign language classroom. The study attempted to answer the following questions: (1) What reading strategies can be incorporated into the Spanish classroom to improve reading skills in both English (L1) and Spanish (L2)? (2) What strategies and / or materials will promote higher level reading skills in the Spanish and Reading curriculum? And (3) How can classroom instruction be improved through learning Metacognitive and Elaborative reading skills? The participants were twelve seventh grade students at an urban middle school in the south. This qualitative study was analyzed using the reporting approach. This study concludes that students were able to transfer reading skills used in the foreign language classroom to skills used in the English (L1) classroom. The implications of this study are that students receiving reading instruction in the L2 will use these skills in both L2 and in L1 when appropriate.

 The link above is to the research report.  The link above is to the PowerPoint presentation associated with the Action Research project.

"The Effectiveness of Podcasts vs. Videos in the Foreign Language Classroom"

Abstract  This action research study analyzed if beginning Spanish language students could learn better with the accessibility of being able to listen to podcasts, or if they learn better from having both audio and visual input during their language study. This study will also use these findings to develop a more extensive curriculum using either podcasts, videos or both. This action research study answered the following three questions: (1) Is comprehension higher, after viewing a video or listening to a podcast? (2) What are the benefits, if any, to using podcasts? (3) How can classroom instruction be improved through podcasts or videos / webisodes? This study found that students were able to glean more information from watching videos in the beginning stages of learning. It proposes teachers develop podcasts through themselves and native speakers, and presents information in small listening groups.  //Keywords:// Podcast, video, comprehension, instruction

The link above is to the research report.  The link above is to the PowerPoint presentation associated with the Action Research project.

Curriculum Mapping

"Heritage Spanish 1 - Wrapping it up, Reviewing it all, Reading on" <span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 180%;">The link above is an example of a curriculum map written for an 8th grade Heritage Spanish class.