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An Experiment in Improving Achievement in Foreign Language Through Learning of Selected ... PDF

103 Pages·2012·1.25 MB·English
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 046 261 EL 001 486 118 Polit7er, Fohert L.; Weiss, Louis AUT9OR An 7xPeriment in Tmproving Achievnt in Toreior. TITLT . Lancuage Through Learning of Selected Skills Associated with Language Aptitude. 'final Report. INSTITUTION Stanford Univ., Calif. School of Rducation. SPONS AGENCY Office of Education (D97W), Washington, D.C. Bureau of Research. BUREAU NO PR-L7-1001 PUB DATE Jul fo OFC-4-f-01097-1231 CONTRACT 102p. NOTE EDRS PRICE EDRS ?rice IF-$0.65 PC-$6.c9 DESCRIPTORS *Achievement Tests, *Aptitude Tests, Cultural Education, *Language Ability, language Development, Language Instruction, Language Proficiency, *Language Pesearch, *Language Skills, Language Tests, second Language Learning, Sex Differences, Skill Development, Statistical Data, Sta:!y Skills ABSTRACT This two-phase experiment was conducted to determine: (1) whether foreign language aptitude as measured by standard aptitude tests (Pimsleur Lanruage Aptitude Pattery, can be significantly Ca roll -Sapon Modern Language Aptitude Test) increased by training, and whether increases in language aptitude (2) so obtained would result in better language achievement. Phase one involved an !SLAT-trained experimental group and an untrained control group. Phase two involved a Pimsleur-trained experimental grour, a control group that received cultural enrichment, and a group that was involved in the acquisition of study skills. The experiment indicated that specific training in language aptitude may very well be an important educational tool, though it is probably most effective if undertaken before any exposure to foreign language learning. (Author/A?) feas,. "trliaZISitirdallIFS4 / O ci 4"71 Final Report An Experiment in Improving Achievement in Foreign Language Through Learning of Aptitude Selected Skills Associated with Language Robert L. Politzer, Principal Investigator Louis Weiss, Assistant Investigator Prepared under Contract No. OEC 4.6-051091-1231 for U.S. Office of Education School of Education Stanford University Stanford, California t U 1 1100)11p11t Of PIE!" IDA11)011 & w111111 JULY 1969 OF DU 01 10A11011 O MS 10(001 HIS 1111 ItP/00AID IliFIL) IS It1Il[v11 !Om NI 0 PIM 01 On1clatr01 01)611016 POILIS 01 r4I 01 0041 011 IICISSAINT 011111011 01F(41 °WU OF IDA1DOP flow 14!) 1091)01 OP 10001 Ui 1 Co7ltract No. OEC 4-6-051097-1231 An Experiment in Improving Achievement in Foreign Language Through Learning of Selected Skills Associated with Language Aptitude Final Report July 1969 U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare OFFICE OF EDUCATION Bureau of Research School of Education Stanford University 2 Final Report An Experiment in Improving Achievement in Foreign Language Through Learning of Selected Skills Associated with Language Aptitude Contract No. OEC 4-6-051097-1231 Louis Weiss Robert L. Politzer Assistant Investigator Principal Investigator The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a contract with the Office of Education, U. S. Department of Health, Contractors undertaking such projects Education and ,Ielfare. under government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely Points their professional judgment in the conduct of the project. of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent offi- cial office of education position or policy. Stanford University Stanford, California ACK1dO4LEDGMENTS The investigators would like to express their gratitude to all those who mare possible the experiments which are reported Thanks are due to the teachers and high school stu- herewith. dents whose classes were used in Phase I of the experiment and to the staff and officials of the Defense Language Institute (West Coast Branch) for allowing experiments to be conducted in We also wish to conjunction with their training program. acknowledge the help given by Dr. Michio P. Hagiwara and Mrs. Karen Kvavik in the construction of the training; materials used in Phase I and by Dr. Carl Rinne, Mr. John Duncan and Mr. Philip Sedlak in the administration of the experiment and the evaluation of the results of that phase of the study. Phase II of the study was conducted in the Palo Alto Unified School District, and the investigators wish to express their particular thanks to the teachers of the Palo Alto schools who cooperated in the writing of the training materials and Particular thanks whose classes took part is the experiment. are due to the administration of the Falo Alto Unified School Uistrict and especially to the Director of Research, Dr. Bruce The investigators are also indebted to Dr. Janet Keepes. Elashoff of the Methodology Unit of the Stanford Center for Research and Development in Teaching for advice and assistance with the statistical treatment of the experimental data. Robert L. Politzer Principal Investigator Louis Weiss Assistant Investigator - ABSTRACT The purpose of the experiment was two-fold. It was designed to determine whether foreign language aptitude as measured by standard foreign language aptitude tests (Pimsleur LAB, Carroll -Sapcn MLAT) could be significantly increased by specific training and whether increases in language aptitude brought about by ouch training resulted in better achievement in foreign language study. The experiment was conducted in two phases. For the first phase of the experiment, training materials based pri- marily on the MLAT and dealing essentially with sound-symbol relltion and awareness of structure in English were pre.eared. The training materials were used in the Defense Language Insti- tute West (Monterey) as well as in various high schools in the Selected language classes were used as San Francisco Bay area. experimental training groups and their achievement on post-tests in language aptitude and on criterion tests in the foreign language was compared with the achievement of control groups The post-tests which were not exposed to the aptitude training. did not show clear-cut differences between experimental and con- trol groups on either language achievement or aptitude tests. They did indicate, however, that both experimental and control groups showed gains in language aptitude which were significantly larger than those which might be due to any retest effect. The training materials used for the second phase of the experiment were based primarily on the Pimaleur Language Apti- tude Battery and emphasized the development of inductive language The second phase of the experi- learning and reasoning ability. ment was conducted in the Palo Alto Unified School District with three pairs of first year Junior High School classes (2 Spanish, The experimental classes received apti- 2 German and 2 French). tude training while the control classes were exposed to cultural vii 5 materials. Both the aptitude training and the cultural material training took place concurrently with initial training in the foreign language. In addition, the aptitude training was also offered to a group of classes which concentrated on the acquisi- tion of study skills rather than on the study of any specific foreign language. The experiment showed that all classes involved (Experi- mental, Control and Study Skills) made gains in language aptitude which could not be accounted for by a simple retest effect. In addition, there was a general tendency for experimental classes to achieve somewhat higher than control classes on both the second aptitude test and the language achievement tests which were administered as part of the experiment. This tendency was particularly pronounced among male subjects. The difference in achievement of male experimental subjects over male control sub- jects on the LAB post-test almost reached the .05 level of sig- nificance and on at least one of the language tests (Final Achievement in Spanish) male experimental subjects performed significantly better than male control subjects (p < .05). The experiment indicates that specific training in language aptitude may very well be an important educational tool, though it is probably most effective if undertaken before any exposure to foreign language learning. viii 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND INTRODUCTION: APTITUDE TRAINING 1 PHASE I OF THE EXPERIMENT 7 Procedure 7 Experimental Design 7 Training Program 7 Results and Discussion 12 Defense Language Institute Experiment 12 The High School Experiment 18 Summary and Conclusions 28 PHASE II OF THE EXPERIMENT 31 Procedure 31 Experimental Design 31 Training Program 32 Criterion Measures 35 Student Attitude Measures 38 Second Control Groups 41 Results and Discussion 44 Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (LAB) Post-test 44 Aptitude Training Progress Test 56 Language Achievement Tests 64 Summary and Conclusions 76 REFERENCES CITED 79 Appendix List of Training Materials and Criterion I. Tests Written Especially for the Experiment 81 . Correlations of Pimaleur LAB Pre-tests and II. Post-tests with Experimental Criterion Tests 82 . Student Attitude Scale 84 III. Unadjusted Aptitude Training Progress Test: IV. Means and Standard Deviations for All Classes 85 86 Analyses of Covariance V. 7 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Defense Language Institute Experiment: Summary 1. of Mean Scores for Al! Classes 14 Gains and Differences in Gain in Aptitude 2. 13 Rank Order of Classes in Initial Aptitude and 3. 16 Aptitude Gain Mean Scores and Gains for Army Language Aptitude 4. Test for First and Fourth quartiles, All Languages Combined 17 Total Mean Scores and Gains on Pre-test and 5. Post-test of Army Language Aptitude Battery 18 . Summary of Mean Scores High School Experiment: 6. 20 for All Classes Mean Scores on Final Progress Tests 22 7. Gains and Differences in Gains on MLAT 2, 3, and 8. 4 for All High School Classes Combined 19 . . . Differences in Gain in Aptitude Tests Between 9. 23 Top 25% and Bottom 25% Differences in Gain in Aptitude Tests Between 10. 24 Experimental and Control Groups Mean Scores on MLAT, Total Test 25 11. 3, and 4 Made by 9th Mean Scores on MLAT 2, 12. 26 Grade Students in High School Experiment . Pre-test Means, Post-test Means, and Net Gains 13. on MLAT 2, 3, and 4 for Classes from Which 27 Complete Results Were Available 40 Attitude of Studentn to Experiment 14. 43 Class Means and Gain Scores on Fimsleur LAB 15. . Unadjusted Piresleur Language Aptitude Battery: 16. 46 Means, Standard Deviations and Gain Scores . xi 8 Table Page Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery Post-test: 17. Adjusted Means, Male and Female Control and and Experimental Groups 55 Progress Test--Listening: Adjusted Means for 18. Male and Female Control and Experimental Groups 61 Progress Test--Grammar: Adjusted Means for Male 19. and Female Control and Experimental Groups 64 . . Language Achievement Test and Final Achievement 20. Male and Female Control and Experi- Test: mental Groups 74 Language Achievement Tests--Male Subjects: 21. t-Test of Significance of Difference Between Adjusted Means 75 xii 9

Description:
The experimental classes received apti- tude training while the control second aptitude test and the language achievement tests which TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. INTRODUCTION: FOREIGN LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND. APTITUDE TRAINING. 1. PHASE I OF THE EXPERIMENT. 7. Procedure.
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