The efficacy of an output-centered approach to teaching elementary Spanish

The essential role of comprehensible input in second language acquisition is incontrovertible. The role of comprehensible output, however, is a point of far greater contention. Swain (1985, 1993, 1994; Swain & Lapkin 1995) develops an output hypothesis, arguing that in addition to exposure to necessary comprehensible input the learner needs to engage in the production of comprehensible output in order to advance linguistically. This quasi-experimental investigation concerns the role of pushed-output production in the foreign language classroom, and the influence of an output-centered approach to teaching Spanish on subjects' oral proficiency development and subject-matter achievement after one semester of university study. Insight into the impact of oral production practice on these outcomes is important to the field in light of past and more recent attempts to marginalize output in favor of an emphasis on listening comprehension and input-based discrimination activities (e.g., Terrell 1977, 1991; Terrell et al. 1994; VanPatten 1993; VanPatten and Cadierno 1993). Data was gathered from six University of Pittsburgh elementary Spanish sections (68 subjects). The design established three subject groupings labeled Experimental A, Experimental B, and Control Group. A pretest/screening was administered to determine the true-beginner status of all subjects, this to control for pre-treatment knowledge of the target language.; Treatment A was an output-centered approach to teaching elementary Spanish, in which instructor expectations for student-generated output were high. The treatment was brought to the classroom primarily through modifications in teacher talk which created added opportunities and demands for student production. Teacher talk in the pushed-output classroom engendered a focus on form within a communicative instructional framework, with specifications for language elicitation techniques, raised expectations for quantity and accuracy of output, and the provision of negative feedback which resulted in learner hypothesis testing through output reworking. Treatment B was an input/aural comprehension-centered approach to teaching elementary Spanish in which instructor expectations for oral production were significantly lower relative to Treatment A. The Natural Approach, used here to operationalize this pedagogical stance, was selected both for the explicitness with which it assigns a deemphasized role to output, and the popularity of this approach and associated university-level materials in the field of Spanish language instruction over the past decade.; Outcome measures included a prochievement interview designed to elicit a speech sample that could be rated according to ACTFL guidelines, and a discrete-point achievement posttest. It was hypothesized that providing university learners with increased opportunities for meaningful production while engaging them in pushed-language use would result in greater oral proficiency development and greater subject-matter achievement after one semester of instruction. The findings strongly support the hypothesis regarding oral proficiency development, with the majority of pushed-output subjects (47.8%) attaining a post-treatment rating of novice-high, significantly outperforming their counterparts in the Natural Approach (B) and Control (C) groups. While pushed-output subjects also outperformed their counterparts on the subject-matter achievement outcome, these differences were not found to be significant at the 0.05 level {dollar}(p=0.06).{dollar} The findings clearly indicate a positive, essential role for output production in fostering oral proficiency development in the elementary Spanish classroom.