Meaningful Writing for Beginners

Meaningful Writing for BeginnersAuthor(s): Jeffery D. StokesSource: Hispania, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Sep., 2007), pp. 543-550Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20063563 .Accessed: 28/05/2013 15:27

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Meaningful Writing for Beginners JefferyD. Stokes

Weber State University

Abstract: This project explores the feasibility of a semester-long writing activity for beginning foreign language students. The type of writing proposed is carefully guided, but also contextualized, personalized and therefore meaningful and motivating to the student. Further, several of the national Standards for Language Learning are addressed through this activity. Included in the article are a description of how such a project can

be developed, sample student writing in Spanish as well as results of a student survey on perceived usefulness of the writing task and its effect on language acquisition. Both student reaction as well as the typical ultimate

written product suggest that such an approach to writing is an excellent component in fostering general language acquisition and likely interest in pursuing further language study.

Key Words: first-year language study, process writing, proficiency, second-language acquisition, standards for

language learning, writing

Introduction

Most language teachers do not have difficulty coming up with writing tasks for be

ginning students. However, given the obvious lexical and syntactic limitations of lower-level students, these tasks often tend to be almost exclusively mechanical with

a focus much more on form rather than on meaning. Of necessity, much of what such students

produce, both orally as well as in writing in the target language, consists of memorized words and formulae. In the beginning there can be a certain novelty in being able to access, utter and write a few words and phrases in a new language. This eventually wears thin, however, and classroom activities can easily become routine and dull.

A study by Omaggio (1982) clearly suggests that instructors who personalize their instruc tion are consistently judged to be most effective by both students and supervisors. While this

study focused mainly on oral activities in the classroom, there is every reason to believe that similar perceptions result from written activities that are personalized and therefore contextual ized and meaningful. As a result, more students are likely to find the motivation to practice the

language and continue in their quest toward acquisition. This article outlines how an extended

writing project that personalizes tasks for students in a meaningful way can be developed in a first-semester foreign-language course.

Review of Literature

Rivers (1975) described the distinction between what she called skill-getting activities and

skill-using activit?s. The skill-getting part of this dichotomy refers to very controlled, often mechanical kinds of writing activities as a precursor to more meaningful writing. Lee and Van Patten (2003) explain that there are "language practices that use writing" and that "these activities focus learners' attention on the subcomponents of writing" (248). Dvorak ( 1986) refers to such activities as transcription-oriented practice. Magnan (1985) suggests that students write down something they might produce orally in the target language, thus using writing for the

purpose of enhancing speaking skills. Omaggio Hadley (1993) recommends what she calls

"precommunicative" practice at the lower levels of proficiency, which "allows students to

Stokes, Jeffery D.

"Meaningful Writing for Beginners" Hispania 90.3 (2007): 543-550


544 Hispania 90 September 2007

practice oral skills within a controlled framework and thus build confidence" (239) and recom mends similar kinds of practice for "writing as a support skill" (296). The notion that writing can, and perhaps should, be a support skill for practice of language forms, including in the speaking mode, seems well established.

If writing practice were to end there, nevertheless, we would have indeed fallen short of the

goal. Although some kinds of mechanical practice can be more meaningful than others, it is very difficult to produce activities of this type that are truly personalized and engaging for students. Rivers (1975) referred to such kinds of writing tasks as skill-using activities, in which students go far beyond the mere manipulation of forms. Instead of viewing writing as a support activity for other skills, Seow (2002) suggests conversely that "teachers often plan appropriate classroom activities that support the learning of specific writing skills at every stage" (316). He suggests regularly incorporating such preliminary classroom activities as planning (pre-writing), group brainstorming, clustering, rapid free writing and student generation of wh questions about a

topic. After their discussion of language practices that use writing, Lee and VanPatten (2003) "propose quite a different approach to second language writing, one that engages writers in

making good decisions that will improve their writing." They go on to note that "writing activities must help determine writers' conceptualization of the rhetorical problem and engage higher level

planning and reviewing processes" (251). The rhetorical problem is defined as "all aspects of the

writing situation, including the purpose [...], the likely audience, the topic, the author's know

ledge of the topic and the writer's own goals in writing" (247). Very few in the profession would argue that providing meaningful, communicative and per

sonalized practice in writing is not highly desirable. But doing this from the very beginning stages of language learning is not so easy, given students' obvious lack of lexical, morphological and syntactic repertoire. The challenge lies in not guiding the writing activity so carefully on the one extreme that the writing becomes mere reproduction of memorized elements, or on the other extreme, that the task is so general that the student flounders into unknown and unproductive territory. In spite of this fine line that one walks by asking beginners to write, there are those who advocate such an approach. Scott (1995) points to the benefit of the discoveries that students will make as they compose in the target language from the start. She had earlier proposed a

developmental program for writing at the first-year, second-year and third-year levels (1992). Although the topic might be the same, the precise language tasks and structures become pro gressively more complex. She stresses that "students who are taught to write from the start become better foreign-anguage learners" (1). Omaggio Hadley (1993) suggests "various kinds of creative writing activities, such as journal writing or cinquain poetry, in beginning courses to en

courage students to express their own meaning within the limits of their developing competence" (292).

Another way of making sure that writing assignments are of communicative value to students is to consider how such tasks might be designed to address the five goals of Com

munication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities within the Standards for

Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL). Shrum and Glisan (2005) point out that "these five goals interconnect to suggest the richness of human language; no one goal can be separated from the

other, nor is any one goal more important than another" (45). The more goals that can be addressed in a writing assignment, then, the richer and more beneficial the assignment should be for the student.

Design of the Term Paper and Project Results

Students in the two beginning classes were fairly diverse in terms of age and marital status. Their reason for being enrolled in the course ranged from a personal interest in learning Spanish to meeting the requirement for the B .A. degree. There were a number of false beginners among the true beginners in the course, but I will focus particularly on the level of success of the true

beginners in the groups.


Meaningful Writing for Beginners 545

As pointed out earlier, a very carefully crafted student project is necessary in order to avoid either asking the students to go too far beyond where they are able to do so linguistically, or

merely eliciting memorized words, phrases and sentences. Scott (1992) suggests that "in L2

writing, students should learn to allow familiar words and expressions to generate their ideas" (3), which seems to suggest a balance between using memorized elements and expressing original ideas, given a significant amount of linguistic constraints. The first step, then, was a careful

analysis of the textbook the students were using (Caycedo Gardner, Rusch, and Dom?nguez 2004) to assess what vocabulary, morphology and structure they could reasonably be expected to use in the writing process. This analysis yielded the following general topics for each paragraph they

would eventually write, beginning after the first couple of chapters and ending with Chapter 6.

(See Appendix A for the full version of topics and instructions to students.)

1. Self description 2. Daily routine 3. A favorite subject I study and why it interests me (with sample given due to the various

types of content students were to include) 4. Elaboration on paragraph 3: What and whom I know in this profession; when and why

there is a demand for people in this field 5. Typical schedule of activities and attire for people in the field described in paragraphs 3

and 4 6. How Spanish might be useful for someone in the field described in the previous three

paragraphs 7. Concluding paragraph to sum up or to tie the paper together

Students completed a paragraph in this series of seven paragraphs about every 10 to 14 days during the semester in the first-semester Spanish course. There were three types of feedback that students received each time:

1. Language errors were located that students could presumably correct on their own, such as with adjective agreement.

2. Corrections were made for language elements that students likely did not have the

capacity to handle on their own, such as with a tense they had not learned. 3. Comments were provided about the organization and content, or lack thereof, and

students were asked to revise or add details for the next time around.

Scott (1992) cites a study by Kepner (1991), which indicates strongly that this last type of feed back may be the most important since "students who were given message-related comments on their written work performed better in terms of both the quality of their ideas and surface-level accuracy than students who were given error corrections combined with explicit rule reminders" (4). Semke (1984) discovered a similar relationship between comments and performance. Of course, there is always ambiguous territory in which one realizes that the student interlanguage is not typical of how a native speaker would be likely to express an idea, but is also not technically a clear-cut grammatical, lexical or communicative error. The rule of thumb in these gray areas was that if the idea seemed to be understandable to a general audience, it was left alone.

Every time students handed in a new paragraph, they were expected to correct and revise previous paragraphs and turn them all in together as part of one single work. They were re

quested to contact the instructor at least 24 hours before each installment was due in person or

through email in order to get help with anything they were unable to write, which a number of them did. As the semester progressed, they were asked to add more details to earlier paragraphs after having learned additional vocabulary and structure. Of course, there was also plenty of language practice that used writing (precommunicative or skill-getting activities) leading up to the writing of each paragraph as well as some brainstorming activities in class that focused on


546 H?spanla 90 September 2007 what might be included. This was clearly a recursive or process-writing project in which students

progressively improved, added to and refined their work. Furthermore, it addresses some of the five Goals from the Standards mentioned above. It included Communication, both presentational (once the product was ready) and interactive (student/instructor during the process). It was very strongly oriented toward making a Connection with another discipline (paragraphs 3-6). For a number of students, Communities was another goal that they addressed since they talked about how they have interacted with specific individuals who are involved professionally in their own

community, noting in some cases how Spanish is useful in our university city, whose population is roughly one-third Spanish-speaking.

Although a rhetorical problem was not introduced in any formal kind of way, especially in the sense of the instructor creating an imagined context, purpose, hypothetical readers, etc. for the

student, it was emphasized throughout that they would end up with a nice document that would

present themselves well to speakers of Spanish in general. End products typically were about two to four type-written pages. Although this may not seem like a sizable paper, in fact it is quite an

accomplishment for those who had never learned Spanish prior to the beginning of the process. (Appendix C contains the final version of two sample term papers written by students who had had no previous Spanish.) As will be seen later, many of these students ultimately felt a con siderable amount of pride for what they had accomplished during the semester.

Student Perceptions of the Project

At the completion of the project, students were administered an anonymous survey re

garding their attitudes toward the activity. A tally of student responses on a scale 0-3 and a

summary of student comments can be found in Appendix B. Students overwhelmingly responded positively to each item in the survey, with the vast majority responding "strongly agree" or "agree" on each item. To summarize these results, the bulk of the students affirmed that

doing the term paper was a motivating activity for learning Spanish, was fun, enhanced their

general acquisition of Spanish, was a valuable use of their time, helped them make a connection between Spanish and another academic discipline, and would be something they would recom mend that future beginning students do. The most common positive written comments students

made affirmed that the best thing about doing the project was learning how to better form sen tences and/or paragraphs, becoming convinced of their ability to write in Spanish, being able to write about self and interests, being able to write about a career/discipline of interest and in

creasing vocabulary. Students were also asked to indicate the worst thing about the activity, to which the most frequent responses were that they didn't know all the vocabulary/grammar/ language that they needed, the project was time-consuming and they didn't have the right word

processing resources.

Conclusion

Although much still remains left to do in the area of designing meaningful writing tasks for

beginning students, the term-paper project seems like a very good next step, both from the

perspective of the student as well as in terms of what was ultimately achieved. Although the task was limited from a lexical, morphological and syntactic perspective, the students were able to use

what they had learned in class in a significantly meaningful and satisfying way to them per

sonally. The activity also required them to ponder the importance of their target language in an

academic or professional field, which, in turn, may provide additional motivation for some of them to continue in their quest to acquire Spanish. At the very least, they should be able to say that

they didn't merely memorize some vocabulary and learn to conjugate a few verbs in their study of

Spanish.


Meaningful Writing for Beginners 547

AppendixA Spanish 1010 Instructions for Term Project Important! Turn in all previous versions each time a new paragraph and revised paragraphs are due, always with the newest on top. Suggestion: First write as much as you can, then consult with the instructor (at least a day before it is due) during office hours or by e-mail for help with anything you may be unable to write.

1f 1. Describe yourself in Spanish. You can include information on your name, where you're from, how old you are, who your parents and friends (amigo/amiga) are, and what you do (student, secretary, etc). Also, look in

your glossary or dictionary for at least three (3) descriptive adjectives which describe you (tall, smart, blonde, pretty, etc.), and use these to tell what you are like (with "ser"). if 2. (Correct and revise #1.) Then tell about you daily routine on the various days of the week, including studies and work. Tell various activities you do and do not like to do. Hand in the entire work (both paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) version.

| 3. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Your topic this time is: "A favorite subject I study, and why it interests me." The subject you choose could be your major, your minor, or simply something that you studied that you really enjoyed. It should be a subject other than Spanish. You may need to look up some words, but try to use what you know in Spanish as the basis of your paragraph. A sample paragraph follows, but keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to follow the structure and organization of this particular paragraph:

En la Universidad de XXX estudio anatom?a y salud. Deseo ser enfermera alg?n ("some") d?a. Me gus tar?a ser enfermera porque tenemos muchos enfermos en nuestro pa?s. Ellos necesitan buenos m?dicos

y enfermeras. Voy a trabajar en un hospital peque?o en un pueblo peque?o porque es m?s personal. No me gustan los hospitales grandes e impersonales. Las enfermeras no ganan mucho dinero, pero reciben mucha satisfacci?n cuando trabajan con personas enfermas. Por eso deseo ser una enfermera muy buena y dedicada. ?Voy a recibir mi t?tulo ("degree") en s?lo dos a?os m?s!

K Hand in the entire work (all three paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) versions.

WORKS CITED

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (1999). Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. Lawrence, KS: Allen P.

Caycedo Gardner, Lucia, Debbie Rusch, and Marcela Dom?nguez. (2004). ?Claro que s?!, 5th ed. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin.

Dvorak, Trisha R. (1986). "Writing in a Foreign Language." Listening, Reading and Writing: Analysis and Ap plication. Ed. B. H. Wing. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 145-63.

Kepner, Christine Goring. (1991). "An Experiment in the Relationship of Types of Written Feedback to the

Development of Second-Language Writing Skills." The Modern Language Journal 75: 305-13.

Lee, James F., and Bill VanPatten. (2003). Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen. Boston: McGraw Hill.

Magnan, Sally S. (1985). "Teaching and Testing Proficiency in Writing: Skills to Transcend the Second

Language Classroom." Proficiency, Curriculum, Articulation: The Ties that Bind. Ed. Alice C. Omaggio. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. 109-36.

Omaggio, Alice C. (1982). "The Relationship Between Personalized Classroom Talk and Teacher Effectiveness

Ratings: Some Research Results." Foreign Language Annals 15: 255-69.

Omaggio Hadley, Alice C. (1993). Teaching Language in Context: Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction. 2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Rivers, Wilga M. (1975). A Practical Guide to the Teaching of French. New York: Oxford UP.

Scott, Virginia M. (1992). "Write from the Start: A Task-Oriented Developmental Writing Program for

Foreign Language Students." Dimension: Language '91. Ed. R. Terry. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State U. 1 15.

?. (1995). "Writing." Research Within Reach II. Eds. V. Galloway and C. Herron. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State U. 115-27.

Semke, Harriet D. (1984). "Effects of the Red Pen." Foreign Language Annals 17: 195-202.

Seow, Anthony. (2002). "The Writing Process and Process Writing." Methodology in Language Teaching: An

Anthology of Current Practice. Eds. J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya. New York: Cambridge UP. 315 20.

Shrum, Judith L., and Eileen W. Glisan. (2005). Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction. 3rd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.


548 H?spanla 90 September 2007 \ 4. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Elaborate on the field of study you talked about in paragraph three. Tell whom you know (conocer) that is a professional in this field, and whom you know something about

(saber) in this area. Also, tell one or two interesting things that you know (saber) about this profession. Then, indicate whether or not there is a seasonal aspect to this line of work. Is there more demand for it in the fall? The

spring? (etc.). Does that relate to the weather, or some other factor? Try to use the vocabulary and grammatical structures you are familiar with. Hand in the entire work (all four paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) versions.

f 5. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Describe the typical daily schedule of someone in the field that

you are writing about. What times of the day does one generally do the various activities associated with this field? Then describe the typical clothing that people in this field generally wear. Does this vary according to the situation? Hand in the entire work (all five paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) versions.

\ 6. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Explain how the study/knowledge of Spanish can be useful for someone in the field you are describing. Be specific about what a person might be able to accomplish by understanding/speaking/writing/reading Spanish Hand in the entire work (all six paragraphs together), newest

version on top of older (corrected) versions.

\ 7. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Conclusion: Write a brief concluding paragraph to sum up or tie

together your term project. Hand in the entire work (all seven paragraphs together), newest version on top of

older (corrected) versions.

Appendix B Espa?ol 1010 Student Evaluation and Comments (with Summary of Results)

You need not identify yourself anywhere on this survey. The instructor will not look at this sheet until after

grades have been turned in.

A. Please circle the answer that best describes your point of view for each of the following statements:

1. I found that doing the term paper was a motivating activity for learning Spanish. strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

2. Writing about myself and my interests in the term paper was fun.

strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

3. Doing the term paper enhanced my general acquisition of the Spanish language. strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

4. Working on the term paper was a valuable use of my time in learning to express myself in

Spanish. strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

5. Doing the term paper helped me make a connection between Spanish and another academic

discipline. strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

6. I would recommend that Spanish 1010 students in the future do a similar term paper

strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree

Table 1

Results of Survey: Tally of Responses and Averages (All Students Included)

item strongly agree (x3) agree (x2) disagree (xl) strongly disagree (xO) average

1 15 23 1 1 2.30/3.00 2 11 26 2 1 2.18/3.00

3 20 18 2 0 2.49/3.00 4 20 17 3 0 2.43/3.00 5 13 21 6 0 2.18/3.00

6 23 13 3 0 2.49/3.00


Meaningful Writing for Beginners 549 B. Please write brief comments on the following two topics:

1. What was the best thing about doing the term project? 2. What was the worst thing about doing the term project?

Summary of Student Comments

The best thing about doing the term project:

1. Learning how to better form sentences/paragraphs (n =

9) 2. Became convinced of ability to write in Spanish (6) 3. Writing about self and interests (5) 4. Writing about career/discipline of interest (5) 5. Increased vocabulary (5) 6. Learning to express self better (5) 7. Being able to revise the work (4) 8. Correlation with course/text content (2) 9. Required some thinking (2) 10. Learning Spanish through actual use (2)

One student for each of the following: Thinking more about selecting a major Provided writing practice No grade given until the end

Translating sentences into Spanish Fostered circumlocution

Seeing progress over the semester Increased understanding of Spanish Fostered frequent active use of Spanish Learned how useful Spanish is

The worst thing about doing the term project:

1. Not knowing all the vocabulary/syntax/language (12) 2. No negative comment, or left blank (7) 3. Time-consuming (5) 4. Not having the right word-processing resource (for diacritics) (5) 5. Some topics difficult to write about (2) One student for each of the following:

Difficulty with some topics due to lack of a major Not knowing how many points it was worth Not being able to go over it and ask questions Some paragraphs were repetitive ("but not really") Tying the paragraphs together Did not own a dictionary Having little time between paragraph assignments Coming up with things to write about Not a favorite assignment Spanish and student's specific major have little in common

AppendixC Samples of Papers by True Beginner Students

The following samples are exact reproductions of the final product without further editing by the author except for the disguising of identifying vital data.

Sample 1

Me llamo L. Soy de Layton, Utah. Soy estadounidense. Mi familia es de origen norteamericano, alem?n, ingl?s y franc?s. Tengo veinticuatro a?os. Yo soy casada. Mi esposo se llama H. ?l tiene veintiocho a?os. ?l es

alto, moreno, y muy guapo. Tenemos un perro y ?l se llama Samii. A nosotros nos gusta mucho Samii. Me gusta bailar y escuchar m?sica, pero no me gusta cantar. A mi esposo, H., no le gusta bailar pero le gusta

escuchar m?sica y cantar. Me gusta leer las novelas de Danielle Steele. Tengo treinta y seis novelas de ella. Me

gusta comer en Olive Garden. Las comidas italianas son muy buenas. Yo soy estudiante. Tengo cinco clases en la Universidad de Weber. Tengo que estudiar mucho. Estudio geo

graf?a, antropolog?a y espa?ol. Me gusta estudiar los pueblos y los sitios por eso estudio antropolg?a y geograf?a.


550 H?spanla 90 September 2007 Antropolog?a es muy dif?cil pero es interesante. Geograf?a es interesante tambi?n. Deseo ser geogr?fico antrop? lico alg?n d?a. A m? me gusta viajar. Alg?n d?a, voy a estudiar y viajar por todo el mundo.

Antrop?logos estudian los pueblos y sus culturas alrededor del mundo. Ellos escriben y hablan mucho sobre su trabajo. El trabajo es muy dif?cil. Yo conozco a Dr. R. C. Ella es directora de departamento antropolg?a en la

Universidad de Weber. Ella es profesora tambi?n. La Dra. C. visita y trabaja por todo el mundo. A ella le gusta visitar China y Espa?a. Ella es muy inteligente, simp?tica y buena. Ella es mi amiga tambi?n. Yo s? sobre africa nos y ?rabes y asi?ticos y sus lenguas y sus religiones. Yo conozco a Charles Darwin y a Franz Boas. Ellos son

antropol?gicos famosos. El Sr. Darwin es el padre de la antopolg?a. Los ge?grafos estudian los pueblos tambi?n pero no estudian las culturas mucho. En cambio los ge?grafos

estudian m?s la tierra o el tiempo y los pueblos. La geograf?a es interesante y es diversi?n. Yo conozco a Dr. E. ?l es director de departamento geograf?a en la Universidad de Weber. ?l es profesor tambi?n. A ?l le gusta estudiar mapas viejos y geograf?a hist?rica. El Dr. E. es muy simp?tico. Yo s? mucha geograf?a hist?rica. Estoy estudiando geograf?a hist?rica este semestre. Yo conozco a H. A. ?l pron?stico del tiempo en la televisi?n para el canal trece. ?l trabaja bajo la lluvia o el sol y durante cualquier tiempo.

Lo antrop?logos y los ge?grafos trabajan casi todos los d?as t?picamente. Ellos dan clases parecidas a las de Dra. C. y Dr. E. Ellos no trabajan los fines de semana pero ellos trabajan horas largas. Por ejemplo, ellos trabajan por ocho horas en la universidad al d?a pero entonces regresan a su casa y trabajan tambi?n por dos o tres horas. Los profesores llegan en la universidad a las seis o seis y media m?s o menos y salen de la universidad a las tres, m?s o menos. Ambos antrop?logos y ge?grafos pueden trabajar al aire libre y ellos llevan ropa seg?n el trabajo y el tiempo. Si ellos dan clases, pueden llevar ropa pr?ctica. Ellos llevan que prefiera. La Dra. C. lleva vestidos

y trajes un poco elegantes. El Dr. E. lleva pantalones y camisas pr?cticas. Sabemos que otras lenguas son buenas siempre. Hablar y entender el espa?ol es muy bueno porque el espa?ol

es el idioma oficial de veinte pa?ses del mundo. Hoy aproximadamente doscientos setenta y seis millones de per sonas hablan espa?ol. Los antrop?logos estudian las gentes alrededor del mundo. En los pa?ses de habla espa?ola saber el espa?ol ayuda. La geograf?a usa los nombres de espa?ol para el tiempo. Por ejemplo, el ni?o, la ni?a o

hurac?n Edwardo, Jos? etc. Ellos pueden hablar espa?ol a otros profesionales y la gente que habla espa?ol tam

bi?n. Ellos pueden aprender muchas cosas por hablar a otras personas en espa?ol. Ellos pueden aprender el

tiempo, del lugares o de las noticias. El espa?ol es muy ?til por muchas razones. Una raz?n por qu? yo aprendo espa?ol es porque yo deseo aprender otra lengua que es ?til para todos los

d?as. El espa?ol es ?til en Utah y en los Estados Unidos en general hoy porque nosotros tienemos muchas perso nas que hablan espa?ol ?nicamente. Alg?n d?a cu?ndo termine mis estudios y yo trabaje en la geograf?a o en la

antropolog?a, yo voy a viajar y estudiar el mundo. Entonces puedo usar la lengua espa?ola para ayudar el enten

dimiento (mutuo).

Sample 2

Yo me llamo D., soy de Bountiful, Utah. (Yo) tengo veinticuatro a?os. Mi n?mero de tel?fono es [000], cincuenta y nueve, cero, seis. Me gusta ser aficionada de los desportes y me gustan los caballos. Me gusta ser cam

pista y me gusta ir de pesca. Me gusta el esqu? acu?tico tambi?n. Me gusta bailar y nadar. Me gusta escuchar m?sica de guitarra. No me gusta estudiar mucho. Me gustan los

s?bados y los domingos porque no trabajo esos los d?as. Me gustan los fines de semana. Me gusta hablar con mis

amigos y correr en la ma?anas. Me gusta jugar a los bolos con mi familia. No me gusta leer mucho los libros

gruesos. En la Universidad de Weber estudio salud y nutrici?n. Deseo ense?ar alg?n d?a, posiblemente ejercicios

aer?bicos alg?n d?a. Me gusta el ejercico mucho tambi?n. Espero trabajar en una gran compa??a y ense?ar. Yo

ofrecer?a clases de salud y nutrici?n. Muchas compa??as contratan a personas para ense?ar a sus empleados sobre

la salud. Las profesoras no ganan mucho dinero, pero ganan suficiente para vivir. Voy a recibir mi t?tulo en s?lo

uno a?o y medio. Yo conozco al se?or G. G., el jefe de departamento de salud. Creo que la salud y la nutrici?n son muy intere

santes. Yo s? que comer y hacer ejercicios es saludable. S? que comidas que son saludables comidas [son mejores]

que [los que] no son saludables. Mi tarea es de ense?ar les a las personas el beneficio de la buena salud y buenos

h?bitos de alimentaci?n. Esto es ense?ar todo el a?o, el verano, el oto?o y el invierno y la primavera. No impor ta el tiempo.

Un d?a t?pico para alguien en el campo de salud es muy diferente. Yo quiero trabajar en negocios o en una

escuela con el proposito de ayudar y ense?ar a las personas acerca salud y nutrici?n. Yo quiero trabajar en las

ma?anas. De esa manera yo puedo hacer ejercicios en la ma?ana como a las ocho y luego ir al trabajar. Con este

trabajo yo puedo vestirme formal y tambi?n puedo vestirme casual, como por ejemplo puedo usar zapatos de

tenis o ropa para ejercicio. El espa?ol es muy importante en este campo porque si aprendo espa?ol yo puedo ayudar a la gente que no

habla ingl?s. Por ejemplo yo puedo usar espa?ol en los colegios o en la comunidad. En Utah cada vez hay m?s his

panos que no hablan ingl?s, y eso va requevir que you aprenda espa?ol para ayudar a esta gente con su salud.

Finalmente, yo pienso que es importante aprendar otro idiona. Aunque mi carrera no necisite mucho es

pa?ol, yo pienso que es importante saber espa?ol porque as? you puedo comunicarme con otras personas. Por

ejemplo yo trabajo con gente que habla espa?ol que no habla ingl?s.


Article Contentsp. [543]p. 544p. 545p. 546p. 547p. 548p. 549p. 550

Issue Table of ContentsHispania, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Sep., 2007), pp. 413-621, I-XVIIFront MatterEl vestido de boda: La problematizacin de la condicin femenina en un monlogo teatral de Emilia Pardo Bazn [pp. 413-422]Voces sublevadas: Escritoras costarricenses develan la Historia y vislumbran el futuro de su pas [pp. 423-430]Jos Angel Valente's Blindness and Insight: Rewriting as Discovery [pp. 431-442]El silencio del hambre: Figuras de la carencia en Antonio Jos Ponte [pp. 443-452]An Alien Rumble: Satire through Language Simulation in Two Novels by Arturo Prez-Reverte [pp. 453-461]Lesbigay Publishing in Spain [pp. 462-469]Realismo potico en el pensamiento de Mara Zambrano [pp. 470-478]Alternative Conversions, Priesthoods, and Religious Constructs in "Pepita Jimnez" and "San Manuel Bueno, mrtir" [pp. 479-489]ReviewsPeninsularReview: untitled [pp. 490-491]Review: untitled [pp. 491-492]Review: untitled [pp. 492-493]Review: untitled [pp. 493-495]Review: untitled [pp. 495-496]Review: untitled [pp. 496-497]Review: untitled [pp. 497-499]Review: untitled [pp. 499-500]Review: untitled [pp. 500-501]

Latin AmericaReview: untitled [pp. 502-503]Review: untitled [pp. 503-504]Review: untitled [pp. 504-505]Review: untitled [pp. 505-506]Review: untitled [pp. 507-508]Review: untitled [pp. 508-509]Review: untitled [pp. 510-511]Review: untitled [pp. 511-512]Review: untitled [pp. 512-514]

Pedagogy/LinguisticsReview: untitled [pp. 514-515]Review: untitled [pp. 515-516]Review: untitled [pp. 516-517]

New FictionReview: untitled [pp. 517-518]Review: untitled [pp. 519-520]Review: untitled [pp. 520-521]Review: untitled [pp. 521-522]Review: untitled [pp. 522-523]

Media/ComputersUnrestricted Film List Project [pp. 524-526]Reviews of Interactive CDs and DVDs [pp. 527-531]

PedagogyCollege Students as Tutors: Learning from the Latino Community of Adams County [pp. 533-542]Meaningful Writing for Beginners [pp. 543-550]

Theoretical Linguistics"Ch, mir, vos sabs que no no voy a poder": How Argentineans Refuse an Invitation [pp. 551-564]Lexical Subregularities and the Stress Preferences of L2 Spanish Learners [pp. 565-578]

The Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World: De Bamb a Mamb: La "Guerra de Cuba" en el cine espaol [pp. 583-588]The Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World [pp. 589-613]Back Matter

Documents

Meaningful Writing for Beginners