Language(s)

Spanish

Learner level

Intermediate

Institution

Foreign Language Centre, University of Exeter

Name(s)

Objectives

A C.V. and a series of letters with the title Sample correspondence in Spanish were designed as new resource for the section of the F.L.C. web site devoted to Spanish. These were devised with the needs of students currently studying in Exeter and those of students studying and working abroad in their third year in mind. A page of notes with vocabulary and explanations focusing on cultural differences follows each item and a bibliography completed the pages. A copy of the web pages can be found as Appendix A. The situations covered were a C.V. and the following letters:

Implementation

A questionnaire was devised in association with the member of the Foreign Language Centre (F.L.C.) staff who designed the equivalent pages for French. A copy can be found as Appendix B. 23 students at Intermediate II, Advanced I and Advanced II levels were taken to the self-access facility in the Foreign Language Centre which is equipped with PC’s. A normal teaching hour was used and the students were asked to use the pages as an aid to completing either a C.V. and letter of application or another letter that they felt would be of help to them in the future. Students were asked to complete as much of the task as they were able within the hour and to finish their work in non-contact time; staff were present to answer any questions which arose. Questionnaires were submitted with the completed task.

Some students chose to copy the pages to their own files or disks. Several students opened a number of windows and kept the sample correspondence open as well as a word file in which they were working. Some asked staff for extra vocabulary or chose to use a dictionary.

Outcome

1. Have you ever needed to write a C.V. or letter like those on these web pages?

Of 23 responses 17 reported that they had previously needed to write similar C.V.’s or letters. However, it was unclear whether these had been in Spanish or English. It would be helpful for a future project to add the target language to any question aimed at understanding previous student experience of similar material. Some students did specify that they had only completed such tasks in English.

2. If you answered yes to the previous question, what resources did you use?

The use of other people’s C.V.’s as a model, information from school careers’ offices and careers’ classes, text books, enlisting the help of Spanish friends, and consultation the model letters and C.V.’s found in dictionaries were responses to this question. Some of the latter again indicated that previous experience for some students had been in English alone. One student, however, reported writing a letter similar to one of the samples to her bank in Minorca!

It was interesting to note that there were some students who had previously consulted computer resources. Although only one of these appeared to be Internet based, replies were not always sufficiently clear. One student had used "resources on school computers" and a template C.V., while another reported the use of previous examples on databases.

3. Were these pages adequate for you to complete the task, or did you need to consult other resources as well?

17 of the 23 students simply answered yes to this question but others added further comments. 4 of the latter felt that the layout was adequate but had also needed to consult a dictionary for specialised vocabulary. This was particularly true for the C.V in order to name jobs which they had done or subjects that they had studied. A future improvement may be to add an introduction to the web pages with advice on opening several windows and accessing online dictionaries.

4. Were you able to complete task in the time available?

16 students of 23 had been able to complete the tasks in class time.

5. Did you find these pages well laid-out and easy to read?

Students were asked to grade the layout and convenience of the pages (see Appendix A). 5 represents excellent, the number of students indicating each response is given below the figure.

1	2	3	4	5
0	0	2	14	7

6. If or when you study abroad, would you consider using this resource via the Internet?

All 23 students replied affirmatively. 4 added "definitely".

7. What situations not covered by the pages do you feel it would have been helpful to include in future?

While some students felt that the situations they would be likely to need were covered, two improvements were suggested:

Evaluation

The feedback given by students with reference to the Spanish web pages was extremely positive and indicates that the resource responds closely to the students’ needs. All the students stated that they would consider using this resource again.

Having used the web pages with several classes, it seems that the following additions and improvements would be helpful:

1. The addition of an index so that individual letters or the C.V. could be accessed more easily.
2. A section of advice about online dictionaries, and how to open several windows at once.
3. The use of colour in order to make the pages more attractive.
4. The possible addition of information on work and study in Spain based on the experiences of previous students.

The following links have been added to the Spanish section of the F.L.C. web pages since the questionnaires were filled in:

1. Links to addresses of Spanish universities.
2. Links to Spanish newspapers.

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