Expanding Enrollment While Maintaining Quality: A Spanish 101 Experimental Model

Anecdotal evidence leads many foreign language teachers to conclude there is an inverse correlation between class size and student learning. Yet, in an attempt to address the surging Spanish enrollments at the university level, the Spanish department at Central Michigan University began an experimental program challenging that tenuous relationship. While most beginning four-hour language courses meet four times a week with a college instructor and average about 25 students, the experimental classes meet two times and have 60 students. For the other two hours, the 60 students are divided into groups of 15 and work with undergraduate language majors who are supervised by the large-group instructor. The description of the program including quantitative and qualitative assessments comparing the traditional and experimental groups may serve as a model for other undergraduate programs of similar size.