Expanding enrollment while maintaining quality: A Spanish 101 experimentalmodel

Anecdotal evidence leads many foreign language teachers to conclude there i s an inverse correlation between class size and student learning. Yet, in a n attempt to address the surging Spanish enrollments at the university leve l, the Spanish department at Central Michigan University began an experimen tal program challenging that tenuous relationship. While most beginning fou r-hour language courses meet four times a week with a college instructor an d average about 25 students, the experimental classes meet two times and ha ve 60 students. For the other two hours, the 60 students are divided into g roups of 15 and work with undergraduate language majors who are supervised by the large-group instructor. The description of the program including qua ntitative and qualitative assessments comparing the traditional and experim ental groups may serve as a model for other undergraduate programs of simil ar size.