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Virtual Exchanges with Native Speakers

Funders: Maynooth University Research Development Seed Fund; Center for Teaching and Learning Spark Funding, Center for Teaching and Learning Teaching Fellowship

This project examines the effect that Virtual Exchanges with native speakers have on the linguistic development of Spanish second-language learners. Although previous research mentions students perceived improvement in their linguistic skills, to the best of our knowledge, no research to date has compared students’ speech before and after participating in virtual exchanges.

Collaborative efforts with undergraduate students (Erin Doarbes, Kyle Murphy, and Breda O’Toole), language tutors (Antonia Flores, Anna Laribal, and Carolina Valles), and former colleague, Dr David García León, resulted in the development of a year-long virtual exchange program for second-year students, following a successful pilot with a service provider. Data from both studies has been collected through sociolinguistic interviews (data collection ongoing) and analysis of pilot study subject and past tense expression is underway.