Project Udate

Last Monday in class while I was discussing my project within the members of my group, as well as thinking outside of class I realized that my project was going to be a bit harder than expected. The logistics would be burden and would probably work against me considering our semester-long project. I originally planned to work with sex ed and the kind of implications that enable accessibility either in high schools, community clinics and our own campus clinic. This is a sensitive topic and finding people to interview would have been a bit hard. Also, if I would have chosen to work with high school students, I would have had to go through school bureaucracy to attain permission and further taking a longer period of time for me to begin observations. My schedule is also pretty constricted and finding time during the day to observe would be a challenge. Therefore, I have decided to change my topic and focus on a more feasible project.

When I was originally thinking of a topic I also thought about working on a project that dealt with language and communication. I have decided to look into the dynamics of a native Spanish speaker and non-native Spanish speaker taking a Spanish class at Southwestern. I also would like to take observations in a less academic setting such as the Spanish table during lunch in the commons.

I am currently taking two Spanish classes this semester and although I am a native speaker, I decided to take classes because I wanted to be completely fluent in both written and oral Spanish. I have had conversations with non-native students who are either Spanish majors or minors and one topic that has continuously come up is participation in class. I want to see how perceptions of either group affect personal participation in class discussions.

Questions I would like address:
-the perceptions of the level playing field of the non-native speaker toward the native speaker and vice-versa
-why such perceptions exist
-learning experiences
-participation in class

More questions will definitely arise as my observations move along. As for the interview portion, I will most likely interview a native Spanish speaker, non-native Spanish speaker and possibly a Spanish professor.

If you've read this and have any comments or any ideas that you would like to contribute, please let me know!