There is a perception among faculty at the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) that Industrial Technology students in the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies (FELS-IT) have difficulty learning non-technical content due to their weak reading-comprehension skills. Reciprocal Teaching strategies have been shown to improve students reading-comprehension and learning, especially across the United States and Europe (Palincsar and Brown, 1984; Rosenshine and Meister, 1993, 1994). By means of a researcher-developed Cloze-type assessment instrument, this study investigated reciprocal teaching (Palincsar and Brown, 1984) as a possible means of addressing this perceived problem in Jamaica. A total of 133 participants were involved in the study. Specifically, the study explored empirically the existence of a reading-comprehension problem among the first-year Industrial Technology teacher-education majors at UTech, and the self-perceptions of the participants with respect to their reading-comprehension skills. The study primarily investigated the effect of the reciprocal teaching strategy on improving reading-comprehension scores at the tertiary level, and its perceived efficacy by the participants. An evaluation of the evidence-based findings was used to determine whether to recommend implementing reciprocal teaching into the UTech teaching methodologies, with the overarching aim of improving student achievement. The findings of this quasi-experimental study suggest that the FELS-IT first-year teacher- education majors are not significantly different from other first-year students enrolled at UTech. Also, the reciprocal teaching intervention significantly improved the group-mean and individual post-test scores of the Treatment group over those of the Control group, and was favorably perceived. The investigation recommends that reciprocal teaching should be implemented across all faculties at UTech, preferably among the first-year students. / Ph. D.

本研究旨在探討傳統英文閱讀教學與精讀及廣讀教學對於高職低成就生在克漏字測驗上之影響，並從克漏字中的文法選項、單字片語選項、轉折語選項、及整體成績，來分析此三種教學法是否有不同成效。 實驗對象為台北市某高職高一低成就學生，共95位。其界定低成就的方式為未通過英檢初級的同學。在經由3個月傳統英文閱讀教學與精讀及廣讀教學後，以英檢初級程度的克漏字試題測驗其成果。結果顯示，相較於控制組而言，實驗組在文法、單片及整體成績均達到顯著，但廣讀組與精讀組兩組間並沒有顯著差異。而就學生的態度而言，無論是廣讀組或是精讀組，他們都對閱讀持有正面的態度，並表示未來仍樂意從事閱讀活動。 本研究結果可提供教師幫助低成就生增進克漏字作答能力的方法，及對低成就生實行廣讀及精讀活動之參考。 / This study is intended to probe into the effects of traditional, intensive and extensive reading instruction on vocational high school low achievers in the performance of cloze test. Ninety-five language low achievers of the first grade at a northern vocational high school participated in this study. Their language proficiency was examined by the GEPT Elementary Level. After a three-month reading instruction, a 55-item cloze test was administered to these participants. The post-test indicated that the experimental groups improved significantly in grammar, vocabulary& phrases, and overall performance when compared with the control group. However, the improvement failed to reach the significant level for these two experimental groups. Besides, students in the experimental groups showed positive attitudes toward the reading activity and expressed willingness to be engaged in the reading activity in the future. The study could serve as a reference for language teachers in helping low achievers improve their cloze test performance, and provide insights into the feasibility of the extensive and intensive reading activity for low achievers.

A leitura e compreensão do texto são meios necessários à aprendizagem na universidade, visto que a aquisição do conhecimento se dá pela interação entre o autor e o leitor. Objetivo: Foi proposta deste estudo avaliar a competência leitora de acadêmicos do primeiro ao último ano do curso de odontologia e relacioná-la com os hábitos familiares de leitura. Método: Participaram do estudo 172 universitários, de ambos os gêneros, com idade entre 16 e quarenta anos, matriculados em um curso de graduação em odontologia de uma faculdade particular localizada no município de Porto Velho/RO. O teste de cloze convencional, com total possível de 46 acertos, foi aplicado a todos os participantes como instrumento para a avaliação da competência leitora. Adicionalmente, foram coletados dados relacionados com os hábitos de leitura dos universitários e de seus pais. Resultados: O número máximo de acertos foi de quarenta para os acadêmicos do segundo ano, 38 para os do terceiro ano e 37 para os do primeiro e quarto anos, sem diferença estatística significativa entre eles. Com relação aos níveis de compreensão leitora, a maior parte dos alunos do primeiro ano (36,6%) foi enquadrada no nível frustação e, do segundo (53,2%), terceiro (75%) e quarto anos (55,8%), no nível independente. O número de respostas corretas no teste de cloze foi superior no grupo de acadêmicos cujos pais tinham o hábito da leitura, no grupo que recebeu estímulo dos pais para ler, no grupo em que os pais liam para os filhos e, finalmente, no grupo de acadêmicos que afirmou gostar de ler. Conclusões: Não foi evidenciada diferença significativa da compreensão leitora entre os discentes dos quatro grupos estudados, entretanto os alunos ingressantes necessitam de uma intervenção pedagógica institucional cuidadosa, pois foram diagnosticados no nível frustação de habilidade leitora. Os hábitos familiares de leitura influenciaram a compreensão leitora dos graduandos de odontologia. / Text reading and comprehension are necessary abilities to the learning process at university, since acquiring knowledge depends on author and reader interaction. Objective: This studys purpose was to evaluate the reading ability of first one to last year dentistry course academics and to relate it with familiar reading habits. Method: 172 university students, from both gender, with age among 16 and forty years old, all registered on dentistry graduation course at a private university in the city of Porto Velho-RO, had participated of this study. The conventional cloze test (success total possible = 46) was used as an instrument for the reading comprehension assessment. Additionally, were collected data related to the reading habits of college students and their parents. Results: The maximum number of success among the participant group was forty in the second year university students, 38 (thirty-eight) for the ones in third year, and 37 (thirty-seven) for those in first and fourth year. Referring to the reading comprehension levels, first year university students majority (36,6%) were included in the level named frustration, while second (53,2%), third (75%) and forty (55,8%) years students were placed in independent level. The number of correct answers in Cloze test were higher in the academic group whose parents have reading habit, in academic group encouraged by their parents to read, in group which parents had read for their children and, finally, in academic group that affirmed they like to read. Conclusions: It was not evidenced a significant statistic difference on reading comprehension among the four studied academic groups, however the entering students demand a carefully institutional psychologist intervention, ever since they were placed in frustration reading ability level. The familiar reading habits had influenced on reading comprehension of dentistry graduating students.

The subject of this dissertation is the comprehension of written texts among teachers of elementary school. It is known that school teachers must have a reasonable proficiency not only in reading in its various social functions, but also they must know how to monitor their own comprehension process in different kinds of text. In this perspective, the objective of the present research is to investigate the comprehension of written texts among teachers of the first grades of public elementary schools who participated in the continuous teacher training courses at the Portuguese Language Pedagogic Laboratory sponsored by the State Bureau of Education of Alagoas, in Maceió, Brazil. The research is characterized as being interpretative, but at the same time it is experimental and quantitative. There is also an ethnographical aspect involved in the work, in a form of case study. The research was carried out in 2007. Two types of test were used by the author in order to collect data about teachers-collaborators comprehension: cloze tests and multiple choice tests. The author also used written questionnaires and verbal protocols so as to analyze the easiness and difficulties in the collaborators reading. The theoretical foundation is based in three axes: the first deals with teacher formation; the second concerns about the treatment given to reading at schools, and the third cares for text comprehension related to cognitive and metacognitive aspects. The results of the research demonstrated that the collaborators presented difficulty in comprehension of argumentative texts. This evidence leads to a reflection about reading practices in the elementary education and also in teacher formation courses in the sense of emphasizing the contact and the study of genres which have argumentative structure during the years of basic and superior education. / Esta dissertação tem como tema a compreensão de textos escritos entre professoras do Ensino Fundamental. Sabe-se que os professores precisam ter não só uma proficiência razoável em leitura em suas diversas funções, mas, principalmente, precisam saber monitorar o processo de compreensão em textos de diferentes tipos e gêneros, já que são formadores de neoleitores. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar a compreensão de textos escritos entre professoras dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental da rede estadual de ensino, que participaram da formação continuada no Laboratório Pedagógico de Língua Portuguesa da Secretaria de Estado da Educação e do Esporte de Alagoas, no Centro de Estudos e Pesquisas Aplicadas, em Maceió, durante o ano de 2007. A pesquisa é caracterizada como sendo interpretativa e experimental, de caráter quantiqualitativo. O estudo é revestido de um cunho etnográfico, sendo mais especificamente, de um estudo de caso. A pesquisa foi realizada através de uma coleta de dados para a verificação da compreensão leitora das colaboradoras por meio da aplicação de testes cloze (também conhecido como texto lacunado) e de testes de compreensão de texto com questões de múltipla escolha. A autora também utilizou outros instrumentos de pesquisa, tais como: a aplicação de questionários escritos e protocolos verbais para análise e consequente reflexão sobre as facilidades e dificuldades de leitura das colaboradoras. A fundamentação teórica é baseada em três eixos. O primeiro trata sobre a formação do professor; o segundo versa sobre o tratamento dado à leitura na escola e o terceiro aborda a compreensão de texto nos aspectos cognitivos e metacognitivos. A pesquisa demonstrou que as colaboradoras apresentaram facilidade de compreensão em textos narrativos e expositivos e dificuldade de compreensão em textos argumentativos, o que leva a uma reflexão sobre a prática da leitura na educação básica e também nos cursos de formação de professores e, consequentemente, na necessidade de enfatizar mais o contato e o estudo dos gêneros de estrutura argumentativa ao longo do ensino básico e superior.

本研究旨在探究大學學力測驗與指定科目考試中，有關「連貫性」 的克漏字試題（包括克漏字和文意選填測驗），藉以一窺台灣高中學生在這方面的表現，並進一步透過試題分析，學生表現，和題目鑑別度等細項，深入討論台灣高中英語教育中，老師和學生在課堂上可以加強的部分。 首先，我們將連貫性這個觀念加以分類和說明，根據修改過後的分類，將大學入學考試試題分為連接，指涉，字彙連貫三種。字彙連貫又可以細分為重複和常連用字兩種。我們就題目出現的頻率來討論，分析後發現，在克漏字測驗和文意選填題目中，考字彙連貫出現頻率最高。就學生答對率表現來看，常連用字試題，通過率最高，而指涉試題，通過率最低。這結果顯示台灣學生在局部連貫性上表現較佳，對於整體連貫性較不熟悉。試題出現在整篇文章的主題句，也會造成答對率較低。另就試題的鑑別度而言，低鑑別度往往和低通過率的試題重疊，表示大多數學生通過率低的題目，往往因為困難而無法鑑別學生能力。 / In this study, we analyzed the multiple-choice rational cloze tests used in the Subject Ability Test (SAT) and Appointment Subject Test (AST) from 2002 to 2004. The item types were mainly analyzed according to the five cohesion types that Halliday and Hasan proposed in their 1976 research. Through these classifications, we gained better knowledge about whether the cohesion types affected the students’ performances. Furthermore, we also investigated the possible reasons. First of all, we refined the cohesion types proposed by Halliday and Hasan proposed in their 1976 research. In our study, the cohesion types we looked were conjunction, reference, and lexical cohesion. We wanted to find how the cohesive types were tested in the tests. From the analysis of cloze tests and the WYXT tests, the result we got was that lexical cohesion was tested more often than other cohesive categories. For the passing rate of SAT and AST, we found that the collocation test items were the easiest while the reference test items were the most difficult. According to Bachman (1982, 1985), Test items in Type 2 and 3 (repetition, conjunction, and reference) do have lower passing rates. This means students have difficulties in global cohesion. Furthermore, students had more difficulties in answering the test items located in the first or last sentence, which are usually associated with main ideas of the paragraph – a global concept. Therefore, the locations of the test items also had an influence on the passing rate. Lastly, for the discrimination index, those test items with low D value always co-occurred with low passing rate test items, meaning that difficult items fail to discriminate between different proficiency levels.

Este trabalho relata as estratégias e atividades realizadas em disciplinas semipresenciais desenvolvidas durante os períodos letivos de 2008 a 2012 com alunos dos cursos de Administração e de Ciências Contábeis, no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem Moodle. As disciplinas foram desenvolvidas segundo os princípios das abordagens colaborativas de aprendizagem com o objetivo de examinar as possibilidades de uso dos insólitos como estratégia de leitura e escrita. Buscou-se ainda apontar a aplicabilidade das estratégias didáticas descritas como forma de aprimorar as competências de leitura e escrita em alunos ingressantes no ensino superior e fornecer subsídios para a continuação da pesquisa. O trabalho mantém uma relação interdiscursiva com a obra Se um Viajante numa Noite de Inverno, de ítalo Calvino (1982), o que lhe possibilita não somente a titulação dos capítulos, mas também a construção sutil de uma presença que os perpassa. Do autor, retira também seis propostas ( leveza, rapidez, exatidão, visibilidade, multiplicidade e consistência) capazes de aprimorar a qualidade da comunicação em ambientes informáticos. Busca, ainda, na produção teórica de Michael Serres, um conceito singular de comunicação, algo capaz de transcender a substancialidade e de compreender e estimular a construção da presencialidade por meio de trocas e relações em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem. Em vista disso, a pesquisa apoia-se na construção -reflexão- reconstrução de oficinas on-line que utilizam o insólito - concebido como algo surpreendente e propiciador de desestabilização - na construção de estratégias propiciadoras de aprimoramento da leitura e da produção textual de estudantes universitários. Recorre também às pesquisas desenvolvidas por Mikhail Bakhtin, Ângela Kleiman, Carla Coscarelli e Vilson Leffa, contribuições decisivas tanto na elaboração das oficinas on-line, quanto na reflexão que se tece ao longo da pesquisa. Por fim, busca apoio nos estudos sobre Estilos de Aprendizagem e na aplicação do Teste de Cloze para o aprimoramento das reflexões construídas / This study reports the strategies and activities performed in semi- attending subjects during the school periods of 2009 to 2012 with students from Business and Accountancy Courses in the Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment-MOODLE. The subjects were developed based on principles of cooperative learning approaches and their purpose was to test the possibilities of using insolits as a reading and writing strategy. The intention was even to show how those strategies described above could be applied as a way to improve reading and writing skills in college students and provide ways to keep the research on. The study keeps a connection with the book Se um Viajante numa Noite de Inverno from Ítalo Calvino (1982), which allows not only giving chapters names but even a subtle building of presence that pervades them. Six proposals are also taken from this writer (light, speed, accuracy, visibility, multiplicity and solidity), which are capable of improving the communication quality in cyber environments. It even searches, in Michael Serres theoretical production, a singular concept of communication, something possible to transcend the substantiality and to understand and stimulate the building of presentiality through exchanging and relation means in virtual learning environment. By that, the research relies on construction-reflexion-reconstruction of online workshops that use the insolits- designed as something surprising and propitiator of destabilization- in the building of strategies that provide reading and writing headway between university students. This study uses some research developed by Mikhail Bakhtin, Ângela Kleiman, Carla Coscarelli and Vilson Leffa, being great contributions not only for the online workshops development but even for the reflection that develops through this study. Lastly, it seeks the support at studies about learning ways and by giving students the Cloze test to the improvement of built reflections

Este trabalho relata as estratégias e atividades realizadas em disciplinas semipresenciais desenvolvidas durante os períodos letivos de 2008 a 2012 com alunos dos cursos de Administração e de Ciências Contábeis, no ambiente virtual de aprendizagem Moodle. As disciplinas foram desenvolvidas segundo os princípios das abordagens colaborativas de aprendizagem com o objetivo de examinar as possibilidades de uso dos insólitos como estratégia de leitura e escrita. Buscou-se ainda apontar a aplicabilidade das estratégias didáticas descritas como forma de aprimorar as competências de leitura e escrita em alunos ingressantes no ensino superior e fornecer subsídios para a continuação da pesquisa. O trabalho mantém uma relação interdiscursiva com a obra Se um Viajante numa Noite de Inverno, de ítalo Calvino (1982), o que lhe possibilita não somente a titulação dos capítulos, mas também a construção sutil de uma presença que os perpassa. Do autor, retira também seis propostas ( leveza, rapidez, exatidão, visibilidade, multiplicidade e consistência) capazes de aprimorar a qualidade da comunicação em ambientes informáticos. Busca, ainda, na produção teórica de Michael Serres, um conceito singular de comunicação, algo capaz de transcender a substancialidade e de compreender e estimular a construção da presencialidade por meio de trocas e relações em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem. Em vista disso, a pesquisa apoia-se na construção -reflexão- reconstrução de oficinas on-line que utilizam o insólito - concebido como algo surpreendente e propiciador de desestabilização - na construção de estratégias propiciadoras de aprimoramento da leitura e da produção textual de estudantes universitários. Recorre também às pesquisas desenvolvidas por Mikhail Bakhtin, Ângela Kleiman, Carla Coscarelli e Vilson Leffa, contribuições decisivas tanto na elaboração das oficinas on-line, quanto na reflexão que se tece ao longo da pesquisa. Por fim, busca apoio nos estudos sobre Estilos de Aprendizagem e na aplicação do Teste de Cloze para o aprimoramento das reflexões construídas / This study reports the strategies and activities performed in semi- attending subjects during the school periods of 2009 to 2012 with students from Business and Accountancy Courses in the Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment-MOODLE. The subjects were developed based on principles of cooperative learning approaches and their purpose was to test the possibilities of using insolits as a reading and writing strategy. The intention was even to show how those strategies described above could be applied as a way to improve reading and writing skills in college students and provide ways to keep the research on. The study keeps a connection with the book Se um Viajante numa Noite de Inverno from Ítalo Calvino (1982), which allows not only giving chapters names but even a subtle building of presence that pervades them. Six proposals are also taken from this writer (light, speed, accuracy, visibility, multiplicity and solidity), which are capable of improving the communication quality in cyber environments. It even searches, in Michael Serres theoretical production, a singular concept of communication, something possible to transcend the substantiality and to understand and stimulate the building of presentiality through exchanging and relation means in virtual learning environment. By that, the research relies on construction-reflexion-reconstruction of online workshops that use the insolits- designed as something surprising and propitiator of destabilization- in the building of strategies that provide reading and writing headway between university students. This study uses some research developed by Mikhail Bakhtin, Ângela Kleiman, Carla Coscarelli and Vilson Leffa, being great contributions not only for the online workshops development but even for the reflection that develops through this study. Lastly, it seeks the support at studies about learning ways and by giving students the Cloze test to the improvement of built reflections

This study examined the extramural activities, that is, what a language learner does with the target language outside of class time, in Japanese of adult beginner level foreign language learners of Japanese studying at Stockholm University, Sweden, and how these activities relate to Japanese language proficiency. The study looked at both extramural activities and foreign language proficiency from a holistic and quantitative perspective. The participants' extramural activities were measured through self-reported data in a questionnaire, and several measures; a cloze test, earlier grades, and self-evaluations; were triangulated and used to provide an adequate measure of general Japanese language proficiency.    The results indicate that extramural activities which provide a foreign language learner with enough time for thorough processing of input and support through the usage of several cooperating modalities seem to have a positive effect on general foreign language acquisition.

本研究旨在探討高職生於作答理性選擇型克漏字測驗(mu1tiple-choice rational cloze)時，所運用閱讀策略程度與其作答表現之關係，以及藉由改善閱讀策略知識與運用而提昇其克漏字測驗作答表現之可行性。 克漏字測驗發展半世紀以來，對於是否能做為閱讀理解的適當測驗工具以及改善閱讀理解的教學技巧，國內外文獻迭有正反兩方論辯，贊成者稱克漏字可測出句間文意整體理解(intersentential sensitivity)，反對者謂只能測出句內的局部句法理解(syntactic informaton)。 近年來認知策略(cognitive strategies)與後設認知策略(metacognitive strategieS)成為閱讀相關研究重要課題，閱讀策略改善訓練(Strategic reading intevention)被認為可提升學生之閱讀理解，本研究著眼於觀察高職生接受閱讀策略改善訓練後，可否藉由克漏字表現提昇彰顯其閱讀理解之提昇，亦進而驗證理性選擇型克漏字測驗可以做為閱讀理解的適當工具。 本研究採用學者巴克曼(L.F.Bachman)論點，將克漏字題型由四類分為局部理解試題(local items)及整體理解試題(global items)兩大類型，認為克漏字測驗可做為閱讀理解的適當測驗工具，並假設可以經由改善受測者後設認知閱讀策略的知識與技巧，提昇其克漏字測驗作答表現。並且運用推論策略(Drawing Inferences)以及戴維(B.Davey)所提出之「五步驟教師出聲思考模仿法」(Five-step Teacher's Think-aloud Modeling)訓練高職生綜合運用認知策略及後設認知閱讀策略的能力，並且加強其利用文章凝結結構的推論策略(Inferencing)，以加強其採用由上而下(Top-down Model)的閱讀模式，建立較佳之整體文意理解。 受試者為中壢高級商業職業學校高三學生，測驗工具取自大學聯考（民國八十二至九十年）以及大學推甄學科能力測驗（民國八十三至九十年）英文科試題之克漏字測驗及閱讀測驗，混合編製而成，並根據局部理解(local items)及整體理解(global items)將試題分類，實驗組於前測後施以兩個月之閱讀策略訓練，提昇其綜合運用認知與後設認知閱讀策略的知識及能力，期滿實施後測，觀察其在克漏字及閱讀測驗作答之表現是否提昇。並且於後測隨機抽樣學生實施口頭訪談，以了解其閱讀行為是否產生改變。 經由閱讀策略問卷調查及前後測實施結果分析，發現受試者運用在克漏字測驗作答的閱讀策略偏向局部理解策略，而改善閱讀策略知識與運用技巧可提升其克漏字測驗之作答表現。實驗組與控制組前測作答表現之平均數差異檢定未達顯著差異(t=.048,p=.962)，後測作答表現平均數則達到顯著差異(t=5.791,p=.000)，且實驗組低分群、中分群、高分群學生之前後測成績皆有顯著進步。 其次，本研究發現高職生之克漏字測驗與閱讀測驗作答表現呈現正相關。 本研究結論發現：若經過適當設計，克漏字測驗可以做為適當的閱讀理解測驗工具，也可以做為提昇閱讀理解的教學技巧，改善高職學生後設認知閱讀策略的知識及運用技巧。 / The purpose of this study is to probe the correlation between the vocational high school students' strategy use and their performance of Multiple-choice rational doze test, and the feasibility of improving their doze performance through a strategic reading training program. The Cloze test, taking on various forms, has caused intense debates in the past decades on whether it can serve as a proper measurement tool of reading comprehension and a teaching skill of improving reading comprehension. Some scholars agree that doze tests can tap intersentential sensitivity------global comprehension of the text, while others contend that it can only measure intrasentential sensitivity------local comprehension such as vocabulary and syntactic information. This study adopts Bachman's argument that doze tests can tap readingcomprehension and brings out the hypothesis that students can improve their cloze test performance through the strategic reading training. A training program is run on vocational high school subjects using the strategy drawing inferences and Davey's Teacher's Think-alouds Modeling approach. The Experiment group receives the strategic reading training that lasts two months after the pre-test. After the program ends, the post-test is taken to examine the performance differences. An oral interview is done to nine subjects randomly selected from the Experiment group to observe to what extent the subjects have changed their reading behavior. The results show that the subjects depend heavily on lower-level reading strategies in taking cloze tests, and the strategic training program can help enhance the Experiment group's reading comprehension and in turn improve their doze performance. In addition, the results confirm that the doze performance correlates positively with the reading comprehension performance. The major findings are that doze tests can serve as a proper measurement tool of reading comprehension and as a teaching skill of improving reading comprehension and that strategic reading training helps improve vocational high school students' cloze performance.

In view of the scarcity of studies that in Sweden aim to investigate the relationship between motivation and linguistic competence of heritage speakers (Montrul, 2010: 9), the present study has two objectives: (a) examine if motivation, here understood as total motivation, is correlated with language proficiency of Spanish heritage speakers, enrolled in mother tongue classes, and (b) determine whether or not the underlying motivational subtype is decisive for the learning results, in Spanish, achieved by these students.    The motivation and linguistic proficiency of 51 students were surveyed through a questionnaire based, in part, on the self-determination theory and a proficiency test divided in two parts: a cloze test and a multiple-choice test. Owing to the limitations of the study, the main group studied consisted of 41 students, who were either born in Sweden or had arrived here before the onset of puberty, defined as an age of more than 11.     The analyses showed that only the identified regulation, a more autonomous type of extrinsic motivation, is related to the heritage speakers’ score on the cloze test, hence indicating that the concept of relatedness emphasized by Ryan & Deci (2000) and the value placed on the Spanish language by this group, is linked with the range of their lexical knowledge. Factors that could influence the group’s linguistic proficiency, such as the number of hours spent speaking Spanish each time it was used (more or less than three hours) and the years of residency in a Spanish speaking country, were also investigated. Only the first variable, contact hours, showed a statistical significance; the second variable did not. These findings might lead to the reflection that although parental involvement is crucial, heritage speakers’ linguistic development requires a concerted effort not only by the parents, but also the school and the educational institutions, encouraging students to explore their identity and linguistic background through activities directly related to their own self-perceptions and interests.