The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth examination of the language learning experiences of four fifth-grade students learning Spanish through videoconferencing and video-based lessons. This interpretive qualitative study involved intensive data collection over a period of 7 months through participant observation, audio and video recording of classes with subsequent transcription, and interviews of the students and their teachers. The following points of focus guided this research: (a) What instances of interaction and output are observed in the different instructional settings?; (b) Are patterns of change observed in learners' language production during the period under study?; (c) What individual learner factors help to explain differences in the participants' Spanish output?; and (d) What are the participants' preferences and perceptions concerning different aspects of the Spanish program? A careful examination was made of the participants' oral Spanish ou tput. Examples of their oral and written output and oral interactions were given. The participants differed among themselves in the amount of oral output each produced, and individual participants showed differences in productivity in the different instructional settings. No patterns of change were discerned in the language used by two participants. A third showed evidence of growth in some areas of language use. The fourth, Edward, showed the greatest growth. Many individual learner factors were examined. Among them were attitude toward Spanish, use of Spanish in and out of school, and overall academic achievement. All participants except for Edward were in their fourth year in the Spanish program; he was in his second year. All of the participants preferred learning Spanish through videoconferencing or teacher-led classes to learning it through the video-based lessons. In comparisons of videoconferencing and teacher-led classes, all participants expressed a preference for teac her-led classes. Themes that emerged were (a) the importance of the on-site Spanish teacher, (b) contributions of the video lessons, and (c) limitations in interaction and output.

This small scale action research explored the use of guided written reflection as a means to assist learners to gain self-awareness of their social and affective strategic behaviours during classroom speaking tasks, to improve collaboration, and to increase oral output. Four research questions addressed: (1) the social and affective strategies learners use to complete classroom speaking tasks, (2) the changes in social and affective strategies that learners demonstrate in written reflections over four weeks, (3) whether there is a difference in the amount of oral output produced by the experimental group (EG) and the comparison group (CG), and (4) the EG group members’ perceptions of the reflection process. Two groups of English as an additional language (EAL) learners completed eight dyadic classroom speaking tasks. Immediately after completing each task, five EG participants responded in writing to questions in a reflection journal addressing emotions, vocabulary, interactions with interlocutors, and strategic goals; the six CG participants were not provided with the same opportunity to reflect. In the EG, over four weeks, the strategy justifying performance decreased, while complimenting increased. Although EG participants’ oral production did not increase, part E of Oxford’s (1989) SILL showed a significant increase in I encourage myself to speak. Of fourteen participants who completed a final anonymous questionnaire, 64% felt that the reflection process helped them to speak more, and 93% felt that it helped them to work effectively with their classmates. / Graduate / 290 / 525 / 633