This was a nonequivalent control group study of the effects of two curricular approaches on junior high students' attitudes toward Hispanics. One group was exposed to a semester of Spanish I, primarily a linguistically-based course. Another group was enrolled in a semester-length "Exploring Spanish" course, primarily culturally-based. In addition to these two groups, a control group was employed. A total of 194 students were available for both the pretest and posttest versions of the attitude measures--Cooke's Semantic Differential and the Revised Bogardus Social Distance Scale. / To look for a significant change in attitude resulting from the Spanish I or Exploring Spanish instruction, attitude scores were submitted to a one-way analysis of covariance. The analysis of data did not reveal significant differences between any two groups in regard to attitude toward Hispanics. / A supplementary aspect of the study was the correlation of students' grades in the Spanish I or Exploring Spanish classes with attitude toward Hispanics. Significant correlations were found for particular countries of interest and particular measures of attitude. / This research indicates that, for junior high students, foreign language and cultural instruction does not foster positive attitudes toward the target language group. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-01, Section: A, page: 0067. / Major Professor: Frederick L. Jenks. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77929 |
| Contributors | Meads, Katherine Ann., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 108 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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