Promoting Collaborative Learning in the Spanish Language and Culture Classroom

Abstract

Higher education is increasingly focused on collaboration and life-long learning. These institutional objectives have had implications for the classroom, inviting language scholars in particular to reflect on new approaches to language learning. This has been the case in the Spanish Language and Culture program at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), which has constructed a collaborative learning environment as a means of promoting the development of speaking, reading, writing and listening skills in Spanish and providing students with a deeper understanding of Spanish as a global language. This chapter describes the pedagogical choices made in order to construct such an environment, in which students negotiate information, share their knowledge and skills and contribute to shared meaning-making. I argue that exposing language students to collaborative learning environments can contribute to fostering openness to, and awareness of, other world views, as well as enhancing their language skills.