A Modern Bilingual Spanish Language Curriculum: Methods for Development and Implementation in a Multilingual Classroom

Abstract

Abstract

Introduction. The growing demand for Spanish language study among students enrolled in English-language bachelor’s degree programs has made it possible to form groups studying Spanish as their primary language. The linguistic and cultural characteristics, multilingualism, and multinational composition of the groups, students’ use of artificial intelligence to plagiarize their independent work, and the lack of Spanish language textbooks for non-native speakers prompted the creation of a bilingual teaching and learning system. The goal is to propose a methodology for creating a bilingual educational complex and working with it at the initial stage (1st year of study, levels A1–A2). Methodology. The complex’s teaching materials were developed based on cutting-edge research in the fields of pedagogy and the psychology of vocational education; to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational complex, a comparative method was used based on the results of interim tests (exams) and an analysis of attendance rates among groups in the English-language bachelor’s program and those studying under the traditional program. Results. It was found that the learning outcomes of the experimental and control groups differed within a 5 % margin of error, which indicates the effectiveness of the described integrated teaching materials. Conclusions. A systematic approach to teaching Spanish and the development of integrated teaching complexes that enable the formation of all necessary competencies in the classroom represent a new stage in foreign language teaching methodology, replacing traditional teaching materials.