Acquisition in Puerto Rico

THE USE OF SPANISH IN ENGLISH CLASSES NEGATIVELY IMPACTS SECOND

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN PUERTO RICO

Viviana M. Ortiz Reyes

Shalimar M. Pomales García

Isamar Cotto Rivera.

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey

August 2020

Abstract

Based on the latest results of the META-PR (Medición y Evaluación para la

Transformación Académica de Puerto Rico) standardized test, the majority of Puerto Rican

students have low English proficiency. We hypothesized that this low proficiency may be due to

the widespread practice of using Spanish as the language of instruction in the English classroom.

To test this hypothesis, we visited three different English classrooms, and made notes regarding

the use of Spanish within those classrooms, both by the teacher and amongst students. We also

conducted a survey in which 23 students who were taking basic English courses at the University

of Puerto Rico in Cayey responded to eight premises regarding the use of their Spanish L1 in the

L2 English classroom based on their high school experience. These survey participants were also

asked to answer whether or not they thought that the use of L1 in the L2 classroom negatively

affected their language acquisition process. Comparing data trends in both observation and

survey data indicates that Puerto Rican students and educators consider the use of Spanish in the

English classroom as a tool to facilitate their learning process and access to the target language.

However, statistical data suggest that use of Spanish in the English classroom negatively affects

the second language acquisition process among Puerto Rican students, and that this may be

particularly prevalent in the public school system.

Keywords: English as a Second Language (ESL), Language of Instruction, Second language

acquisition, English proficiency, Target language, Code-switching

Introduction:

Many Puerto Rican students lack basic English skills when they graduate high school.

Considering that, for many, their access to and development of English as a Second Language

(ESL) is predominantly taking place in the formal educational environment, it is reasonable to

consider that some of the strategies to teach English in these environments are not very effective.

According to the public policy document from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico,

“Serie A-400 Currículo”, an English course is a requirement in Puerto Rican public schools’

curriculum from primary level (kindergarten-8th grade) and through secondary level (9th grade-

12th grade) (DE, 2018). Once a year, the Department of Education provides a standardized test

island-wide to measure the students´ proficiency levels on all subjects. One of these standardized

tests is the META-PR, its acronym derived from the Spanish-language title “Medición y

evaluación para la transformación académica de Puerto Rico”. The 2018-2019 META-PR test

results across all grade levels tested showed that 26.1% of students had only “pre-basic”

proficiency on the English section of the test and 35.1% demonstrated “basic” proficiency

(Torres, 2020). This shows that significantly more than half of Puerto Rican school-age students

(61.2%) have low English proficiency in English despite the language being taught as a

mandatory subject K-12. Consequently, if they apply to and are accepted at universities, many of

these students with low proficiency levels must take remedial or basic English courses.

Our study focuses on students who graduated from the public school system and are now

taking basic English courses at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) at Cayey. Although the

authors accept that students who graduate from private schools are also represented among the

students who lack proficiency in English after high school graduation, it is not the scope of this

study to compare ESL education in the private and public sectors. The focus on public school

graduates is justified by the fact that the META-PR test is mandatory in all public schools, but

private school are not obligated to administer it. Therefore, this study focuses on those students

who attended public school and were thus proportionately represented by the META-PR

statistics that prompted the research design.

Considering the variables that might have affected student ESL proficiency levels during

their formal education, the main variable we investigated was access to the target language in the

ESL classroom. Schweers explains that “language learners need as much exposure as possible to

L2 input during limited class time” (1999, p. 37) and for students who may not have bilingual

family members or much exposure to English in the home or community environment, this is a

critical element of language acquisition. In Puerto Rico, the use of Spanish in the English

language classroom may therefore be detrimental to the ESL learning process. The scope of this

study focuses on the pedagogical implications of using Spanish and also code-switching in ESL

classrooms, which Milroy and Muysken describe as “the use of two or more languages during

the same utterance or conversation” (1995, p. 7). According to Milroy & Muysken: “Researchers

investigating code-switching in bilingual community context have become increasingly aware of

the need to take account of code-switching related to the language proficiencies and preferences

of the heares(s)” (Milroy & Muysken, 1995, p. 98). In her 2013 study of code-switching in ESL

classrooms at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Makulloluwa concluded that although

students may find the use of L1 as a useful strategy that enhances their acquisition of the target

language, in order to use L1 as a pedagogical tool, “it is important that principles be established

for the use of it in the classroom” (Makulloluwa, 2013, p. 595). Given that the Department of

Education of Puerto Rico has no policy or published principles on the use of L1 (Spanish) as a

pedagogical tool in the ESL classroom (DEPR, 2018), we considered that code-switching

between English and Spanish in the ESL classroom might have a negative impact on learners of

English which results in low proficiency scores in the META-PR test. Our hypothesis is that

students who graduated from public schools and are now taking basic English courses at the

UPR in Cayey have low English proficiency levels due to the frequent use of Spanish in the

English classroom during their high school experience.

Methods

The mixed-methods research design incorporated observations of three different English

classrooms, and the administration of a survey among students taking basic English courses at

the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. After the data collection process, both qualitative and

quantitative data from each investigation method were analyzed for trends which were then

validated by cross-referencing between the data sets.

Classroom Observations.

Observations were made from visiting three different Puerto Rican high school English

classrooms. Notes were taken retrospectively in order to minimize any impact that the

observation process may have on the behavior of students or instructor. The English classrooms

observed were the following. On September 12, 2019, Gonzalez’s 10th grade classroom at Juan

J. Osuna high school in Caguas was observed; the group was composed of 20 students with the

majority being males. On March 11, 2020, Ortega’s 9th grade classroom at Miguel Meléndez

Muñoz high school in Cayey was observed; 20 students were part of the group and it was mainly

composed by females. On March 13, 2020, Colon’s 9th grade classroom at Miguel A. Julio

Collazo high school in Cayey was observed; 25 students were part of this group and most of

them were females. Each of the observed classes had a length of 50 minutes and the observation

lasted for the duration of that class time. Researchers generated qualitative data in response to

five open questions that were used to guide their observation regarding the environment

observed and the use of Spanish within the classrooms visited (See Appendix 1 for complete

question list). This qualitative data was then processed using trend analysis to determine

commonalities across the classrooms which was then used to corroborate and interpret the data

from the student survey.

Student Survey.

A survey was sent via Google Forms to a professor from the English Department at the

University of Puerto Rico in Cayey, who forwarded it to 194 students from basic English courses

in the University. A total of 28 students answered the survey. The purpose of the research was

stated in the survey, and the fact that the participants’ answers would be confidential. The survey

consisted of ten questions (see Appendix 2 for a list of all the questions in the survey). The first

two questions were designed to determine eligibility: a closed (Yes/No) question, which asked

the participants if they graduated from a public school; and a short-answer question, which asked

the participants the code of the English class they were currently taking in order to corroborate

that it was a basic or pre-basic class. Seven subsequent questions asked about the participant’s

experience during their high school English classes, and specifically focused on the language

practices and types of communication between the teacher and the students and among the

students during classes. These seven questions were answered using a 5-point Likert scale with

the following options: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4=

agree, 5 = strongly agree. The final question was an open question that asked participants: How

do you feel about English teachers using Spanish during English classes? The data collected was

analyzed on spreadsheets using a Microsoft Excel software program that helped to organize data

with integrated formulas and functions that enabled comparative analysis and trend analysis.

Results

Classroom Observations.

Of the three classroom observations, Spanish was the language most commonly used by

students and by the teachers to motivate students and to clarify doubts (see Table 1). In the

classroom observations made, it was found that the amount of teacher-student interaction was

minimal in 2 of the 3 classes observed. In the Juan J. Osuna 10th grade class, the small amount

of teacher student interaction occurred when the teacher gave the students the day’s instructions

and clarified emerging doubts to the whole group. In the Miguel Meléndez Muñoz 9th grade

class, such interaction occurred when the teacher welcomed the students, when the instructions

of the class were given, and when the teacher gave the students individual feedback. The

students’ verbal participation was minimal in 2 out of the 3 observed classes. In Juan J. Osuna’s

10th grade class 16 out of 20 students did not verbally participate in class; and in Miguel Julio

Collazo’s 9th grade class 20 out of 25 students did not participate. In all 3 classes, the teachers

used Spanish or code-switched between English and Spanish in informal contexts and to clarify

questions. In 2 out of the 3 classes it was observed that English was always used the most by the

teacher to give instructions. Only in the Miguel Meléndez Muñoz 9th grade class did the teacher

always use English to give instructions and to clarify doubts and used Spanish only for casual

conversation with the students. Spanish was the language used the most by the students to

address each other and to address the teacher in all 3 classes observed. Specifically, it was noted

that the students defaulted to using Spanish for those purposes in the classes visited at Juan J.

Osuna and Miguel Julio Collazo high schools. This is because, in the class at Juan J. Osuna, the

students talked in Spanish amongst themselves, and every time the teacher gave them feedback

or asked a question, they responded in Spanish. In the class at Miguel Julio Collazo, the students

had some limited interaction in English but used predominantly Spanish with each other, and

they used predominantly Spanish when verbally engaging in the class with the teacher.

Table 1: Summary of class observation notes from three participating schools in 50 mins

observation time

Area of focus: School: Juan J. Osuna High School Miguel Meléndez Miguel A. Julia Muñoz High School Collazo High School

Amount of teacher-student verbal interaction Minimal Minimal Extensive

Nature of teacher-student verbal interaction For giving instructions and clarifying doubts to the group Welcoming students, giving instructions, giving individual feedback

Student verbal participation Minimal Extensive among students in collaborative work One on one clarification of doubts

Minimal

Language used the most by teacher to address students English for instructions, Spanish to clarify doubts, code-switching evident English for class communication, Spanish for casual conversation, some code-switching evident English for instructions, Spanish to clarify doubts, code-switching evident

Language used the most by students to address each other Spanish Spanish Spanish

Language used the most by students to address the teacher Spanish Spanish Spanish

Student survey.

In the student perception survey, we identified a trend that students believe Spanish is

necessary to clarify doubts and to understand what the teacher is saying (See Table 2). Although

some students recognized that this was not an ideal learning strategy, acknowledging that

Spanish use should be kept to a minimum or that it was something “incorrect” or ineffective.

Table 2: Examples of participant perceptions of English teachers using Spanish in English

classrooms at high school.

Question: How do you feel about English teachers using Spanish during English classes? Trend Indicator

I felt that is necessary to clarify the question of some word or any thing. Need for clarification

It is necessary because some students will not understand. However, Spanish should be used to a minimum.

It is not that it is always used but if there is any doubt it could be clarified in Spanish when there is no other choice

It is something important for those people that are starting to understand it.

I think that on certain occasions it is necessary in order to help those students who do not understand anything

I think is necessary that they speak Spanish from time to time in case something is not understood, but speaking the whole class in Spanish that is wrong Need for comprehension, Strategy not ideal

Need for clarification

Need for access/ comprehension

Need for comprehension

Need for comprehension, Strategy not ideal

With regards to their teachers’ language choices, students were asked if they remembered their

English teachers using Spanish in class, to which 39% of the participants neither agree nor

disagreed and 34% strongly disagreed or disagreed (see Figure 1). With reference to teacher’s

choices of language, 39% of student participants reported that their teachers did not use Spanish

often and 60% reported that their teachers did not use English often. With reference to students’

choice of language, 60% of participants agreed that they used Spanish very often during English

classes and 47% agreed that they used English very little during English classes (see Figure 2).

When asked about the use of Spanish during English classes, 56% of participating students

agreed or strongly agreed that Spanish is needed during English learning. When we asked

participants if they believed that use of Spanish during English language classes negatively

affected their proficiency in the target language, 39% disagreed or strongly disagreed, 34%

agreed or disagreed, and only 26% neither agreed nor disagreed (see Figure 3).

Participants

Figure 1: Participant perceptions of teachers’ language choice during English classes at high

school (n=28)

Figure 2: Participant perceptions of their own language choices during English classes at high

school (n=28)

Figure 3: Participant opinions on the necessity of Spanish in English classrooms at high school

(n=28)

Discussion and Conclusions

Our data from observations of English lessons in three Puerto Rican high schools and a

survey among students enrolled in basic English classes at the University of Puerto Rico’s Cayey

campus regarding their memories about high school English classes indicate that Spanish was

frequently used in those ESL classrooms. Overall, observation data and perception data suggest

that the use of L1 in the L2 classroom appears to be perceived as a tool to enable students to

comprehend the target language and clarify their questions about the language or a specific task

in the classroom. These findings are similar to findings in Schweer’s research on using L1 in the

L2 classroom (1999), which showed, among Hispanic students, that:

A notable percentage of students would like Spanish to be used in English class either

between 10 and 39 percent of the time. A sizeable number of students like the use of

Spanish because it helps them when they feel lost. About 87 percent of students feel

Spanish facilitates their learning of English between “a little” and “a lot,” and about 57

percent think it helps from “fairly much” to “a lot.” (p. 35)

However, Schweers goes onto say that learners need as much exposure as possible to English

during limited ESL class time as it might be the only time in their daily lives when they can

listen to and produce the language (1999, p. 37). He explains to teachers that immersion in the

target language (although it may be uncomfortable for some students) is the best way to motivate

acquisition: “if you only use English, you force your students to try to communicate with you in

that language, giving them the opportunity to produce comprehensible output and negotiate

meaning” (1999, p. 37). It appears that both teachers are students involved in our study rely on

Spanish for comprehension, and consider it necessary, yet the negotiation of meaning that

students engage in when trying to decipher a target language may be exactly the factor that helps

them acquire meaningful acquisition, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel or how much

longer the process may take than seeking clarifications and translations in their L1.

In all three classrooms we observed in this study, code-switching was present, perhaps as

a “softened” version of switching to the students’ native language rather than categorically using

Spanish in the English classroom as the language of instruction. It may be that code-switching in

the ESL classroom has to do with the student’s receptiveness to the language; students with low

proficiency might feel that they need Spanish to access their L2. Thus, teachers may potentially

use Spanish in the classroom as scaffolding technique to enable students with low proficiency to

access the target language. Yet, the fact that all three teachers gave instructions in English (at

least principally) and that some students recognized that “Spanish should be used to a minimum”

and “speaking the whole class in Spanish […] is wrong” suggests that both teachers and students

recognize the value of exposure to the target language. However, without the type of institutional

policy that Makulloluwa (2013, p. 595) explains is necessary to the use of code-switching as a

pedagogical strategy (and which the Department of Education of Puerto Rico does not have) it

may be that this teaching strategy is, at best, ineffective, and at worst, detrimental to language

learning. Indeed, Makulloluwa’s research on code-switching by teachers in the second language

classroom found that in classes that had higher proficiency levels, the use of L1 was either

nonexistent or minimal (2013, p. 593). It appears that the findings and implications of such

research have not been transferred to teachers’ programs of professional development or

disseminated among students.

Our observation data showed that Spanish is more common (and for many, the only

language used) when students interact amongst themselves, rather than when the teachers

interact with the students. The survey corroborated these results, indicating that most participants

preferred to use Spanish when interacting with peers. Although different activities (such as group

work and individual work) affected the students’ participation and interaction with peers in

general terms, during the classes observed, student participation with peers in ESL classes was

minimal. This could be because students chose to be quiet rather than using their L1 Spanish as

opposed to the target language in the English classroom, that they recognized on some level was

either unacceptable and/or ineffective as a learning strategy. However, for those few students

who observation and survey data found to communicate freely in Spanish among peers to clarify

questions and for translation purposes; they may rationalize Spanish as a tool to access their L2.

Although we anticipated that undergraduate survey participants would retrospectively

favor the exclusive use of only English in the ESL high-school classroom in recognition of their

low proficiency scores in English on the META-PR tests, the data from our survey showed that

undergraduate students still favor the use of the L1 in the L2 classroom, and this may be because

of their anxiety associated with immediate comprehension of the target language and its implicit

association with evaluation and grades. Although some students seemed to recognize that it was

not an ideal strategy, there didn’t seem to be any consensus among participants about whether or

not the use of Spanish in the English classroom negatively affects the SLA process. This appears

to be true among researchers too. For example, the results of Ramos’ research in California

confirmed the beneficial effects of native-language instruction in second language acquisition

(Ramos, 2005, p.429), yet a study on Malaysian students showed they had low L2 proficiency

levels due to their phobia of the English language (Noor, Embong & Aigbogun, 2015, p. 83).

Perhaps this issue is a very personal one and specifically related to each learners’ study habits

and cognitive processes. However, with this caveat in mind, we believe that the low proficiency

levels evidenced on the META-PR may be significantly related to the predominant use of

Spanish in the English classrooms of public schools among both teachers and students as there is

enough evidence to suggest that engaging with the target language in meaningful ways for

comprehension promotes language learning. In future investigations, we would like to extend the

survey component of the research design to teachers to measure how consciously they are using

the L1 and L2 in the classroom. Their responses many also be used to compare with students’

perceptions about the effectiveness of L1 as an ESL acquisition strategy. It would also be

beneficial to build into the observation questions and survey instrument aspects relating to the

psychological and social variables that play important roles in the language acquisition process,

especially with ESL in Puerto Rico.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Ingried Rodríguez Pagán for taking time to help us

distribute our student survey via email to many University students in her basic English classes.

Our gratitude also extends to the students who kindly took the time to complete our survey.

Without their time and collaboration, this research project would not have been possible. We

would also like to give special thanks to our professor, Sally Delgado, for providing us with

thorough instructions, constant guidance and feedback during the stages of the research process.

References

DEPR. [Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico]. (2018). Compendio de políticas públicas

del Departamento de educación. Departamento de Educación. Retrieved 15 April, 2019

from https://de.pr.gov/politicas/

Makulloluwa, E. (2013). Code switching by teachers in the second language

classroom. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 6(3), 581-598.

Milroy, M., Muysken, P. (1995). One speaker, two languages: Cross disciplinary perspectives

on code switching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Noor, A. M., Embong, A. M., & Aigbogun, O. (2015). Using L1 in L2 classrooms:

A case study among secondary school students of mixed English language proficiencies.

International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 8(2), 75-86.

Ramos, F. (2005). Spanish teachers’ opinions about the use of Spanish in

mainstream English classrooms before and after their first year in California. Bilingual

Research Journal, 29(2), 411-433.

Schweers, C. W. (1999). Using L1 in the L2 classroom. English Teaching Forum,

32(2), 34-37.

Torres, L. Departamento de educación de Puerto Rico. (2020). Resultados META-PR 2018-2019:

medición y evaluación para la transformación académica de Puerto Rico. Academia.

Retrieved 19 April, 2019 from

file:///C:/Users/sally/Downloads/RESULTADOS_META_PR_2018_2019_MEDICION_

Y.pdf

Sources of Funding

This article was completed as part of the INGL 4335 Second Language Acquisition

course in the second semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. It was edited by the professor of

that course, Sally J. Delgado, and received no financial support.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Classroom observation questions.

1. Describe the teacher-student interaction in class.

2. How much did the students participate in class? 3. What language did the teacher use the most when addressing the students? 4. What language did the students use the most when they addressed the teacher? 5. What language did the students use when talking to each other?

Appendix 2: Student survey questions.

Yes/No question:

1. Did you graduate from a public school?

Short response question:

2. Write the class code for the English class that you are currently taking at the University of Puerto

Rico at Cayey.

Likert scale of agreement 1-5 with the following options: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neither agree nor disagree, 4= agree, 5 = strongly agree:

3. I remember my English teacher using Spanish during the English class. 4. English teachers used Spanish very often. 5. English teachers used English very little. 6. Me and my classmates used Spanish very often during the English class. 7. Me and my classmates used English very little during the class. 8. Spanish is needed for learning English. 9. Using Spanish during English class negatively affects English proficiency levels.

Open question:

10. How do you feel about English teachers using Spanish during English classes?