Grammar as Concept: The Implementation of the PACE Model in Beginning Spanish Classes

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of the PACE approach (Adair-Hauck & Donato, 2002) for grammar teaching in beginning (novice mid/high) second language (L2) Spanish classes. Even though research has reported instructional benefits for PACE in L2 French (Groenveld, 2011), Alutiiq (Branson, 2015), and ESL (Harris, 2017; Ngo, 2018), to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have been conducted with beginning L2 Spanish learners. Thus, this work seeks to contribute to the existing literature by focusing on the adoption of the approach in L2 Spanish university classes. The study focused on stem-changing verb forms in the present tense, and it involved the participation of 47 students in a public institution in the Southern United States. The participants were enrolled in two different sections of a first-semester class taught by a PACE-trained instructor. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests consisting of two multiple-choice tasks at the sentence and paragraph levels. Findings showed statistically significant differences between pre-and post-test results, which not only mirror previous studies, but also appeared to point to the effectiveness of the PACE approach for grammar teaching in L2 Spanish classes as well as for L2 use in all modes of communication—interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational.