Mastery-Based, Self-Paced Instruction in Foreign Languages at Ohio State University
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Mastery-Based, Self-Paced Instruction
in Foreign Languages at Ohio State
University
A Report to the Profession on a Four Year Experiment
in Individualized Instruction in Six Foreign Languages
LEON I. TWAROG and E. GARRISON WALTERS
I N JANUARY 1 9 7 6 , T H E NATIONAL ENDOW- is conducted by graduate students (Graduate
ment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded Teaching Associates or GTAS). Regular faculty
the College of Humanities of Ohio State Uni- members also participate, but their number
versity (osu) a major grant to develop and im- varies according to the department and the
plement a system of individualized instruction language in question.
(1.1.) at the elementary level in six foreign lan- Each department has established a maxi-
guages: Arabic, French, German, Latin, Rus- mum for each section, but the actual enroll-
sian, and Spanish.' Endowment support ex- ment at the end of the fourteenth instructional
tended until 31 December 1979. Through its day (official count day) for a language such as
foreign language departments, the College of Russian is approximately twelve, whereas for
Humanities provided matching funds to make French and Spanish it is approximately
this experiment possible. twenty. Most TAS are assigned to teach one
section per quarter, although some depart-
BACKGROUND
ments permit their graduate students to teach
Ohio State University is one of the largest two sections of the same course per quarter.
land-grant universities in the United States All TAS undergo a period of intensive pre-ser-
with an enrollment of approximately 53,000 vice orientation and training in a two week
students on its main campus. Students en- workshop prior to the opening of classes in
rolled in the five colleges of the Arts and Sci- September. They are also supervised within
ences (ASC) must fulfill the University's for- their respective departments by faculty mem-
eign language requirement which consists of bers assigned to oversee basic language in-
the first four courses (101-104) or their struction.
equivalent. This requirement also applies to Each class meets for forty-eight minutes
students in special programs in some of the each day, five days a week. Students are ex-
professional colleges. Each academic year ap- pected to progress through the materials at the
proximately 7,500 students must satisfy this pace established and maintained by the in-
requirement. This figure represents approxi- structor, with all sections conforming to the
mately nineteen percent of the total under- same basic schedule.
graduate enrollment, or fifteen percent of the The late sixties saw the begir ning of the
total university enrollment. erosion of foreign language enrollments
The approach to classroom instruction in throughout the United States. Many institu-
foreign languages at Ohio State is similar to tions dropped the foreign language require-
that at other large universities. A substantial ment for graduation; at Ohio State in the
portion of instruction at the introductory level course of the 1970-71 academic year, only the
very vigorous efforts of the faculty of the Col-
Modern Language Journal, 65 (Spring 1981): 1-23 lege of Humanities prevented a similar de-2 Leon I. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
cline. In 1971 the Dean of the College of Hu- four year period of the grant. When Shu-
manities appointed a special committee to re- maker resigned and moved, Dennis Kratz,
view instruction in foreign languages, and to then Coordinator of the Latin Program, was
make suggestions about possible changes in named Project Director, given the title of
the curriculum. The major recommendations Special Assistant to the Dean, and allocated
of the committee may be summarized as fol- office space in the college. In June 1978, when
lows. Foreign language programs should be Kratz resigned to take another position, he
revised: 1) to address the problems that the was replaced by Leon Twarog, who was just
lock step approach creates for many students; completing a term as Acting Dean of the col-
2) to reduce attrition; 3) to make the study of lege; he too was given office space in the
foreign languages appealing; 4) to increase college.
enrollments; 5) to marshal and apportion re- A Steering Committee was appointed by
sources of the University in a new way, by re- Kratz in September 1977 to help ensure conti-
structuring the teachingAearning process. In nuity amid changes within the college. The
this context a major effort in individualized committee included all three Deans of the col-
instruction had its origin. lege (Leon I. Twarog, then Acting Dean;
Michael Curran, Associate Dean; and E.
HISTORY OF T H E PROJECT Garrison Walters, Assistant Dean), and
Gilbert A. Jarvis. Walters, who was respon-
The proposal submitted to N E n was written sible at the college level for allocation of space,
by three faculty members: John W. Shu- equipment, and the administration of the
maker, then Associate Dean of the College of budget for all GTAS in the college, was nearly
Humanities; Dennis M. Kratz, former As- always involved in project planning.
sistant Professor of Classics; and Gilbert A. It should also be noted that over the four
Jarvis, Professor of Foreign Language Educa- year period of the grant, there were three
tion. The administration of the grant was to Deans of the College of Humanities: Arthur
be the responsibility of the College of Hu- E. Adams (an historian) to September 1977,
manities, and specifically of Shumaker, who Leon I. Twarog, Acting Dean, September
was designated as Project Director. 1977 to September 1978, and Diether H.
In his capacity as Associate Dean, Shu- Haenicke, from September 1978. The conti-
maker was responsible for coordinating nuity provided by the assistant and associate
changes in the curriculum of the College of deans, and by the administrative assistant
Humanities. As Project Director, he was re- (Elizabeth P. Isaac), made it possible to com-
sponsible for the administration of the grant: plete the project on time, and to avoid what
overseeing all areas of planning, research, de- under other circumstances could have been a
velopment, and evaluation that were related damaging turnover in leadership.
to the administrative and pedagogical aspects
of the program. SEPTEMBER 1975 - J U N E 1977
His dual role ensured the continuity of the
project’s objectives with those of the college. Even though grant funds from NEH were
Since the project was housed in the college, it not available until 1 January 1976, the De-
had the visibility and support necessary to se- partment of Classics, which had already been
cure the cooperation of other administrative experimenting with individualized instruc-
units within the university. The new pro- tion, decided to initiate a program in Septem-
cedures that made 1.1. possible, features such ber 1975. Supplementary materials designed
as variable credit, mastery grading, and for individualized instruction were written
flexible scheduling, were achieved with rela- during the summer of 1975, and included
tive ease. Without the backing of the dean’s of- grammar explanations, drills, exercises, prac-
fice, these measures would probably have tice tests, and module achievement tests.
been much more difficult to implement. By January of 1976, Shumaker and the de-
InGeed without the direct connection with partment chairmen had conferred about the
the dean’s office the project could hardly have selection of coordinators for the various lan-
survived the changes in leadership over the guage programs; by June of that year, theT m B S P I at Ohio State 3
candidates had accepted the research posi- and learning that offers choices in three areas:
tions, and plans for beginning the curricular objectives and content of learning, rate of
development had been made. learning, and activities of learning. A pro-
Although the pattern varied slightly from gram in foreign languages may be classified as
one program to another, the same general ‘individualized’to the extent that any of these
principles applied to all six: a coordinator three aspects of instruction vary according to
would direct the research and development of the interests and abilities of the individual stu-
the individualized materials, and ultimately dent.” Essentially the three most important
the implementation of the program. Helshe components of 1.1. in foreign languages at
would be assisted by one or more Research Ohio State are contained in the acronym
Associates (RA). The coordinator would also TAMBSPI (Teacher-Assisted, Mastery-Based,
serve as liaison between the project and the Self-Paced Instruction).
faculty. Teacher-Assisted. Although students work
The first six months of the project, January primarily with self-instructional materials in a
through June 1976, were devoted to planning learning center or at home, a TRAINED
the individualized curricula. Shumaker and TEACHER is available at all times in the learn-
the administrative assistant (who was located ing center to answer questions, to organize in-
within the college office complex) met with formal conversation groups, to administer
each of the coordinators during this time to re- tests, and to assist the student in any other
fine the goals and objectives for each program. way possible. TAMBSPI should not be confused
The new approach was to be an alternative to, with self-instructional programs that use na-
and not a replacement of, the classroom for- tive informants rather than trained teachers.
mat, and would include the first two quarters Mastery-Based. Students earn one credit
of instruction (101, 102). By June it had been hour at a time (Ohio State is on the quarter
decided that the project should be extended in system). As soon as a student passes a unit test
all the languages to include the third quarter at a grade of 80% or better, helshe is per-
course (103) as well. The Department of mitted to go on to the next unit. This system is
German agreed in principle to the addition of virtually fail-safe. B- is the minimum grade.
103, but since the faculty coordinator planned Anyone who puts in the time can and must
to generate a completely new course for indi- learn, or as one of the evaluators put it, “She
vidualized instruction, requiring the writing cannot not learn the language-given any ef-
of a totally new set of materials, German fort on her part.” The mastery-based concept
decided to limit its contribution to 101 and is strictly adhered to in five of the programs.*
102 within the period of the grant. SeEf-Paced. Students proceed at their own
speed. Students may visit the learning center
TAMBSPI: ITS IMPLEMENTATION AT at any time when it is open (from twenty to
O H I O STATE forty hourslweek including some mornings,
afternoons, evenings, and even Saturdays).
Individualized instruction, the term origi- The number of hours a center is open may de-
nally used at Ohio State, has many different pend on the total number of students involved
meanings and many widely varying manifes- in the program for a given language and the
tations. It includes concepts and approaches time periods that can best meet the students’
that have emerged from the efforts of our col- needs. Although technically it should be pos-
leagues throughout the teaching profession, at sible to earn as little as one credit hour per
all levels of education, from kindergarten quarter, the self-paced concept has been modi-
through the post-graduate level. As a peda- fied in several programs to mandate that at
gogical approach, individualized instruction is least one unit be completed within the first
still evolving, and will probably continue to four weeks of the quarter, andlor that a mini-
incorporate and synthesize a vast range of ele- mum of two units be completed in a given
ments. quarter. For all practical purposes then, the
The original proposal to NEH defines indi- student may earn as few as two credit hours in
vidualized instruction, for purposes of the one quarter, or as many as fifteen or twenty.
proposed project, as “an approach to teaching Variety @Learning Goals. Some, but not all,4 Leon 1. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
of the TAMBSPI programs offer students the Students initially register for five quarter
option of emphasizing one of the four skills hours of credit for the 101 TAMBSPI course, the
with a percentage of the grade for each unit same as for the classroom section, but in the
based on that skill. Russian, for example, seventh week, students are required to consult
offers students the option of emphasis on Read- with the teacher, and to sign a binding con-
ing or Speaking and Writing beginning early in tract specifying the :exact number of credit
102, the second quarter of language instruc- hours they realistically expect to complete by
tion. All students cover the same basic gram- the end of the quarter. The University Rec-
mar and vocabulary and all do some work ords Office then adjusts the credit hours on
with reading, writing, and speaking, but the the final grade card on the basis of the con-
options make it possible to put greater empha- tract. Failure to complete all of the contract
sis on what the student actually needs. hours results in a failing grade for all of those
In addition, TAMBSPI meets the needs of stu- credit hours. In unusual circumstances the
dents who have scheduling problems, who student may be given a grade of incomplete,
tend to learn languages either more slowly or which must be removed by the end of the
faster than at the regular classroom pace, or sixth week of the following quarter. Students
who simply enjoy working on their own. who register for a second quarter are not re-
How Does TAMBSPI Work? When students quired to register for any specified number of
first enroll, they go through an orientation ses- hours, and, depending on their need, may
sion in which both the program and their re- register simultaneously for a concluding por-
sponsibilities are outlined. The program tion of one five-hour course, and for the be-
focuses on learning centers which are ginning portion of the course at the next level.
equipped with simple tape recording equip- Students may transfer from the classroom
ment, a small reference collection, and a test- sections into the TAMBSPI program at any
ing center. The learning centers are staffed by time, and may receive credit for the work that
trained teachers (both GTAS and/or regular has already been done in the classroom. Stu-
faculty members). Some of the programs re- dents who are ill, who cannot keep up with the
quire attendance at assigned conversation sec- regular class, or who have overscheduled, can
tions; others organize such sections on a non- transfer to the TAMBSPI program where they
scheduled basis (e.g., whenever a group of select the pace best suited to their needs at that
students of approximately the same learning time. In many instances, the TAMBSPI program
level is present in the center); still others make may be the last stop before the student drops
no attempt at convening conversation sections the language program entirely or drops out of
because overall enrollment is too small to school, but it is one way of saving many stu-
make this practical. The teacher serves as a dents who would ordinarily be lost to the pro-
tutor, consultant, and administers unit tests. gram forever under normal classroom condi-
When the students have gone through the tions. Students may transfer from the TAMBSPI
material and all of the steps required by the programs into the classroom sections only at
program, they are given a practice test to see the beginning of a quarter, and only if they
how well they have mastered the materials for are at the appropriate level.
that particular unit. The students are told at
the beginning of each unit exactly what they S E P T E M B E R 1977 -JULY 1978
should be able to do upon its completion. If
the pre-test is passed, the students may then Introduction of Pilot Programs. The pilot sec-
take the unit test, which is corrected imme- tions of TAMBSPI for the modern languages
diately. If the students pass this test, they are (Arabic, French, Russian, Spanish) were in-
told that they can go on to the next unit. Stu- troduced in September 1977. During that aca-
dents who do not pass the unit test must con- demic year (September 1977-June 1978) en-
sult with the teacher, and do additional work rollments were held to a certain level, which
before being permitted to take another form of varied from one language to another. New
the test. Procedures have been developed in students could enter the program in the winter
the modern foreign languages to test all four and spring quarters, but only to the extent
skills via the unit test. that attrition had created sufficient space. TheTAMBSPI at Ohio state 5
purpose of limiting enrollments was to operate aide; duplicate paper records were also kept.
the program on a trial basis, so as to deter- In addition to the standard data which were
mine the effectiveness of the instructional already being collected, the new format
model: materials,. procedures,
-
schedule, and allowed for the possibility of answering such
facilities. questions as: 1) How many students are work-
The enrollments in pilot sections were as ing on module -at this time? 2) Which
follows: module takes the longest to complete? 3) At
what point in the curriculum does attrition
Language Number of Equivalent
Students Number of
seem the highest? 4) How many students have
Classroom completed -modules? 5) What is the aver-
Sections age amount of time necessary to complete a
Arabic 30 2
given module or an entire course such as 101,
French 60 2 102, or 103? 6) How many modules have been
German (1978-79) 40 2 completed this weeklquarterlyear? 7) What is
Latin 30-60 (pilot) 1-2 the average number of modules completed per
Russian 40 2 weeklquarterlyear? 8) From what collegeldis-
Spanish 60 2 cipline do most students come?
At first, the system worked very well-
Computerized Record Keeping. Because the when enrollments were low. With a small
TAMBSPI system permits students to progress at number of students (30), data could be en-
their own pace, it presents certain difficulties tered on the terminal and duplicate paper rec-
in record-keeping. A file must be kept for each ords could be kept without requiring a great
student, and all information about that stu- deal of the undergraduate aide’s time. Later,
dent’s work in the TAMBSPI program must be however, when enrollments were much higher
entered accordingly. (approximately 150 students), the process of
When the Latin program was introduced, entering data proved unexpectedly demand-
all records were kept by the instructional staff. ing. After an experimental period of approxi-
This arrangement proved unsatisfactory, mately six months, the project was discon-
since the tasks were essentially clerical and re- tinued for the following reasons: 1) entering
duced the amount of time available for in- the data required at least as much time as
struction. Therefore, the Department of Clas- keeping paper records; 2) the display area of
sics began the practice of appointing an the terminal was not sufficiently large or clear
undergraduate aide each quarter to assist with to convey the information that the staff
the record-keeping. needed; 3) paper records proved more
Data for each student included: name, flexible; they could be color coded, filed, and
address, telephone number; previous lan- retrieved in less time than it took to sign on to
guage study (Latin as well as other lan- the terminal and complete necessary pro-
gauges); attendance; grades; progress. It was cedures; 4)changes to the system required the
clear that much more information would be expertise of a computer programmer; 5) if the
required about the students and their progress computer was “down” (as happened occa-
in a TAMBSPI program than was already being sionally), the system was not usable; 6) it was
collected in order to make improvements in not possible to define all the entries that the
the programs, and to provide a data base for computer program should include since the
further research and experimentation. The individualized courses were still too new to
possibility of developing a computerized sys- predict what kinds of statistics would be most
tem for entering, storing, and retrieving these useful.
data was explored early in 1977. The actual The use of the computer has not been ruled
development of such a system was undertaken out forever. It may very well be that inde-
in autumn, 1977, and continued for approxi- pendent minicomputers in each learning cen-
mately fifteen months. The system was intro- ter might solve some of the problems encoun-
duced on a trial basis in the Latin program tered in using terminals fed into the univer-
during the summer quarter, 1978. Data were sity’s computers.
entered on the terminal by the undergraduate The Latin program is currently using the6 Leon I. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
computer to generate batteries of questions for enroll in pilot sections of the new Latin pro-
the unit tests and quizzes. For each test, ap- gram.
proximately fifty items are stored in the com- Introduction of the German Pilot Program. The
puter. Each time a test is needed a set of ten development of the German program re-
items is selected at random. Thus no two stu- quired more time than the others since the co-
dents take the same test; moreover, students ordinator, Werner Haas, had decided to
taking the test for the second or third time create an entirely new set of curricular mate-
have a different set of questions for each at- rials, rather than adopt an existing text and
tempt. Very few students take a test at any prepare supplementary exercises. The 1978-
given level more than twice, so the supply of 79 academic year was used to test a pilot pro-
questions is more than adequate to avoid gram, with the enrollment limited to forty stu-
duplication. dents the first (autumn) quarter, then in-
Development of 104 Courses in French and Rus- creased to sixty for the next two. (By Septem-
sian. In January 1978, the college allocated ber 1979, all students who wished to enroll
funds to be used for creating TAMBSPI mate- were permitted to do so.)
rials at the 104 (fourth quarter) level in French Tapes in Public Libraries. In September 1978,
and Russian so that students could meet the audio tapes for Arabic, French, and Russian
language requirement in these two languages were made available to the Columbus public
entirely via TAMBSPI. These courses were first library system, which has a procedure for
available to students in September 1978. duplication and loaning audio tapes of all
kinds. German and Spanish were not in-
SEPTEMBER 1978-DECEMBER 1979 cluded: German was in the first months of its
pilot program, and its tapes had not yet been
Revision ofthe Latin Program. The review of fully tested and revised. In the case of
the Latin program by faculty in the Depart- Spanish, the tapes are available through the
ment of Classics and by students participating University’s Dial Access Program, a system in
in the TAMBSPI program revealed that the Cam- which students and citizens in the community
bridge Latin Course (CLC) and the auxiliary can listen to tapes by telephone. The tapes are
materials developed to implement the TAMBSPI available according to a fixed schedule, but
program with the CLC as the basic text, did not others can be requested on an individual
prepare TAMBSPI students properly for work in basis.
104 (available only in classroom format). First National Conference on Individualized In-
These same TAMBSPI students generally re- struction in Foreign Languages. Held in May of
ceived grades in 104 that were one full letter 1979, the conference attracted approximately
grade lower than their grades in the preceding 195 persons from institutions other than Ohio
TAMBSPI courses, whereas those students who State. Conferees had the opportunity to hear
had been in the classroom track earned grades detailed presentations on Ohio State’s TAMB-
that were generally the same as those earned SPI, as well as descriptions of other indi-
in 101-103. vidualized programs around the country.
The review also concluded that the CLC Widely varying definitions of-and ap-
could no longer serve as the textbook for proaches to - individualized instruction
either the classroom or the TAMBSPI program, emerged during the conference. Some pro-
and a decision was reached to develop a new grams, for example, require independent
set of materials for use in both the classroom study; others, while self-paced, operate within
and the TAMBSPI program. From September a highly structured classroom format. One
1978 through September 1979, Douglas Lacey thousand copies of the Proceedings were pub-
was relieved of all teaching duties in the de- lished.3 Copies were distributed free of charge
partment in order to complete a text and to all conferees and to anyone who requested a
materials for a three-quarter sequence (101, copy as long as the supply lasted.
102, & 103). These are currently in use. Stu- Full Implementation. By Autumn Quarter,
dents already enrolled were permitted to com- 1979, the TAMBSPI curricula were firmly estab-
plete their work with the old materials, and lished. Many decisions concerning the pro-
only a few students at a time were permitted to gram still had to be made in conjunction withTMBSPZ at Ohio state 7
the college, but primary responsibility for larly, more than half of the enrollments in
matters of procedure, staffing, and policy had Latin are in the TAMBSPI program. The same
been shifted to the departments. holds true for the Russian program in the 102,
In Arabic, German, Latin, and Russian, a 103, and 104 TAMBSPI courses, since in the
coordinator holding faculty status is in charge autumn quarter only one section of Russian is
of each program and supervises the TAS as- offered at each of those levels. The schedule
signed to the learning centers. In French and conflicts which limit the options of classroom
Spanish, the programs are directed in each students do not affect those in the TAMBSPI
case by a person accountable to a senior programs.
faculty member. Comparative attrition rates (defined as the
Enrollments for autumn quarter are sum- reduction in enrollments between the 14th day
marized in Table I for those courses which are of instruction and the end of the quarter) indi-
offered in both TAMBSPI and classroom formats cate that for TAMBSPI there is a significant dif-
(for Arabic this includes only 101; for Ger- ference between the credit hours for which the
man, 101 and 102; for Spanish and Latin, students originally register and those which
101-103;for French and Russian 101-104). they actually earn. For the classroom sections,
It is important to note that in foreign lan- the reduction in headcount is proportionate to
guage courses where both classroom instruc- the reduction in credit hours (i.e., a student
tion and TAMBSPI were available, twenty-five who withdraws must drop all of the credit
percent of the total enrollment was in the hours for a particular course). In the TAMBSPI
TAMBSPI program. In languages such as option the percentage credit hour loss is con-
French and Spanish, where students could en- siderably higher than the percentage head-
roll in the 101, 102, or 103 classroom sections count loss. The credit hour loss includes those
at any hour of the day, and where schedule students a) who registered for the course but
conflicts are virtually nonexistent, only about may never have completed even a single
twenty percent of the students were enrolled in credit; and b) who remained in the TAMBSPI
the TAMBSPI program. On the other hand, program but reduced the number of credit
only one classroom section (101 or 102 or 103) hours they were obligated to complete.
of Arabic is offered per quarter, while all three
levels are offered each quarter in the TAMBSPI TAMBSPI PROGRAMS: MATERIALS A N D
program. Thus, the percentage of students en- UNIQUE FEATURES
rolled in Arabic TAMBSPI is sixty-one percent.
Indeed, if it were not for the availability of In the preceding section the standard struc-
TAMBSPI, most of the students enrolled in the ture and common features of the six TAMBSPI
Arabic program during autumn quarter programs were described. Here we shall
might never have taken that language. Simi- briefly examine the major characteristics of
TABLE I
Comparisonof Classroom and TAMBSPI Autumn 1979 Enrollments
Attrition 3'%
Total TAMBSPI Percent in Classroom TAMBSPI
Language Headcount Headcount TAMBSPI HC* CH* HC* CH*
Arabic 101-103 44 27 61** 24 47 11 54
French 101-104 985 199 20 12 13 26 52
German 102, 102 301 97 32 9 12 15 56
Latin 101-103 186 99 53 30 28 9 35
Russian 101-104 143 60 42 13 16 17 59
Spanish 101-103 1,203 251 21 13 14 19 26
*HC = Headcount-number enrolled;CH = Credit Hours-number ofcredits earned.
**If 102 and 103 TAMBSPI enrollmentsare counted, this figure would be 71 '3% .
Enrollments for the autumn quarter, 1979, the final quarter under the NEH grant are summarized above. These are
the official enrollmentstaken on the 14th day of class.8 Leon I. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
the learning materials and the learning pro- first two skills. In order to liven up learning
cesses used for each. We shall indicate the ex- activities and create a social context, dialogues
tent to which programs deviate from or sup- based on the basic texts of the lessons are in-
plement the basic approach to TAMBSPI. troduced in many stages of the TAMBSPI mate-
Arabic. The same basic texts are used in rials beginning with 102. Students are asked
both the classroom and the TAMBSPI program to form small groups of two or more (with or
for the entire 101-102-103 sequence.* In con- without the instructor) to carry out some of
junction with the core texts, a series of three these activities.
books by Cadora is used in the Arabic TAMBSPI Instruction in the 101-104 sequence of
p r ~ g r a m .Volumes
~ one, two, and three of courses constitutes a gradual and systematic
this series are sold at all of the local bookstores presentation of the basic core of the vocabu-
and tapes are available in the learning center lary and grammar of MSA. It is a coherent and
as well as in two University Listening Cen- integrated skill-building approach with inul-
ters. The written and taped instructional tiple routes to accommodate individual styles
materials are structured and sequenced in a and a culture-acquainting sequence which
way that requires the availability of both lis- provides an important educational experience
tening equipment and instructors in the same for the student desiring to fulfill a foreign lan-
learning area. Otherwise, the program cannot guage requirement; it also provides a solid
function. Therefore, it is highly desirable to foundation for the student interested in
maintain the operation of no fewer than six further study of Arabic.
listening booths in the Learning Center. French. Materials consist of textbooks and
Each part of the TAMBSPI materials contains learning packets.6 The materials prepare the
five units, each of which is divided into stages students to use 104 level materials. The
which correspond to the lessons in the basic strength of the learning packets lies in the fact
texts. The structure of all the units is essen- that a certain number of required activities
tially the same, including unit goals, stage objec- must be completed by the student and checked
tives, activities, stage and unit achievement tests, cul- by the instructor. This feature prevents stu-
tural segments, answer kgs, and review sections. dents from attempting to rush through the
An innovative feature is the use of two tracks, materials without mastering them.
“A” and “B,” to explain the same set of gram- Students must attend a minimum of two
matical points in two different ways. Track “B” group conversation sessions in the learning
is usually in summary form and may be de- center for each credit hour. These sessions are
ductive or inductive in method of presenta- available at staggered hours, and are super-
tion. This track may be used for review and vised by an instructor. This requirement in-
reinforcement of materials already covered in sures that students receive oral/aural practice.
Track A by average students or for fast pacing At the 104 level, students choose a maxi-
by students with high linguistic aptitudes. mum of five modules from seven possible
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) can be areas: medieval, renaissance, classical, en-
characterized as a syntactically developed and lightenment, nineteenth-century, twentieth-
lexically and phonetically modified form of the century, and francophonic. A cultural reader
classical language. Its use is restricted to for- by Bragger and Shupp complements the
mal occasions: speeches, learned debates, lec- literary selections in the learning packets.7 In
tures, news broadcasts, some programs on addition, students choose one of two lab pro-
radio and TV, as well as to all written prose grams by Emil de Harven.6 Supplementary
and poetry. Dialectal Arabic, which is not materials such as magazines, pronunciation
written, is used on all informal occasions. tapes, extra grammar explanatory sheets,
As a result of this disglossia, the major goals French texts, and realia are also available in
of the 101-104 sequences are: 1) comprehen- the Learning Center.
sion of written MSA materials on various as- German. Individualized Instruction in ele-
pects of Arabic culture; 2) comprehension of mentary German consists of a ten Unit pro-
spoken MSA. Thus the program relegates oral gram: five Units for German 101, five
and written composition to a secondary func- Units for German 102. Anders gelehrt, anders
tion, essentially to reinforce the learning of the gelernt serves as the basic text and as the stu-T N B S P I at Ohio state 9
dent’s workbook.9 The material, while clearly the intention of their producers: “The voices
geared toward the tutorial method and self- on these tapes sound like real German and
learning, uses a four-skills approach. Austrian people.”
Option for Personalization (Units 5-10). Al- Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) for TAMB-
though the German TAMBSPI program exposes SPI: DEC(I. Deutscher Computer Unterrkht (DECU)
the student to the four basic language skills is a special computer-assisted instructional
(aural comprehension, speaking, reading, program for TAMBSPI developed by Professors
writing), options for additional practice in any Heimy Taylor and Werner Haas. l o DECU’S ob-
one of these four language skills are included jective is to provide individualized and highly
in units five to ten. Special practice materials controlled instruction in German grammar.
which coincide with the text’s structure and This CAI program makes use of the principles
vocabulary have been created for this pur- and practices of the tutorial method; it en-
pose. The student can choose between two op- hances and fortifies a program of well-bal-
tions for reading (one on cultural history and anced language instruction. The tutoring
one on topics of contemporary life in German takes place on a one-to-one basis, and all feed-
speaking countries) and an option for writing or back is geared to students’ individual re-
conversation practice. Work in this personali- sponses. The computer’s ability to store a
zation section makes up fifteen percent of the large quantity of information, related to stu-
student’s activity in these last six units of the dents’ most common mistakes in learning Ger-
program. Additions (mainly a greater variety man, provides the kind of tutorial advice
of topics and materials which will be fully inte- which can help to overcome particular learn-
grated into the total program) are planned for ing difficulties. The program also eliminates
the future. unchecked errors and reinforces grammatical
The Tape Program. German TAMBSPI has its patterns and structures. DECU is fully inte-
own tape program developed in conjunction grated into the German TAMBSPI program and
with the text. It consists of fifty-six tapes its other materials (structures, vocabulary,
which supplement and complement all major texts).
features of the TAMBSPI text (dialogue, reading A natural relationship exists between
selection, grammar, communicative skills, TAMBSPI and computer-assisted instruction be-
pronunciation). Thirteen different native cause they share a number of basic features: 1)
speakers (professors, students, visitors) supply variable pacing; 2) one-to-one tutoring; 3) op-
the voices for these tapes. To be sure, these tions on the selection of material at a given
speakers are not the trained actors and ac- time; 4) elimination of unsatisfactory per-
tresses usually hired for such a purpose, yet formance level (fixed standard of compe-
their participation in this program lends tence); and 5) branching options according to
special authenticity to spoken German often performance level.
missing in commercial equivalents. The use of While use of the CAI program TUCO is op-
many different voices, male and female, also tional for students taking elementary German
provides greater variety and stimulates aural in the classroom sections, DECU is a required
comprehension on the part of the students. part of student’s work in TAMBSPI. Their work
Since the thirteen speakers come from many is checked periodically by an instructor on
different parts of the German speaking coun- printouts brought to the learning center. CAI
tries, the students are also exposed to certain work is not graded, but students receive ad-
regional differences in the pronunciation of vice based on an analysis of their grammar
standard High German. practice on the computer terminal.
The entire TAMBSPI tape program is avail- The Guten Tag Film Series. Diversity, change
able in all listening centers of the university of pace, a variety of teaching materials, and
and in the German learning center. Free variation in teaching approach are vital for the
duplication of all tapes in either reel-to-reel or implementation of a dynamic foreign lan-
cassette format is available to all students (stu- guage program and for maintaining student
dents must supply only their own tapes or interest in the subject matter. With this in
cassettes). One comment made by a student mind, the program includes a few items in the
and overheard by coincidence expresses best German TAMBSPI program which are not re-Leon I. Twarog and E. Gamkon Walters quired, tested, or even checked, as well as and 104) coincides with the amount of mate- "fun" activities which are suggested, recom- rial covered in respective classroom courses. mended, and made available to the student. The text is fairly well suited for a TAMBSPI The Guten Tag film series belongs to this cate- program. It consists of a main textbook and a gory. This special series of German language series of booklets. The material is highly struc- television films was designed for beginners by tured and covers three of the four basic skills: the Goethe Institute in cooperation with the reading, speaking, and listening. Apart from Bavarian Broadcasting Company. The series grammar exercises, writing is left to the in- for elementary German instruction consists of structor (as is usual with most existing lan- twenty-six episodes in black and white which guage textbooks). Grammar exercises, con- are linguistically graded and depict different versation, and reading selections are pre- aspects of everyday life in the Federal Repub- sented in a booklet keyed to the main text, and lic of Germany. Permission was secured to provide enough instructional material for the video-tape the entire series for use in the Ger- needs of even a very motivated student. When man TAMBSPI program at Ohio State. Two to the Russian TAMBSPI program was initially de- three episodes are integrated into each of the signed, this variety of books seemed particu- TAMBSPI units of German 101 and 102. The larly convenient, because a large quantity of viewing of these films is recommended to the instructional material was available which students for their enjoyment and personal en- could be used in any needed amount and in richment. During the pilot year students could any combination. see the films in the German learning center on Since Russian for Everybody does not contain video tape. Now they have access to them in adequate grammar explanations, Baker's Mas- the listening center of another building. tering Russian'3 -a workbook designed specifi- Latin. As mentioned above, the Cambridge cally for an English speaking student using Latin Course, which was used in both the class- Russian f o r Everybody -was adopted. Baker's room and the TAMBSPI programs until 1978, workbook was also used in classroom teaching has now been replaced by a new textbook, In- when the TAMBSPI materials were developed, troduction to Latin, by Douglas Lacey." It is a but was later discontinued. highly structured text that leads students to Supplementary Materials. The TAMBSPI Supple- readings in Cicero and Catullus by the end of ment14 for each level through 104 is divided Latin 103. Some of the more important as- into five units. Each unit usually covers two pects of the text include the following: 1) use lessons from the text and is worth one credit of both inductive and deductive approaches to hour. The lesson numbers from the Supplement each lesson; 2) phonetic drills to enable stu- and the textbook are synchronized. Each unit dents to practice the pronunciation of Latin; consists of the following: 1) list of objectives 3) workbook for all drills, exercises, and prac- specifying what the student will know or will tice tests (with answer keys); 4) introductory be able to do when helshe has completed the unit on standard English grammar; 5) use of unit; 2) activity schedules and checklists, step-by- authentic Latin in each lesson; 6) develop- step study guides with specific instructions on ment of a working vocabulary aimed at the what to do to complete each unit. They give reading material for Latin 104. the order in which students are advised to do This text is intended for use in both the the various learning activities. In practice, classroom and TAMBSPI modes without supple- however, students may complete the activities mentation. It was decided that a highly struc- in any order they like until the pretest. Activi- tured approach was best, especially for stu- ties are grouped into categories, such as dents in the TAMBSPI program since it was the vocabulary, grammar, conversation, culture, lack of structure of the Cambridge Latin Course preparation for the unit test, etc. The direc- that caused the most difficulty for many stu- tions refer the student to the chapters in the dents. textbook, exercises, reading selections, tapes, Russian. In the TAMBSPI program the text is etc. Learning activities are of two kinds: the same as that currently used in the regular obligatory and optional. The latter were de- 101-104 courses.1zThe division of the text- signed to accommodate different individual book material by levels (i.e., 101, 102, 103, learning styles or preferences. The student
T M B S P I at Ohio State
can do as many of them as helshe needs or the option test.
wants, or none. They include “traditional” The Reading Option is primarily intended to
exercises, games, crossword puzzles, etc. ; 3) develop readingrfor-meaning skills, which is sel-
learning packets including supplementary gram- dom, if ever, done in elementary and inter-
mar explanations to assist the student with mediate Russian courses. The program con-
particularly difficult passages from the core sists of reading activities designed o enable
text. The packets also include additional exer- students to develop strategies for reaaihg new
cises and drills; additional reading passages; materials in Russian with greater comprehen-
games, cultural and historic comments; sug- sion. Emphasis is placed on learning how to
gestions on learning strategies. Answer keys anticipate shifts in content in the texts (time
are provided for all exercises. references, conjunctions, subtitles, titles,
Tapes. The Russian TAMBSPI program uses etc.), to recognize new vocabulary through
two sets of listening materials: 1) tapes accom- knowledge of Russian word roots and word-
panying the text Russian for Euerybody, modi- building rules, to understand the interrela-
fied and supplemented by Baker, which are tionship of parts of sentences through knowl-
also used in classroom courses. They include edge of sentence-buildingdevices, as well as to
stories and dialogues from the textbook, guess intelligently about meanings from the
special passages for oral comprehension, and context of a passage.
grammar drills; 2) tapes prepared at Ohio The Speaking and Writing Option program
State especially for the TAMBSPI program to consists of listening, speaking, and writing ac-
make up for the lack of daily contact with an tivities aimed at further improving active
instructor. They include: vocabulary tapes for command of Russian. Activities take the form
each lesson to help the student associate the of tape recorded stories or dialogues. Exercises
printed word with the sound; tapes for oral consist primarily of various sorts of writing in
comprehension; dictations; “conversation” Russian (answers and short compositions),
with the tape where the student is supposed to speaking with instructors, and responding to
respond to questions, make remarks, etc. The tapes. For both speaking and writing, what is
tapes are also used for oral testing. emphasized is the ability to communicate ef-
Tracking Options. Beginning in 102 students fectively in Russian, rather than just to
are given an opportunity to emphasize the manipulate the grammar offered.
skills they prefer by choosing one of two “op- Spanish. All elementsry Spanish courses at
tions’’ as part of their regular work -a Reading osu -classroom and TAMBSPI -use the same
or Speaking and Writing option. Each student is textbook.
required to choose at least one option, the Supplemental materials take the form of
more ambitious can do both. learning packets, one for each course, each
All students continue to cover the same containing five units of work corresponding to
basic grammar and vocabulary, and do some the five credit hours offered in each course.16
work with reading, writing, and speaking. These packets are basically sets of procedural
The options do not dramatically increase the instructions which consist of learning objec-
time necessary to complete a unit, since the tives for each lesson, a series of suggested and
gradual increase in the size of the options is required activities which aid students in work-
accompanied by a proportionate decrease in ing on their own through the contents of each
the regular core of activities for each unit. In unit, and a checklist of the things they should
102, for example, from five to ten percent of be able to do before they take the lesson tests
the student’s time is devoted to the chosen and unit exams. To this skeletal packet are
option, and the work on options is tested on a added two “Do-it-yourself quizzes” for each
pass-fail basis. Jn units eleven to thirteen (the lesson-one for the dialogue and vocabulary
first three units of 103) ten percent of the work and the other reviewing the grammatical con-
is devoted to the option chosen; and for the cepts presented in the lesson. The answers to
rest of 103 and through 104 the option com- these quizzes are provided in the packet, and
prises twenty percent of the work on each are checked by the student as a means of as-
unit. A corresponding proportion of the Unit sessing his progress. A lesson test is included
Exam score in 103 and 104 must be earned on for each lesson as well. Each contains a written12 Leon I. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
component and additional testing of listening tual tabulation.
comprehension and speaking. The written Developmental Costs. These costs were shared
portion may be done at home by the student by NEH and osu. A summary budget describes
and corrected by using an answer key in the expenditures in the following categories:
learning center. The listening and speaking materials preparation; evaluation and on-
components are administered by an instructor going assessment; dissemination; and other
and must be done in the learning center. Stu- (including administration). The first accounts
dents may ask an instructor €or additional ex- for roughly thirty-two percent, the second,
planations, drill, or practice on any aspect of forty-eight, the third and fourth combined,
the packet, workbook or text. twenty percent. Institutions choosing to adopt
Summary. Even this very brief presentation the materials developed at Ohio State or else-
of some of the major features and special char- where can, of course, avoid practically all de-
acteristics of the six language programs makes velopmental costs. The only expenses in such
it clear that the process of individualization at a case should be for released time for faculty
Ohio State is not a homogeneous one, but members to familiarize themselves with both
rather the product of departmental needs and the instructional and administrative aspects of
traditions, and of the special skills and inter- the system to be borrowed.
ests of the program developers for each lan- Operating Costs. Operating costs are defined
guage. as all those costs of TAMBSPI which are exclu-
sive of initial materials preparation, evalua-
PROGRAM COSTS tion, and revision.
comparing th chsroom to TMESPI. Assuming,
The cost of TAMBSPI for six languages at as noted above, that the unit cost of instruc-
Ohio State was borne largely by the National tion in both forms is to be the same, the first
Endowment for the Humanities. Thus, a measure to be examined is the instructional
simple description of costs without some staff/student ratio. In the classroom this figure
breakdown of OSU/NEHsupport on the one is simply the average section size per FTE staff
hand and developmental vs. operating ex- member. In the TAMBSPI system it is the num-
penses on the other, would be of little use to ber of student enrollments necessary to enable
institutions contemplating adoption of the appointment of one FTE staff member. The
TAMBSPI. Since the principal objective of a first figure is based on tradition and reflects a
grant such as the one given by the Endow- combination of subjective and objective views
ment to Ohio State is to develop information of the difficulties of teaching certain lan-
of value to more than one institution, every ef- guages. At Ohio State the size of a classroom
fort will be made in this section to separate in- section varies from fifteen students in Arabic
formation about costs in the most useful way to thirty in Latin. Naturally, fiscal realities
possible. must be considered: while all languages could
However, this part is by the same token be taught more effectively in groups of twelve
necessarily brief. Given the large number of than in sections of twenty-four, such a change
approaches to academic budgeting in this at Ohio State would cost in excess of $600,000
country, detailed financial data could almost for French and Spanish alone.
certainly not be translated effectively into sys- In some instances one could argue that,
tems used elsewhere. Instead, our emphasis even for a language such as Spanish, a section
here has been placed on defining the crucial of twelve to fifteen students might be con-
categories and clarifying the relationships be- sidered as cost effective. How is one to count a
tween them. non-traditional student who enrolls for a
In all problems related to instructional cost, Spanish course for example, if this is a student
it should be remembered that, from the time who would never have enrolled in any lan-
of the submission of the grant proposal until guage course if the TAMBSPI program in
the present, the college has insisted that in ac- Spanish were not available? Is this enrollment
tual operation t h unit cost of instruction for counted like the traditional Spanish enrollee,
TMBSPI not exceed that of the classroom track. De- or should this be considered much in the same
velopmental costs are excluded from the ac- way that one thinks of a class in Arabic? De-TAMBSPI at Ohio State 13 partment heads and deans are forever con- absorbed relatively easily, and at a much fronted with these questions and must respond lower cost per student.) to them. Clearly, as more advanced courses are de- If we were to consider as a yardstick the veloped for each of these languages, the number of credit hours earned per instructor TAMBSPI programs will, almost certainly, be in TAMBSPI programs as compared to class- considerably less expensive to operate than the room instruction, then the TAMBSPI programs classroom sections of these same courses. As can clearly be cost effective, even in some of has already been noted, most of the language the traditional languages like French and teaching at the introductory levels is done by Spanish. Most recent data indicate that for TAS. One might conclude that the TAMBSPI Spanish the number of credit hours earned per programs are cost effective because TAS get instructor in TAMBSPI equals the “productivity” paid so little in the first place, but this is not of those teaching in the regular classroom sec- necessarily so. One full time instructor could tions. The Latin program, where the average replace three TAS, and the cost would be ap- number of credit hours earned per student per proximately the same. In some departments quarter in the TAMBSPI program is four (as full professors also teach introductory lan- compared to the standard five in classroom guage courses as part of their regular course- track), is clearly cost effective. For Arabic it loads, which means that it costs six or seven would seem that TAMBSPI is considerably less times as much for a full professor to teach the expensive than the classroom option, despite same number of students. The same applies to the fact that students earn an average of only the TAMBSPI programs. If this is the regular 2.6 credit hours in the TAMBSPI program. practice in a department, then there is no dif- French, with average earnings of three credits ference in cost effectiveness. It is for this rea- per quarter in TAMBSPI, is also making its own son that in this paper cost effectiveness is con- way. German, with an average productivity of sidered in terms of credit hours earned per in- 2.5 credits per student per quarter for 101 and structor. 102 in TAMBSPI, may have to achieve a level of If all things were equal, the staff/student three credits per student per quarter in order ratio for TAMBSPI would be the same as for the to be truly cost effective. classroom. It was clear from the beginning of In Russian, where the average number of the project, however, that the basic ratio could credits completed in the 101, 102, and 103 not be the same, since TAMBSPI entails some TAMBSPI programs is two or slightly less, the costs that exceed those of the classroom. A cost for the TAMBSPI program is still competi- brief discussion of these additional costs will tive with that of the regular classroom because clarify the adjustment of the instructodstu- classroom sections are generally not too large. dent ratio. At the 104 level, where productivity rises to 3.4 credits per student per quarter, TAMBSPI is ADDITIONAL COSTS clearly cost effective, Further efforts must be made to prod students into completing more Department / Collqe / Universi& Administration. units at the 101-103 levels. When two addi- Since the NEH grant was awarded to the college tional courses in Russian at the more ad- rather than to individual departments, and vanced level are introduced into the curricu- since there were obvious benefits to careful co- lum, they will doubtless be cost effective, and ordination of development across the depart- may on occasion actually replace a regular ments involved, direct college participation in classroom section if that section consists of instruction occurred to an unusual extent. It only two or three students. (Until now, when should be remembered, however, that the de- advanced language courses were required for partments were deeply involved from the be- a major program, the policy of the college has ginning. Moreover, following the second year been to offer such courses even at relatively of the grant, the college’s role had diminished high cost, and to have a regular faculty mem- to coordinating the evaluative effort, adminis- ber teach them as part of his regular teaching tering the grant, and assisting with occasional load. By making advanced courses available problems that concerned all of the lan- via TAMBSPI the few students involved can be guages -such as publishing materials, and re-
14 Leon I. Twarog and E. Garrison Walters
solving registration difficulties. At present the spends considerable time revising old mate-
TAMBSPI program does not require significant rials and preparing new ones. In a fully de-
additional administration at the college or uni- veloped TAMBSPI program this work is not sig-
versity level. “Significant”in this sense means nificantly greater than for the classroom.
that no extra personnel need to be hired and There is, however, one situation in which sub-
other operating expenses are not increased. stantial changes could be forced on the pro-
The situation in the departments is some- gram: a new edition of a textbook. The college
what different. The staff of the Latin pro- and the departments have confronted this
gram, for example, quickly discovered that problem in two ways: 1) the materials have
TAMBSPI requires extensive recordkeeping: been designed for flexibility, so that in some
there are more records, and they must be kept cases even major revisions in textbooks can be
in a more complex way than in the classroom. accommodated with fairly minor changes to
Thus an undergraduate student was hired on materials; and 2) arrangements are made
an hourly basis to free the instructional staff (where feasible) which permit the program to
from what were essentially clerical chores. continue producing the textbooks in the origi-
Following an unsuccessful attempt to alleviate nal edition for a specified number of years,
this burden with the use of a computer (see whether or not a new edition appears.
above), the level of work eventually stabilized Obviously, other factors are also under de-
at the equivalent of a fifty percent FTE position partmental control, such as the adoption of an
for this purpose for an enrollment of about entirely new text. In any case, however, we
210 students. The other programs of compar- assume that the departments and the college
able size (French and Spanish) have made will be able to absorb the costs of revisions and
similar arrangements. Arabic, German, and new materials through internal shifting of re-
Russian have not yet reached the enrollment sources-as is now done when such changes
threshold (approximately 150 to 200 students) affect classroom instruction.
that would require an additional position, but Equipment. The instructional staff for all of
all experience the same problem to some ex- the modern languages is in general agreement
tent. Recordkeeping costs are offset by alter- that direct access to audio tape equipment is
ing the staff/student ratio (see below). essential or at least highly desirable for the
Staff Training. Some training of staff for the TAMBSPI programs. The definition of “direct”
new instructional system occurred during the is a problem, however. All of the learning cen-
developmental phase, but it is considered here ters are located in a building which has exten-
as essentially an operating cost since some sive language laboratory facilities, but are
staff turnover, and thus some training, is as- separated by one floor (in the case of French
sumed to be a part of any foreign language and Spanish) or three floors (Arabic, German,
program (this may not apply to very small in- Russian). Despite such relative proximity, all
stitutions). Whether TAMBSPI requires signifi- of the languages have felt it necessary to locate
cant additional training beyond that required some tape equipment in each learning center.
for the classroom is difficult to answer (“sig- The cost, consisting almost entirely of mainte-
nificant” again being defined as requiring nance contracts which greatly exceed the cost
additional staff). The best answer is that it of the equipment itself, is high.
does not, since not even the largest programs During the initial years of the project, grant
have assigned an individual to do just this job. funds paid for the machines located in the cen-
But the responsibility for some additional ters. The college made it clear, however, that
training clearly has added to the workload of before the expiration of the grant these costs
those who supervise introductory instruction would either have to be absorbed by decreas-
as a whole. In French and Spanish, where one ing expenses elsewhere, or the machines
individual per program is released from other would have to be removed. As the grant
duties to oversee the operation of the learning moved into its final two years, the language
center, staff training is one of the major re- teachers, convinced of the necessity of having
sponsibilities of the position. tape decks in each learning center, and unable
Materials: Revision and Preparation. In any to cut costs significantly elsewhere, pressed
language program, the instructional staff the college
” to find some solution that wouldYou can also read
