76 University Drive
Hazleton, PA 18202-8025
Biography
Instructor of Spanish at Penn State/ Hazleton since 2009. Married with two children.
Research Interests
Collaborative Learning, Multiple Intelligences Theory and Learning Styles Applied to Second Language Acquisition
Publications
Artists as Testimonial Witnesses of Injustices in an Intermediate Spanish Course - January, 2023
“El movimiento “Ni Una Menos”: Activismo social en la clase de lengua/ The Movement “Noe One Less”: Social Activism in a Language Class. , Hispania - August, 2022
Intermediate Spanish - August 16, 2021
Bad Bunny: Un artista latino que canta en subjuntivo/ Bad Bunny: a Latin artist that sings in the Subjunctive, Hispania - June, 2021
VoiceThread, Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium (CALICO) Journal Online - January 28, 2021
Culture and Language Appreciation in a History of Latin America Course - January, 2020
An Oral VoiceThread Test for First-semester French Language Learners in a U.S. University - December, 2019
A Dual Language Education for Our Children, anthracite unite.com - April 04, 2017
Improvement of Present Subjunctive Oral Production in Graded VoiceThread Tasks, The Journal of Teacher Action Research - September 10, 2016
Exposiciones De Arte Juvenil, Pamphlet published by Hazleton Art League, Hazleton, PA - January, 2011
Evidence of Multiple Intelligences in FLES Classrooms, Learning Languages: The Professional Journal of the National network for Early Language Learning - April, 2010
Collaborators: Joyce Armstrong, Author; Marc Marchese, Author
Education
Certification in Teaching English Students of Other Languages (TESOL), TESOL, ESL, The Pennsylvania State University
Doctor of Modern Languages, Spanish and French, Middlebury College
MA, Spanish, Millersville University
BA, Biology, Bryn Mawr College
BA, Piano, Royal Conservatory of Music
Papers and Presentations
November 11, 2024 - November 13, 2024
Posters
Student Perceptions of the Relevance of Mapping Historical Events on a Geographical Information System (GIS) in a Latin American History Course
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be used to enhance knowledge of geography in Humanities courses.. In this project, university students enrolled in a Latin American history course were asked to explain the history of a nation by focusing on events in specific locations which they could find on geographical maps in the ArcGIS systems. Students were asked to explain their feelings about using ArcGIS in their projects.
November 13, 2023 - November 15, 2023
Posters
A Comparison of Student Interest on the Use of Google Docs as Wikis Between Beginner and intermediate Spanish Language Courses
International Conference on Education, Research and Development
Sevilla, Spain
This study compared students' perceptions of using Google Docs as wikis. Preliminary findings suggest that both groups agreed that it was a helpful learning tool.
September 2, 2022
Lectures
Engaging LatinX at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Lunch Bag
Hazleton, PA
June 6, 2022 - June 18, 2022
Presentations
Catálogo de objetos/ Catalogue of Objects
NEH Summer Institute for Higher Education Faculty: Engaging LatinX Two Week Summer Institute
Houston, Texas
August 27, 2021
Lectures
Integrated Performance Assessments: Task-Based Activities That Promote Language Acquisition
Brown Bag
Hazleton
June 26, 2021
Papers and Oral Presentations
Feminismo velado en novelas policiales de Alicia Giménez Bartlett y de Dolores Redondo/ Hidden Feminism in the Police Novels of Alicia Giménez Bartlett and Dolores Redondo
Congresos Internacionales de Literatura y Estudios Hispánicos/ International Congresses of Literature and Hispanic Studies
Virutal
April 24, 2021 - May 1, 2021
Oral Presentations
Artworks That Promote Discussions on Social Issues in Language Classrooms
Finding Our Voice: World Languages for Social Justice
New York City
April 20, 2021
Oral Presentations
Conversations on Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in the Classroom
Colleague Cluster
Hazleton
June 18, 2020
Oral Presentations
Manolito Gafotas, ¿un pícaro moderno?, / Manolito Gafotas, a modern rascal?
Congresos Internacionales de Literatura Hispánica (CILH) / International Congresses of Hispanic Literature
Online
Presentation in Spanish about an intertextual comparison of the character Manolito Gafotas, an 8 year old rascal of a series of adventures in 20th century Spain, and Lazarillo de Tormes, a 12 year old rascal in 16th century Spain.
November, 2018
Posters
Improving Student Motivation Using One Button Studio in a Community Service Project
International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
In this project called “Voices of Penn State/ Voces de Penn State”, community members, faculty, and students used a recording studio called One Button Studio to promote literacy in Spanish and English by discussing acts of speech such as invitations, making hotel reservations, opening a bank account, and other presentations to help the members of the local community interact with each other. These video recordings were posted to a public blog and made available to the community through local resources.
November 16, 2017
Posters
Participation in Discussion Forums in Beginning Spanish College Courses
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
The importance of participation in Discussion Forums in Hybrid Language courses.
November 8, 2016
Posters
Student led Community Outreach: Radio Broadcasts to Teach English (Phases I and II)
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
Based on the role of linking communicative competence with experiences in the communities, a series of blogs were organized by Spanish language learners in various language college courses. This pilot study has four phases: Phase I: Organization of material in blogs, including peer reviews Phase II: Delivery of blogs to the community as radio broadcasts Phase III: Feedback from the community Phase IV: Analysis of interactions between students and community
November, 2015
Posters
Improved Student Communication Using the Present Subjunctive in a Spanish Intermediate College Course Using VoiceThread
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
Students who completed graded VoiceThread assignments earned 10 percentage points more in the final Oral exam than those students who complete in class non-graded VoiceThread assignments.
November, 2014
Posters
A Comparison of Language Learning Strategies Used by Beginning and Intermediate College Language Learners in Spanish Classrooms
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
In this study, college students in a public university, who were at different language learning levels, were tested using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), to determine how many and which language learning strategies were used by most students, and if there was a correlation between language learning strategies and grades earned. On a scale of 0 – 4.0, the average use of SILL strategies was 2.99 for Beginner students and 3.2 for Intermediate students. One of the reasons for this difference may be that Intermediate students used on average 10 more learning strategies consistently than Beginner students.
November, 2013
Posters
A Three Month Longitudinal Comparison of Synchronous Computer Mediated Communication (SCMC) in First and Second Semester Spanish College Courses.
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Sevilla, Spain
A comparison on the quality and quantity between chats of students learning Spanish at the college level.
March, 2013
Oral Presentations
The Use of VoiceThread to Construct Meaning in Julio Cortazar’s “Continuidad de los parques/Continuity of Parks
Northeast Modern Language Association
Boston, MA
Students discussed plot, characters, conclusion, grammatical points using VoiceThread, a software program that allows students to record their voices, upload personal interpretations and listen to other students' interpretations.
November, 2012
Posters
Using VoiceThread to Generate L2 Speech in the Spanish Classroom: Students' Perceptions
International Conference of Education, Research, and Innovation
Madrid, Spain
This study analyzed student perceptions regarding their opinion on various categories which involved using VoiceThread: 1. Planning Assignments, 2. Collaborating with Peers 3. Constructing Content 4. Speaking and Taping their voices 5. Evaluating the Sound Quality 6. Assessing the need for Images 7. Determining the technical difficulties using VoiceThread 8. Recommending VoiceThread in general. Questionnaires were evaluated to determine student perceptions of the value of using VoiceThread as a form of developing linguistic accuracy in a Second Language. In general, this study found that almost 80% of the students agreed that, although they had never used VoiceThread before, they found it was easy to use. 62% recommended using VoiceThread in the language classroom because they felt that their pronunciation had improved. 59% felt they enjoyed using their own images to support their speech, and 55% enjoyed planning what they had to tape on VoiceThread. It was interesting to observe that it didn’t seem to enhance collaboration since only 34% said it helped them to collaborate with their peers. Perhaps, this could be enhanced by adding activities in which students have to comment on each other’s ideas instead of just enunciating their own.
November 16, 2011
Posters
Is there a Preferred Learning Style for Second Language Learning?
International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
Madrid, Spain
Using Kolb's Learnig Styles to compare learning styles and classroom achievement, there was a statistical significance in the grades of all groups as compared to the learning style defined as Convergers.
November 15, 2010
Posters
Student Perceptions of using Podcasts in a Second Language Classroom
International Conference for Education, Research and Technology
Madrid, Spain
September 15, 2010
Papers and Oral Presentations
Is there a preferred Learning Language Style for Second Language Acquisition?
Brown Bag
Hazleton
November, 2009
Posters
Learning Styles and Online Learning Differences; How Adding Audio to Online Exercises Affects Second Language Learning
International Conference of Education, Research and Inovation
Madrid, Spain
The relationship between language styles and online exercises with various formats was explored. Students were evaluated using the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory and exposed to online exercises with and without an audio component to explore possible benefits to students with particular learning styles.