HISPANIC CIVILIZATION WITHOUT BOOKS

Using the World Wide Web in foreign language instruction at the university level in the United States has become increasingly popular and useful. Online materials have become the realia of today's language classroom where, thanks to high-speed internet access available at one's desk, instructors can offer students instant validation to the language structure or vocabulary presented in the curriculum. Along the same lines, the study of a country's or a continent's culture (as in the case of Latin America) goes hand-in-hand with the study of foreign languages, and the internet provides endless opportunity for advanced students to become culturally competent in the foreign language they are studying. In this paper I present the findings of an experimental project I conducted in the Fall of 2009 while running an entirely web-based Hispanic Civilization course. Even though the seminar course met face to face once a week with lectures, discussions, and student presentations, the course materials, the reading assignments, and the students' research were housed or conducted exclusively online. In addition to that, the students' guided and independent research was conducted and delivered entirely in the target language. This paper discusses the thought process and organizational strategies behind the experimental nature of this course, the course content and the teaching techniques, which aimed at increasing the students' linguistic and cultural competence.