Latin in the elementary classroom
Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name
Meca Williams-Johnson
Proposal Track
Student
Session Format
Paper Presentation
Abstract
The study of Latin might be the type of reform needed to improve the United States educational system. Mastery in Latin can assist students in any career involving a foreign or romance language, writing, literature, philosophy, history, or medicine. This study will explore teacher attitudes towards Latin in elementary classrooms, roadblocks to integrating Latin in elementary classrooms, and teacher observed benefits to Latin in elementary classrooms.
A qualitative research approach will be used to answer the following questions:
1. What are teachers attitude toward Latin in elementary level classrooms?
2. What do teachers think learning Latin might help students achieve?
3. What are the differences in attitudes towards Latin in elementary level classrooms between English Language Arts teachers and Latin teachers?
The subjects of this study will consist of three elementary school Latin teachers and three elementary English Language Arts teachers from an urban private school in Southeastern Georgia. A set of open-ended interview questions will be asked to the Latin teachers and a set will be asked to the English Language Arts teachers, prompting them to relay their experiences. The Latin teachers will be asked to describe their opinions on the benefits for the students during their study of Latin as well as the long term benefits, the teachers’ attitudes towards the Latin subject in schools, and the roadblocks they have encountered as pertaining to teaching Latin in classrooms. The English Language Arts teachers will be asked to describe their opinions on the benefits for the students during their study of Latin as well as the long term benefits and the teachers’ attitudes towards the Latin subject in schools. The transcribed interviews will be analyzed. The researcher will code each transcript, highlighting any important quotes that provide answers to the research questions. Any emerging themes will be examined and created into clusters of meanings. Teacher answers will be grouped by positive or negative attitudes towards Latin in the classroom. Lastly, the researcher will summarize the identified clusters of meanings into a textural description of the teachers’ experiences according to their answers to the interview questions.
This study is still in the data collection phase. It is significant because it will give insight to teacher perspective on classical education in a technology driven society and possibly lead to further research on the impact of classical education on student success in a technology driven education system. v
Keywords
Latin, Classical education, Foreign Language Education
Location
Room 1909
Presentation Year
2015
Start Date
11-7-2015 1:00 PM
End Date
11-7-2015 2:00 PM
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Brodmann, Kirsten Elizabeth Ms., "Latin in the elementary classroom" (2015). Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (2014-2015). 45.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gurc/2015/2015/45
Latin in the elementary classroom
Room 1909
The study of Latin might be the type of reform needed to improve the United States educational system. Mastery in Latin can assist students in any career involving a foreign or romance language, writing, literature, philosophy, history, or medicine. This study will explore teacher attitudes towards Latin in elementary classrooms, roadblocks to integrating Latin in elementary classrooms, and teacher observed benefits to Latin in elementary classrooms.
A qualitative research approach will be used to answer the following questions:
1. What are teachers attitude toward Latin in elementary level classrooms?
2. What do teachers think learning Latin might help students achieve?
3. What are the differences in attitudes towards Latin in elementary level classrooms between English Language Arts teachers and Latin teachers?
The subjects of this study will consist of three elementary school Latin teachers and three elementary English Language Arts teachers from an urban private school in Southeastern Georgia. A set of open-ended interview questions will be asked to the Latin teachers and a set will be asked to the English Language Arts teachers, prompting them to relay their experiences. The Latin teachers will be asked to describe their opinions on the benefits for the students during their study of Latin as well as the long term benefits, the teachers’ attitudes towards the Latin subject in schools, and the roadblocks they have encountered as pertaining to teaching Latin in classrooms. The English Language Arts teachers will be asked to describe their opinions on the benefits for the students during their study of Latin as well as the long term benefits and the teachers’ attitudes towards the Latin subject in schools. The transcribed interviews will be analyzed. The researcher will code each transcript, highlighting any important quotes that provide answers to the research questions. Any emerging themes will be examined and created into clusters of meanings. Teacher answers will be grouped by positive or negative attitudes towards Latin in the classroom. Lastly, the researcher will summarize the identified clusters of meanings into a textural description of the teachers’ experiences according to their answers to the interview questions.
This study is still in the data collection phase. It is significant because it will give insight to teacher perspective on classical education in a technology driven society and possibly lead to further research on the impact of classical education on student success in a technology driven education system. v
