Author: Stephanie  L  Tillotson

Major: Spanish

Graduation Year: 2022

Thesis Advisor: Chris Mares

Description of Publication: The primary goal of this thesis is to design a second language acquisition Spanish YouTube series for young, English-speaking students in grades K-3, as well as to complete the animation of its pilot episode as a prototype. In order to achieve the final creative product, the preparation was threefold: I researched pedagogical strategies pertaining to language acquisition and the target age group, analyzed current early childhood foreign language resources, and demonstrated the importance and need for accessible, foreign language resources for young students through a review of academic studies. The series is titled ¡Moxie!, which focuses on the daily adventures of a small puppy named Moxie who only speaks Spanish. ¡Moxie!’s goal is Spanish language acquisition for monolingual English speakers, so its structure aligns with pedagogical principles like Stephen Krashen’s (Krashen) input hypothesis and other target language storytelling guides. However, this is a long-term goal, as it is important to recognize that the pilot episode is only a glimpse of what the entire series could achieve. Nevertheless, this journey of independent work and knowledge creation serves as a model for what an early childhood language acquisition YouTube resource could look like, as well as giving students the opportunity to explore the world of foreign language outside of the classroom.

Location of Publication:

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/734