Spanish Language Maze

Name: Spanish Language Maze
Author: University of Nebraska-Lincoln

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

VALIDATED

Proven effective in research studies

For:Educators & TeachersGeneral Public & EnthusiastsKids & Youth

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App Summary

Spanish Language Maze is an educational game for beginning Spanish learners that uses a psycholinguistic 'maze task' to provide incremental, step-by-step practice in sentence construction. The associated research found that training with the app's 'story maze' format helped learners more quickly process grammatical structures that differ from their native language. The authors conclude that the task is both highly engaging and effective for learning difficult constructions, highlighting its usefulness as a supplemental pedagogical tool.

App Screenshots

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Detailed Description

Functionality & Mechanism

Developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, this application adapts the psycholinguistic maze task for Spanish language acquisition. The system presents sentences word-by-word, requiring the selection of the grammatically correct continuation from a binary choice. The interface includes two modules: a 'Story Maze' with contextual image support and a 'Sentence Maze' for decontextualized practice. The tool provides immediate corrective feedback upon error and logs performance metrics, including completion time, to facilitate incremental sentence processing skill.

Evidence & Research Context

The tool's design is grounded in the psycholinguistic maze task, an experimental procedure used to measure real-time, incremental sentence processing.
Associated research demonstrates that the contextualized 'Story Maze' module facilitates learner acquisition of Spanish grammatical constructions that diverge from their native language (English).
In a training-test paradigm, learners exhibited reduced reaction time disparities between familiar and unfamiliar sentence structures post-intervention, indicating improved processing efficiency.
Quantitative and qualitative evaluations found that learners perceive the task as highly engaging, supporting its utility as a supplemental pedagogical tool.

Intended Use & Scope

This system is intended for second language learners (beginner to intermediate) and educators as a supplemental tool for grammatical practice. Its primary utility is reinforcing sentence-level processing and improving automaticity with specific constructions. The app does not deliver comprehensive grammar lessons or facilitate conversational skills and should be used alongside a formal language curriculum.

Studies & Publications

2 publications

Peer-reviewed research associated with this app.

Effectiveness/Outcome Study

Second Language Learning with the Story Maze Task: Examining the Training Effect of Weaving through Stories

Enkin et al. (2016) · Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics

Story maze training helped learners process difficult Spanish structures faster with high engagement.

The maze task is a psycholinguistic experimental procedure that measures real-time incremental sentence processing. The task has recently been tested as a language learning tool with promising results. Therefore, the present study examines the merits of a contextualized version of this task: the story maze. The findings are consistent with previous research results (Enkin & Forster, 2014), and highlight the merits of using the contextualized

Effectiveness/Outcome Study

The Maze Task: Examining the Training Effect of Using a Psycholinguistic Experimental Technique for Second Language Learning

Enkin et al. (2012) · DigitalCommons@UNL (Thesis/Dissertation)

Showed promise as a language learning tool but study results were incomplete.

The maze task was created for psycholinguistic experimental testing (Forster et al., 2009). However, this paper explores the merits of this task as a language training program for beginning Spanish learners. The attributes of providing ample comprehensible input and immediate corrective feedback allow the maze task to be considered as a potential supplemental pedagogical tool. Moreover, transfer effects to implicit and explicit measures as well