The computer, a resource in learning and teaching spanish as foreign language

The aim of this report is to investigate whether the use of computers influence the motivation and the results of the students who study Spanish as foreign language in the municipality of Laholm, Sweden. We also intend to investigate if there are any differences in the use of computers between the upper secondary school and the elementary school. We have based our study on the theories of, for example, Gardner and Lambert. Their theories about the four different types of motivation. Regarding the use of computers in the education, the theories of Jedeskog, Egidius and Enochsson have a great significance. For this purpose we have chosen to use a quantitative and qualitative method, in form of questionnaires. We have prepared one questionnaire for the students and another one for the teachers. The questionnaires were carried out in every elementary school and upper secondary school in Laholm, overall in four different schools. The students’ questionnaire contains 31 questions while the teachers’ questionnaire contains 33 questions. The results of our investigation show that the use of computers slightly promotes the motivation. The teachers and students think that the use of computers only a little, or not at all, has influenced the grade of the students in a positive way. As far as the differences between upper secondary school and elementary school is concerned, there exists a slight difference. The results show that the computer is more used in the elementary school than in the upper secondary school. All the results refuted our hypotheses