Megan Frate, OWLA Membership Chair
Spanish Teacher, Westerville City Schools

My PhD is a marathon, not a sprint. I take one class per semester and usually walk away the better for it. This semester the course is titled “Case Studies.” Although I need to be viewing it through the lens of my research interests, I can’t stop thinking about how this information will benefit my 25 AP Spanish students who need to confidently tackle the new course project. This is because the revised AP World Language course positions students as researchers who use the target language to investigate cultural questions.

This new take forces teachers to consider the question:
How do we teach students to become better researchers while simultaneously developing their language proficiency?

Anne Haas Dyson and Celia Genishi’s On the Case: Approaches to Language and Literacy Research (2005) offers one possible foundation. Although Dyson and Genishi are writing about qualitative case study research rather than AP classroom projects, it caught my attention due to its valuable way of thinking about research: not simply collecting information, but rather looking closely at a situation, asking meaningful questions, considering various perspectives, interpreting the evidence, and making a case for why their findings matter.

This year’s theme is “music,” and upon initial research, it may be tempting for students to compile a list of artists and consider their biographies—the names of their songs and some awards that they won. Without a doubt, these students will have an abundance of interesting facts but will have conducted very little meaningful research.

Dyson and Genishi offer a different starting point: using the “interesting facts” and examining what is meaningful about them, what patterns emerge, and what questions will lead us to compelling responses that reveal something about a movement, a community, or a phenomenon. Instead of using sources to find an answer, we need to teach students to be curious about what the information can teach us about a place’s history and culture. That way, students will have something to truly investigate rather than something to simply describe. To be clear, this curiosity-driven investigation is no small thing; it requires the researcher to “access others’ worlds,” a task that requires planning, consideration, and plenty of time.

Additionally, Dyson and Genishi’s approach is particularly useful to AP students because they explain that a case cannot be separated from its context. A song is never simply a song. Genres don’t exist in isolation. And many musicians connect their art to the context of the cultural, historical, political, and economic perspectives that come with it. Essentially, this connection is the classic 3 Ps: Products, Practices, and Perspectives.

One of the most useful concepts of On the Case is the idea of gathering particulars: “Don’t collect facts. Collect evidence.” Facts may be essential when explaining why something matters, and the student can use that evidence to better understand the question.

Another useful concept that comes up in the book is considering various interpretations and incorporating multiple perspectives. For example, an artist or music genre may be celebrated by one group and criticized by another. Leaning into those various perspectives and understanding why they exist will strengthen any project. Suppose a student begins with an assumption: “Traditional music preserves culture.” But upon further investigation, they realize that some traditional music has become commercialized and “watered-down” for international audiences. Instead of scrapping the research project, the student should address this realization directly. It shows that students can interpret the information they find.

A final takeaway from the book: students can and should make assertions when conducting their research. It shows that they are making meaning from the information they have learned. For example, if a student discovers that traditional instruments are used in pop music, then they may make the assertion that using traditional instruments connects contemporary music with cultural traditions. And now they can find evidence to prove or disprove this assertion.

In conclusion, the AP World Language project allows our students to participate in an inquiry process where they can create research questions and explore their answers. They can investigate source materials and interpret what they learn. They can make assertions and communicate their findings to explain why they matter.

This project will push students to ask better questions, gather evidence, explore competing perspectives, revise their thinking, make claims based on the evidence, and modify their questions as needed. These are not simply language skills; they are researcher skills. And more importantly, students are using their research to consider complicated and relevant topics in meaningful ways.