Teaching Programming Language as a Second Language

Programming languages are critical languages of the 21st century and are the key to innovation in the future. They should be taught in a way that students are familiar with such as how they have learned a foreign or second language, since both involve the appropriate use of vocabulary (keywords), grammatical structures (syntax), and punctuation (symbols) that people need to understand in order to communicate with the computer. By applying the well-developed cognitive frameworks used in second language acquisition (SLA), a Blended Learning (aBLe) course can be developed that will accommodate a variety of learning needs and abilities, while potentially increasing student engagement in online components. This style of instruction provides better preparation for face-to-face classes, and will emphasize problem-solving skills needed in other general education courses. A series of surveys assessing students' workload in the SLA-aBLe, and control groups in three semesters were conducted to test the effectiveness of the new project design.