The Role of Extra-credit Assignments in the Teaching of World Languages

The granting of extra credit is a hotly debated topic in all fields of education. Teachers are reluctant to offer extra credit for fear of inflating grades, but students are persistent in their demands for extra-credit points to which they have become accustomed. This article considers extra-credit assignments in the teaching of world languages. Like lab activities in the sciences, extra-credit assignments are seen as opportunities to expand the curriculum to include research on culture and content-based topics which might otherwise be excluded. A framework for designing meaningful extra-credit assignments is presented along with an example appropriate for beginning and intermediate students of Spanish.