FOCUSING ON COMPETENCE AS A STRATEGY TO TEACH ESP IN CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING CONTEXTS

The increasing spread of bilingual programs in Spanish Universities has had to face multiple worries and uncertainties over the success of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) plans (Pavón, 2018). One of these concerns addresses the question of whether content or language should prevail in CLIL teaching. Content teachers worry about giving more importance to language than to the content they need to teach, fearing they will not be able to cope with all the compulsory content during their lectures (Doiz, Lasagabaster Pavón, 2020). CLIL developers have had to fight against the pessimistic opinions towards CLIL and its implementation in Higher Education (Cañado, 2020). The present paper aims to meet the need to move towards competence development in CLIL teaching. Approaching language and content teaching through a competence-focused perspective will help us tackle interdisciplinary as well as sustainable development goals through CLIL. A survey conducted on students of Business English courses within CLIL and Non-CLIL contexts will help us envisage the usefulness of adding non-linguistic skill development to English for Specific Purposes of teaching as a way to bridge the gap between language and content

LAMS as an assessment tool for teaching and learning English as a foreign language

In this paper we describe how LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) might help English language teachers to design and implement e-Learning-oriented e-Assessment and to enhance the techniques they employ to provide complete assessment units embracing all linguistic skills. In doing so, we present an example of an assessment unit in which such an implementation can be seen through the combination of different resources LAMS provides, thus improving the design of didactic syllabuses

Revision by experts as a strategy for the improvement and validation of LAMS units

After concluding the design of our didactic unit “My First International Congress” in LAMS format and putting it into practice with our students, we intended to improve its didactic possibilities through the execution of an analysis by experts on language teaching. The collection of data on the assessment and perception of the experts of our unit, the analysis of these data and the results confirmed that tools such as LAMS can be quite useful in the teaching of Foreign Languages. However, it also showed that LAMS should provide teachers with devices with which students could work synchronic speaking interaction

El valor del elemento lúdico en la enseñanza AICLE universitaria

El entorno que se crea al implantar la enseñanza AICLE en la universidad promueve la proliferación de materiales motivadores para los alumnos demandando de él un papel 100% activo. En este entorno, la apuesta por el elemento lúdico es una apuesta segura, pues nos garantiza la generación de recursos atractivos para los alumnos

Addressing CLIL lecturers’ needs: reflections on specific methodological training

Following the launch of the project ‘Analysis and quality assurance of plurilingual Higher Education programmes in Andalusia’, diverse voices have been warning, irrespective of specific linguistic problems, about the difficulties university teachers might have in implementing a CLIL approach in the classroom. This study delves into the nature of the problem whilst studying the extent to which CLIL lecturers in different Andalusian public universities are aware of potential hurdles. The observational study intends to identify lecturers’ perceptions on their teaching skills when delivering CLIL lessons. The rapid expansion of Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education institutions requires more research into the key additional teaching skills needed in order to deliver high quality instruction. The sample consists of 138 lecturers belonging to 66 different fields of knowledge, distributed across six public universities in the Spanish region of Andalusia. A 15-item survey was designed and implemented online in the academic year of 2016/2017. The results allow us to identify methodological shortcomings among Andalusian CLIL lecturers. This analysis contributes to design a specific programme for didactic training addressed to CLIL university teachers.Desde la puesta en marcha del proyecto ‘Análisis y Garantía de Calidad de la Educación Plurilingüe en la Educación Superior en Andalucía’ han sido diversas las voces que, con independencia de los problemas de carácter lingüístico, advierten sobre las dificultades en la aplicación de la modalidad AICLE para los docentes universitarios. Este estudio abunda en la naturaleza de dicha problemática y revisa la medida en que el profesorado AICLE de las diferentes universidades públicas andaluzas es consciente de ello. Este estudio trata de identificar la percepción de los profesores universitarios sobre sus habilidades en su docencia AICLE. La expansión de integración de contenido y lengua en las instituciones de educación superior exige más investigación sobre las habilidades didácticas requeridas para la docencia AICLE. La muestra consistió en 138 profesores de 66 áreas de conocimiento diferentes pertenecientes a 6 universidades públicas de la región española de Andalucía. Para ello, se diseñó una encuesta en línea con un total de 15 ítems que lanzó en el curso académico de 2016/2017. Los resultados nos permiten identificar las carencias metodológicas de los profesores AICLE en las universidades andaluzas. Este análisis nos ayuda en el diseño de un programa específico de formación didáctica para docentes AICLE en Educación Superior

LAMS AS AN ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

In this paper we describe how LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) might help English language teachers to design and implement e-Learning-oriented e-Assessment and to enhance the techniques they employ to provide complete assessment units embracing all linguistic skills. In doing so, we present an example of an assessment unit in which such an implementation can be seen through the combination of different resources LAMS provides, thus improving the design of didactic syllabuses

REVISION BY EXPERTS AS A STRATEGY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT AND VALIDATION OF LAMS UNITS

After concluding the design of our didactic unit “My First International Congress” in LAMS format and putting it into practice with our students, we intended to improve its didactic possibilities through the execution of an analysis by experts on language teaching. The collection of data on the assessment and perception of the experts of our unit, the analysis of these data and the results confirmed that tools such as LAMS can be quite useful in the teaching of Foreign Languages. However, it also showed that LAMS should provide teachers with devices with which students could work synchronic speaking interaction