Communicative mediation and identity for the development of European democratic values in the EFL classroom

Against the backdrop of rapidly evolving globalised societies in which public attitudes are polarised, and where phenomena such as the revival of nationalism intersect with movements that seek to achieve further internationalisation, the aim of this thesis is to put forward scientifically grounded teaching methodologies that can extend the strictly linguistic nature of adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) by positively impacting on students' receptivity to the adoption of European democratic values, as well as on the functioning of the overall social dynamics of the classroom. From a conceptual perspective, this work endeavours to present the interrelationship between the socio-cultural perspective of the language teaching-learning process, the development of relational forms of social capital and the self-identification of students with European democratic principles and values. To this effect, and focusing on possible strategies for promoting active European citizenship through higher education, foreign language learning is explored as a means of developing cognitive, relational and communicative competence for individual empowerment. Building on the contributions of disciplines such as sociology and psychology, as well as the latest frameworks adopted at Community level for language and civic education, the importance of enabling learners to become participatory members of a democratic learning community, in which collaborative interaction, intersubjectivity and mutually assisted performance occur through the implementation of Mediated Language Learning Experiences (MeLLE) is equally upheld. The empirical application of mediation as a language activity (CEFR/CV, Council of Europe, 2018a) thus becomes the centrepiece of this contribution, as it underscores the collaborative nature of communication, explicitly asserting the role of the language learner as a social agent. The fundamental focus followed hence lies in the importance of establishing dialogical and reflective communities of practice in the language learning classroom setting which encompass the integration of relevant thematic content and a mediated approach as a critical variable in the development of collaborative activities. On the other hand, despite the considerable interest that European identity building has aroused and the quest undertaken by scholars to specify the predictors of its support, few studies have addressed, from a unitary theoretical framework, the joint analysis of positive identification attitudes among young people in Europe and the values they perceive as typically European. Among the shared community values considered here, the appreciation for linguistic diversity and multilingualism, the respect for otherness and the development of an intercultural mindset are fundamental premises for people to coexist in a world of increasing heterogeneity. Within this landscape, there is space for language identities and foreign language teaching to play an exciting part in education for democracy. Consequently, the other fundamental focus of this work is the process of Europeanisation, understood as the compounding effect of European integration on the of rules, values and identities on the lives of European nationals, which from the sociological angle here adopted inevitably demands attention to issues such as cross-border encounters in a European Union (EU) context, as well as inquiring how EU citizens are perceiving the politically promoted values and EU policies. To this end, we empirically address the plausability of attachment to Europe being derived from or intensified by transnational learning experiences. Finally, after examining the main interlinkages between the pedagogical paradigms of Intercultural Communicative Competence and Intercultural Mediation, their impact on the reconceptualisation of the role of educators is traced, substantiating the necessary conversion of teachers from target language and culture knowledge providers to facilitators of intercultural awareness. In a similar token, the management of pedagogical processes associated with the development of learning strategies as a by-product of a democratic classroom culture is analysed

Proyecto Musiclang: Aptitud musical, fluidez lectora y percepción intercultural de estudiantes universitarios europeos

El proyecto Musiclang (“Aptitud musical, fluidez lectora y percepción intercultural de estudiantes universitarios europeos” FFI2016-75452-R 2016-2020), financiado por el Ministerio español de Economía y Competitividad bajo el epígrafe “reto 6: Cambios e innovaciones sociales”, y liderado por la catedrática M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora, es el marco para la colaboración de una docena de universidades europeas. Su equipo investigador, nutrido por expertos de diferentes campos disciplinares como la lingüística aplicada, la psicología, la neuropsicología o la musicología, desarrolla su labor y producción científicas en alemán, español, francés, inglés y neerlandés. El germen de la idea para el proyecto Musiclang nace fundamentalmente de los estudios del Centro de Neurociencias cognitivas de la Universidad de Marsella dirigido por Mireille Besson y de datos obtenidos en investigaciones de la Universidad de Huelva. Por un lado, los estudios de Besson y de su equipo se centran en los elementos que comparten música y lenguaje (Moreno, Marques, Santos, Castro & Besson, 2008), así como en el entrenamiento musical como técnica de mejora del proceso lector en lengua materna de alumnado con dislexia (Habib, Lardy, Desiles, Commeiras, Chobert, & Besson, 2016). Por otro lado, con respecto a la relación entre música y lenguaje en lenguas extranjeras, los resultados de la tesis doctoral de Toscano-Fuentes (2010) apuntan a que la implementación de materiales didácticos con contenidos musicales en el aula de inglés afecta principalmente a las habilidades lectoras del alumnado de sexto de primaria, mientras que los resultados de Gómez-Domínguez, Fonseca-Mora y Machancoses (2019) confirman la influencia de la aptitud musical de niños de segundo de primaria en su aprendizaje de la lectura tanto en su lengua materna como en inglés como lengua extranjera. Partiendo de la definición de aptitud musical como capacidad de estructuración auditiva (Karma, 2007), en la que el oyente no se limita a recibir la información sonora, sino que discrimina las diferentes estructuras contenidas en una secuencia de sonidos, el equipo de Musiclang estudia la influencia de esta habilidad en el aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras, así como la incidencia del entrenamiento musical en las destrezas receptivas que permiten una mejor comprensión del texto escrito. Las temáticas de investigación en las que se vertebra Musiclang son, fundamentalmente, tres:  1) los factores intervinientes en el proceso lector de alumnado adulto de lenguas extranjeras, 2) el nivel de competencia intercultural existente en dicha población, y las diferentes identidades (locales, regionales, nacionales y supranacionales) que se atribuyen para su autodefinición, así como los contextos en los que se activan o se solapan cada una de esas identidades, y 3) el desarrollo de recursos didácticos audiovisuales que puedan favorecer la conciencia  fonológica, la  adquisición de  vocabulario y  la  fluidez  lectora  en lenguas extranjeras, además de lograr el bienestar emocional y ampliar el horizonte multicultural de quienes las estudian. Para la primera línea temática, el equipo investigador ha estudiado elementos como la fluidez y automaticidad lectoras, la prosodia, la memoria de trabajo, la velocidad de procesamiento y la comprensión verbal, para establecer el perfil lector del alumnado y vincularlo con su aptitud musical (Fonseca-Mora & Fernández-Corbacho, 2017). La extensa producción de artículos científicos, libros y capítulos de libros derivados de este eje temático abordan el proceso lector en toda su complejidad, realizando también aportaciones en el ámbito de la enseñanza bilingüe (Foncubierta, Machancoses & Fonseca-Mora, 2018), caracterizada por el aprendizaje integrado de contenidos y lengua extranjera, y ayudando a comprender la interrelación de los mecanismos cognitivos, afectivos y socioculturales que intervienen en la lectura en lenguas distintas a la materna (Foncubierta & Fonseca-Mora, 2018; Legaz, 2018). Para el análisis de la competencia intercultural, los trabajos de Musiclang han partido de las atribuciones identitarias y de la autopercepción como ciudadanos europeos de la población estudiantil universitaria, realizado una revisión de las contribuciones científicas de corte cualitativo publicadas desde los años noventa (Cores-Bilbao, Méndez-García & Fonseca-Mora, 2020). Los resultados del proyecto sobre esta temática abarcan, además, artículos en los que se examina la efectividad de los programas educativos europeos para el fomento de los valores cívicos comunitarios, pluriculturales y democráticos, y en los que se plantean propuestas para el diseño de futuras políticas formativas para la ciudadanía (Méndez García, Cores-Bilbao & Moreno Gámez, 2019). Dentro de las competencias cívicas y democráticas, el proyecto ha dedicado especial atención al papel de la mediación lingüística, ya que se trata de una actividad de la lengua profusamente tratada en la actualización al Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para la enseñanza de lenguas que presenta el potencial de desarrollar las competencias interpersonales y de colaboración de los estudiantes, promoviendo su papel como miembros activos de una sociedad más inclusiva. Los resultados obtenidos por Musiclang en esta línea apuntan a que la mediación lingüística, trabajada a través materiales musicales, favorece el desarrollo de la empatía hacia los demás y su conciencia social. Explicando y prediciendo el comportamiento de otras personas, los estudiantes de idiomas pueden alcanzar mayores niveles de competencia socioemocional y reducir las brechas interculturales y las desigualdades sociales (Cores-Bilbao, Fernández-Corbacho, Machancoses & Fonseca-Mora, 2019). Paralelamente, el tercer núcleo temático de Musiclang se ha centrado en el estudio del videoclip musical como artefacto cultural (Martos & García, 2014) de mayor consumo entre los jóvenes europeos. Considerando la cultura audiovisual, el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico y la alfabetización mediática como elementos esenciales para el currículo postmoderno (Triviño Cabrera, 2017), así como la interrelación existente entre las preferencias en el consumo de medios audiovisuales y la percepción intercultural del alumnado universitario (Godwin-Jones, 2015), el proyecto apuesta por exponer al alumnado no sólo a la lectoescritura convencional sino a la oralidad, la cultura mediática y la cibercultura. En este sentido, el proyecto identifica la repercusión de los productos mediáticos con mayor número de visualizaciones sobre la identidad sociocultural y sobre diferentes aspectos de la comunicación intercultural del alumnado (Sánchez-Vizcaíno & Fonseca-Mora, 2019), además de aportar propuestas para la funcionalización pedagógica (Sánchez Villarroel, 2006) de los videoclips musicales. La intersección de estas tres líneas temáticas da como resultado una novedosa propuesta metodológica para el desarrollo de la competencia lectora en lenguas extranjeras para adultos, que contempla la intervención de los factores rítmicos y melódicos para la comprensión y articulación del discurso, así como de mecanismos afectivos y elementos multiculturales, permitiendo un abordaje multidimensional del aprendizaje basado en recursos mediáticos. En este sentido, actualmente el equipo de investigación se halla inmerso en el diseño de un recurso multimodal interactivo en el que se compendiarán aquellos videoclips musicales cuyo contenido audiovisual y lingüístico propicien los valores interculturales entre la lengua materna y la lengua meta de alumnado, además de incidir en sus valores identitarios europeos.   Producción de Musiclang referenciada: Cores-Bilbao, E., Fernández-Corbacho, A., Machancoses, F.H., & Fonseca-Mora, M.C. (2019). A Music-Mediated Language Learning Experience: Students’ Awareness of Their Socio-Emotional Skills. Frontiers in Psychology, pp. 2238. Cores-Bilbao, E., Méndez García, M.C., & Fonseca-Mora, M.C. (2020). University students’ representations of Europe and self-identification as Europeans: a synthesis of qualitative evidence for future policy formulation. European Journal of Futures Research. Foncubierta, J. M. & Fonseca-Mora, M. C. (2018). Comprender el proceso lector en segundas lenguas:cognición y afectividad. Revista Tejuelo, 28, pp.11-42. Foncubierta, J. M., Machancoses, F. H., & Fonseca-Mora, M. C. (2018). La competencia lectora del alumnado universitario en contexto AICLE. Porta Linguarum, Monograph (abril 2018), 75–88. Fonseca-Mora, M.C. & Fernández-Corbacho, A. (2017). Procesamiento fonológico y aprendizaje de la lectura en lengua extranjera. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics (RESLA/SJAL), 30(1), p. 166 – 187. Gomez-Dominguez, M., Fonseca-Mora, M. C., & Machancoses, F. H. (2019). First and foreign language early reading abilities: The influence of musical perception. Psychologyof Music, 47(2), 213-224. Legaz, H., (2018). Fluidez lectora silenciosa, aptitud musical y lengua extranjera. Revista Tejuelo, 28, pp.161-184. Méndez García, M.C., Cores-Bilbao, E., & Moreno Gámez, L. (2019). Andalusian university students’ perception of their European identity: international orientation and experiences. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. Sánchez-Vizcaíno, M. C., & Fonseca-Mora, M. C. (2019). Videoclip y emociones en el aprendizaje del Español como Lengua Extranjera. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación, pp. 255 – 286.   Otras referencias: Godwin-Jones, R. (2015). Emerging technologies the evolving roles of language teachers: trained coders, local researchers, global citizens. Language, Learning and Technology, 19(1), 10-22. Habib, M., Lardy, C., Desiles, T., Commeiras, C., Chobert, J., & Besson, M. (2016). Music and dyslexia: a new musical training method to improve reading and related disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 26. Karma, K. (2007). Musical aptitude definition and measure validation: Ecological validity can endanger the construct validity of musical aptitude tests. Psychomusicology: A Journal of Research in Music Cognition, 19(2), 79–90. Martos, E., & García, A. E. M. (2014). Artefactos culturales y alfabetización en la era digital: discusiones conceptuales y praxis educativa. Teoría de la educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 26 (1 (en-jun)), 119-135. Moreno, S., Marques, C., Santos, A., Santos, M., Castro, S. L., & Besson, M. (2008). Musical training influences linguistic abilities in 8-year-old children: more evidence for brain plasticity. Cerebral Cortex, 19 (3), 712-723. Sánchez Villarroel, J. (2017). Análisis y funcionalización pedagógica de productos mediáticos: la publicidad. Revista Electrónica Diálogos Educativos, 6(11), 128-147. Toscano Fuentes, C. M. (2010). Estudio empírico de la relación existente entre el nivel de adquisición de una segunda lengua, la capacidad auditiva y la inteligencia musical del alumnado. Tesis doctoral. Universidad de Huelva Triviño Cabrera, L. (2017). Cultura audiovisual, alfabetización (literacidad) mediática y performance para la formación del profesorado en educación ciudadana. http://hdl.handle.net/10630/1386

Musiclang project: Musical aptitude, reading fluency and intercultural literacy of European university students

El proyecto Musiclang (“Aptitud musical, fluidez lectora y percepción intercultural de estudiantes universitarios europeos” FFI2016-75452-R 2016-2020), financiado por el Ministerio español de Economía y Competitividad bajo el epígrafe “reto 6: Cambios e innovaciones sociales”, y liderado por la catedrática M. Carmen Fonseca-Mora, es el marco para la colaboración de una docena de universidades europeas. Su equipo investigador, nutrido por expertos de diferentes campos disciplinares como la lingüística aplicada, la psicología, la neuropsicología o la musicología, desarrolla su labor y producción científicas en alemán, español, francés, inglés y neerlandés

Socio‐Occupational Integration of Chinese Migrant Women in Andalusia Through Spanish Language Training

The present article explores the perceived role of work and proficiency in a second or additional language(s) among a group of Chinese migrant women learning Spanish in Andalusia. The enrolment of Chinese adult learners in language upgrading programmes in immersion contexts is relatively low, as Chinese expatriates tend to establish close‐knit, socio‐culturally elusive communities whose interactions with local residents are often limited to work‐related purposes. The distinctiveness of this ethnographic work lies in its focus on women who, having resided in southern Spain for extended periods and aiming to emancipate themselves from male family referents, have only recently sought greater inclusion in Spanish society. Through in‐depth interviews, these women’s prospects for professional advancement and self‐employment are also identified, albeit subsidiarily, among the reasons for pursuing higher levels of linguistic competence. The results point to a desire to develop higher levels of competence in linguistic, civic, and socio‐cultural literacies to expand their social networks and engage more actively in the communities where they currently live. Avoiding vulnerability to potential deception in the workplace and administrative settings, coupled with the need to participate in better‐informed decision‐making at the personal level, is also highlighted as contributory factors to their willingness to pursue multiliteracies in linguistic, civic, and occupational areas. The conclusions point to a mismatch between the training aspirations of these women and the curricula of the courses available to them within a Chinese educational organisation, whose focus lies almost entirely on the development and reinforcement of linguistic skills

Andalusian university students’ perception of their European identity: international orientation and experiences

Multicultural European societies increasingly demand internationally oriented citizens, who are willing to actively participate in civic life and able to successfully access the labour market. The European dimension in education supposedly endows youngsters with civic values, multiculturalist attitudes and plurilingual competences which ultimately lead to raising awareness of their Europeanness. Formative years at university, pivotal to students’ individual life course and projects, are a decisive stage in the development of supranational, collective identity formation. Similarly, pan-European study programmes are aimed at inspiring a sense of European citizenship and identity, the most renowned of which within the Higher Education context is Erasmus+. By conducting focus group interviews, this paper probes Andalusian university students’ understanding of their European identity and verifies the causal dynamics between European identity-taking and foreign country sojourns, comparing the perceptions expressed by returnees to those by students who have not had the opportunity to participate in international study programmes (ISP) at higher education yet. Results evidence students’ apparent supranational orientation, general awareness of commonalities across Europe and utilitarian outlooks on the EU, although not a clear discernment of its institutions or a marked European identity.This study has been supported by the R + D project‘Musical aptitude, reading fluency and intercultural literacy of European university students” Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación ; (FFI2016-75452-R),funded by the Spanish MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDAD’.This study has been supported by the R + D project ‘Musical aptitude, readingfluency and intercultural literacy of European university students” Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación ; (FFI2016-75452-R), funded by the Spanish MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDA

University students’ representations of Europe and self-identification as Europeans: a synthesis of qualitative evidence for future policy formulation

The current European context is characterised by the emergence of socio-political tensions that threaten to derail the cohesion objectives traditionally promoted by the authorities of the European Union. With EU citizenship in the shadow of Brexit, the fear of dismemberment of the current Europe of the 28 looms over a renewed debate on concepts like European identity, European citizenship or EU legitimacy and the involvement of its constituents in European affairs, as well as the role of education for promoting democratic awareness among young Europeans. This work aims to collect, appraise and synthesise qualitative evidence obtained in primary research exploring the perceptions of European university students about their civic and cultural identity. This systematic analysis sets out to identify predictors of positive self-identification with the EU and its institutions, focusing on the impact that different educational interventions have had on the attitudes and perceptions expressed by university students, and the importance of foreign language learning in the results obtained. The authors report their assessment of quality of the findings in a Cochrane-style qualitative evidence synthesis (QES), based on the GRADE-CERQual (Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research) method. The 12 informed findings described in this study support decision-making in future education policy formulation

A Music-Mediated Language Learning Experience: Students’ Awareness of Their Socio-Emotional Skills

In a society where mobility, globalization and contact with people from other cultures have become its distinctive traits, the enhancement of plurilingualism and intercultural understanding should be of the utmost concern. From a positive psychology perspective, agency is the human capacity to affect other people positively or negatively through one’s actions. This agentic vision can be related to mediation, a concept rooted in socio-cultural learning theory, where social interaction is considered a fundamental cornerstone in the development of cognition. These social interactions in the language learning setting may be facilitated through musical activities due to their social bonding effect. This paper tries to offer insights into how a music-mediated experience in language learning may develop students’ interpersonal and collaborative competences to become active members of a more inclusive society. Mediation, considered to be a paradigm shift in the foreign language classroom and for different out-of-class language learning possibilities, could also provide an environment where learners maximize their emotional intelligence. Our paper focuses on this paradigm shift spearheaded by the Common European Framework for Languages Companion Volume (CEFR/CV) and the considerable repercussions it is bound to have for foreign language didactics, as cooperative tasks become central to foreign language learning. We hypothesize that mediated language learning experiences (MeLLEs) imply a socio-emotional change in learners, focusing on the others, on their needs and interests, by trying to help them understand texts, concepts or facilitating communication with their peers. An intervention with a music-MeLLE was designed and implemented in an L2 classroom of adult learners with divergent backgrounds. A self-assessment scale with mediation descriptors and the socio-emotional expertise scale (SEE) were administered. Results show that students become more mindful of their strengths, and of their capacity for collaboration and teamwork. This leads to more awareness of their mediation skills. Students’ mediation skills correlate significantly with their socio-emotional skills – specifically with their expressivity. The implementation of a music-mediated experience also promoted tolerance and enhanced learners’ intrinsic motivations for language learning at the same time as acknowledging their diversity.This study was supported by the R+ D project “Musical aptitude, reading fluency and intercultural literacy of European university students” (FFI2016-75452-R), funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitivida