Communicative competences in non-linguistic university degrees

As labour markets continue to change rapidly, the learning environments continue to be unchallenged in the provision of new professionals across the world. This change has compelled the need for students to attain communicative competences in non-linguistic institutions of higher education. In order to address this issue, we propose a novel approach to communicative competences integration into the curriculum development of a specialised foreign language course. For this purpose, we combine students’ needs analysis with a personalised English for specific purposes (ESP) course design that motivates them to learn more about technical and professional environments through a skill-based routing. Additionally, we provide a scale for measuring training outcomes as well as suggest first results from the piloting phase of the teaching experience. The findings of the study highlight usefulness of the customised competence training experience.Humanidade

Transversal Competences in Engineering Degrees: Integrating Content and Foreign Language Teaching

[EN] There has been a constant advance of the labour markets and permanent reorientation towards digital Industry 4.0. Yet, the environments for learning remain unchallenged when it comes to the provision of new professionals across the globe. Therefore, this has created a gap in transversal competences, which has compelled students of higher learning institutions to pursue them. The majority of higher learning institutions have emphasised transversal skills among learners and developed curriculums to accomplish these demands. The primary focus of the study was to attain integration and fusion of transversal skills into the development of specialised curriculum training for foreign language proficiency. The study applied mixed methodology techniques, which combined qualitative and quantitative methods in the study. To guarantee cohesion of the study, four research and monitoring techniques such as course dossiers, needs analysis, task-based activities and adapted competences scales were used. The outcome of the research shows findings provided by the piloting stage of the teaching experience and emphasises the need for student-based skill training.The described experience was carried out as part of the work in the Innovation and Quality Education Teaching (EICE DESMAHIA) Development of active methodologies and evaluation strategies applied to the field of Hydraulic Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València.Polyakova, O.; Galstyan-Sargsyan, R.; López Jiménez, PA.; Pérez-Sánchez, M. (2020). Transversal Competences in Engineering Degrees: Integrating Content and Foreign Language Teaching. Education Sciences. 10(11):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10110296S1131011Laguna-Sánchez, P., Abad, P., de la Fuente-Cabrero, C., & Calero, R. (2020). A University Training Programme for Acquiring Entrepreneurial and Transversal Employability Skills, a Students’ Assessment. Sustainability, 12(3), 796. doi:10.3390/su12030796Moldovan, L. (2020). A Reference Framework for Continuous Improvement of Employability Assessment. Procedia Manufacturing, 46, 271-278. doi:10.1016/j.promfg.2020.03.040Succi, C., & Canovi, M. (2019). Soft skills to enhance graduate employability: comparing students and employers’ perceptions. Studies in Higher Education, 45(9), 1834-1847. doi:10.1080/03075079.2019.1585420Competency Framework. OECDhttps://www.oecd.org/careers/competency_framework_en.pdfSerrano, R. M., Romero, J. A., Bello, M. J., & Pérez, J. D. (2011). Student Training in Transversal Competences at the University of Cordoba. European Educational Research Journal, 10(1), 34-52. doi:10.2304/eerj.2011.10.1.34Graczyk-Kucharska, M., Özmen, A., Szafrański, M., Weber, G. W., Golińśki, M., & Spychała, M. (2019). Knowledge accelerator by transversal competences and multivariate adaptive regression splines. Central European Journal of Operations Research, 28(2), 645-669. doi:10.1007/s10100-019-00636-xHortigüela Alcalá, D., Palacios Picos, A., & López Pastor, V. (2018). The impact of formative and shared or co-assessment on the acquisition of transversal competences in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(6), 933-945. doi:10.1080/02602938.2018.1530341Vasconcelos, S., & Balula, A. (2019). DO YOU SPEAK DIGITAL? – A LITERATURE REVIEW ON LANGUAGE AND DIGITAL COMPETENCES IN TOURISM EDUCATION. doi:10.20867/tosee.05.32Villardón-Gallego, L., Flores-Moncada, L., Yáñez-Marquina, L., & García-Montero, R. (2020). Best Practices in the Development of Transversal Competences among Youths in Vulnerable Situations. Education Sciences, 10(9), 230. doi:10.3390/educsci10090230Sá, M., & Serpa, S. (2018). Transversal Competences: Their Importance and Learning Processes by Higher Education Students. Education Sciences, 8(3), 126. doi:10.3390/educsci8030126Cepic, R., Vorkapic, S. T., Loncaric, D., Andic, D., & Mihic, S. S. (2015). Considering Transversal Competences, Personality and Reputation in the Context of the Teachers’ Professional Development. International Education Studies, 8(2). doi:10.5539/ies.v8n2p8Developing key competences at school in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy; Eurydice Report 2012/11https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/developing-key-competences-school-europe-challenges-and-opportunities-policy_enCommon European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, and Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptors. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishinghttps://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/168078798Zamora-Polo, F., Martínez Sánchez-Cortés, M., Reyes-Rodríguez, A. M., & García Sanz-Calcedo, J. (2019). Developing Project Managers’ Transversal Competences Using Building Information Modeling. Applied Sciences, 9(19), 4006. doi:10.3390/app9194006Smit, U., & Dafouz, E. (2012). Integrating content and language in higher education. Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education, 25, 1-12. doi:10.1075/aila.25.01sm