Internationalisation, multilingualism and English-medium instruction: the teacher's perspective

[EN]In the newEuropean higher education space, Universities in Europe are exhorted to cultivate and develop multilingualism. The European Commission’s 2004–2006 action plan for promoting language learning and diversity speaks of the need to build an environment which is favourable to languages. Yet reality indicates that it is English which reigns supreme and has become the main foreign language used as means of instruction at European universities. Internationalisation has played a key role in this process, becoming one of the main drivers of the linguistic hegemony exerted by English. In this paper we examine the opinions of teaching staff involved in English-medium instruction, from pedagogical ecologyof-language and personal viewpoints. Data were gathered using group discussion. The study was conducted at a multilingual Spanish university where majority (Spanish), minority (Basque) and foreign (English) languages coexist, resulting in some unavoidable linguistic strains. The implications for English-medium instruction are discussed at the end of this paper.

Interdisciplinary experience in the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz: teaching profession module

[EN] The higher education regulation process in Europe, known as the Bologna Process, has involved many changes, mainly in relation to methodology and assessment. The paper given below relates to implementing the new EU study plans into the Teacher Training College of Vitoria-Gasteiz; it is the first interdisciplinary paper written involving teaching staff and related to the Teaching Profession module, the first contained in the structure of the new plans. The coordination of teaching staff is one of the main lines of work in the Bologna Process, which is also essential to develop the right skills and maximise the role of students as an active learning component. The use of active, interdisciplinary methodologies has opened up a new dimension in universities, requiring the elimination of the once componential, individual structure, making us look for new areas of exchange that make it possible for students' training to be developed jointly.

Urte biko gelako gatazkak: izaera eta esku-hartzea

[EUS] Ikerketa lan honen helburua urte biko gela batean ematen diren egoera gatazkatsuak eta horietan burutzen diren esku-hartze mota desberdinak aztertzea izan da. Horretarako, bi alditan banandu da ikerketa honen zeregina: fase esploratzailean eta fase zientifikoan, hain zuzen. Lehenengoan, gaiari buruzko hausnarketa teoriko sakon bat gauzatzearekin batera, ikerketaren behaketa esparruak zehaztu dira, hala nola, zer, noiz, non eta nola behatuko den. Orduan, goizeko une gatazkatsuenak behatzea erabaki da; saio kolektiboa, txokoak eta batzeko unea, hain zuzen. Ondoren, fase zientifikoan, hiru esparru horietan behatutako datu guztiak bildu eta hainbat taula eta grafiko eratu dira. Lortutako emaitzen arabera, argi gelditu delarik eskolan biolentzia erabiltzea nahiko ohikoa dela; autoritarismoa, diziplina inposaketa eta boterearen erabilera bortitza. Hori dela eta, batetik garatutako lan enpirikoan eta bestetik Pikler-Lóczy eskolatze goiztiarraren hezkuntza-eredu arrakastatsuan oinarritutako hausnarketa egin da, gatazka egoeretan erabili daitezkeen baliabide nahiz esku-hartze mota kalitatezko eta egokiagoak eskaintzeko asmotan.