The importance of promoting multimodal teaching in the foreign language classroom for the acquisition of social competences: practical examples

This article analyses the way in which the subject English Language V of the degree English Studies (English Language and Literature) combines the development of the five skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing and interacting) with the use of multimodal activities and resources in the teaching-learning process so that students increase their motivation and acquire different social competences that will be useful for the labour market such as communication, cooperation, leadership or conflict management. This study highlights the use of multimodal materials (texts, videos, etc.) on social topics to introduce cultural aspects in a language subject and to deepen into the different social competences university students can acquire when they work with them. The study was guided by the following research questions: how can multimodal texts and resources contribute to the development of the five skills in a foreign language classroom? What are the main social competences that students acquire when the teaching-learning process is multimodal? The results of a survey prepared at the end of the academic year 2015-2016 point out the main competences that university students develop thanks to multimodal teaching. For its framework of analysis, the study draws on the main principles of visual grammar (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) where students learn how to analyse the main aspects in multimodal texts. The analysis of the different multimodal activities described in the article and the survey reveal that multimodality is useful for developing critical thinking, for bringing cultural aspects into the classroom and for working on social competences. This article will explain the successes and challenges of using multimodal texts with social content so that students can acquire social competences while learning content. Moreover, the implications of using multimodal resources in a language classroom to develop multiliteracies will be observed.

Foreign words in the English of textiles

All references and quotations to be made to the original, i.e. Balteiro Fernández, M. Isabel. 2009. “Foreign Words in the English of Textiles”. In Linde, A. and Crespo, R. Ed. Professional English in the European Context: The EHEA Challenge. Bern: Peter Lang. Pp. 127-150

Evaluation of the Implementation of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) Methodology in the Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education Course Taught in the Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program at the University of Alicante

Although it is known that the Spanish current Educative System promotes using the Communicate Approach to teach foreign languages in schools, other recently designed approaches are also used to help students improve their skills when communicating in a foreign language. One of these approaches is Content and Language Integrated Learning, also known as CLIL, which is used to teach content courses using the English language as the language of instruction. This approach improves the students’ skills in English as the same time as they learn content from other areas. The goal of this thesis is to present a research project carried out at the University of Alicante during the academic year 2011-2012. With this research we obtained results that provide quantitative and qualitative data which explains how the use of the CLIL methodology affects the English level of students in the “Didactics of the English Language in Preschool Education” course in Preschool Education Teacher Undergraduate Program as students acquire the contents of the course.

Transfer in third language phonology: Does L3 typological proximity play a role?

Les investigacions recents sobre la transferència i l'adquisició d’una L3 han indagat sobre les interferències lingüístiques quan hi ha més d'una font de transferència. Els participants en aquest estudi de cas van ser parlants d’espanyol i d’anglès, que apreninen una tercera llengua, el català, tipològicament més pròxima a l’espanyol. Aquest estudi va investigar la producció dels bilingües del català fosc /ɫ/, un segment que no és present en espanyol ja que tots els laterals es produeixen com una clara /l/, i que, tanmateix, es realitza en anglès en posició final després de vocal. Contràriament al model que planteja la proximitat d'idiomes prèviament adquirids com un dels factors determinants per a la transferència de competències, l’estudi va mostrar que la proximitat tipològica a un dels L1 no és determinista per a la transferència en el nivell fonològic en l’aprenentatge d’una L3, ja que els participants produeixen laterals catalanes similars a /ɫ/. En aquest estudi de cas es constata, d’acord amb el Model de Millora Acumulativa, com es transfereix aquest segment fonològic des de l’anglés al català.