Darío Luis Banegas

Teacher professional development through collaborative action research: impact on foreign English-language teaching and learning

In 2011 we, a group of English-as-a-foreign-language teachers at a secondary school in Argentina, decided to investigate our teaching practices through collaborative action research so as to improve our students’ learning opportunities and thus revitalise English-language teaching in our context. We implemented and evaluated the integration of content and language learning in our classrooms through the development of our own materials. The experience revealed a growth in professional development and how our motivation and autonomy influenced our students’ motivation and language development. In our attempt to disseminate our experience as a group, this report particularly focuses on the evaluation facets of our collaborative action research project so as to encourage other teachers and teacher-researchers to adopt collaborative action research to improve their own practices.

Teachers as ‘reform-doers’: developing a participatory curriculum to teach English as a foreign language

In this article I investigate the process of an in-service programme for English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in Argentina started in 2007. Teachers began to feel uneasy about the EFL curriculum for secondary education at the time, feeling that something should be done to develop a participatory curriculum to be implemented in the future. The Ministry of Education approached me to develop a programme based on teachers’ concerns as they were initially willing to design in-service opportunities according to teachers’ suggestions. I organised my action-research-based programme into three sets of meetings: the first set for curriculum evaluation, the second set for learning about specific didactics, and the third set for developing a new curriculum with the hope it could be useful in the future. This teacher-developed curriculum is the basis of the 2012 EFL Curriculum as part of a new educational reform.

An investigation into CLIL-related sections of EFL coursebooks: issues of CLIL inclusion in the publishing market

The current English Language Teaching (ELT) global coursebook market has embraced content and language integrated learning (CLIL) as a weak form of bilingual education and an innovative component to include in General English coursebooks for EFL contexts. In this paper, I investigate how CLIL is included in ELT coursebooks aimed at young learners, available to teachers in Argentina. My study is based on the content analysis of four series, which include a section advertised as CLIL oriented. Results suggest that such sections are characterised by (1) little correlation between featured subject–specific content and school curricula in L1, (2) oversimplification of contents and (3) dominance of reading skills development and lower-order thinking tasks. Through this study, I argue that CLIL components become superficial supplements rather than a meaningful attempt to promote weak forms of bilingual education.

The Integration of Content and Language as a Driving Force in the EFL Lesson

English is a foreign language in Argentina, where Spanish is the official language. Although other languages such as Portuguese, French, Italian and German may also be taught in state secondary education, English is the only subject taught two hours a week over the six years of secondary education regardless of curricular orientations. Not only is it studied at school but also at private language institutes throughout the country, where students of all ages enrol to learn it as a private activity for different purposes. Some students simply like the language; others are interested in English-medium songs and films, and others believe it will be crucial for their professional future. Also, sometimes against their children’s will, parents send them to a language institute as a plus in their formal education.

Sharing views of CLIL lesson planning in language teacher education

Argentina seems to favour CLIL (content and language integrated learning) as a language-driven approach in secondary and higher education. In this paper, I investigate curriculum development and lesson planning based on trainees’ perceptions and lesson plans submitted to pass a module on Didactics as part of their formal initial English language teacher education. My aim is to compare what a group of trainees does in relation to the notion of CLIL as forward curriculum planning and the frameworks posited in the CLIL literature. My theoretical framework is guided by the concept of didactic transposition applied to CLIL and the literature on CLIL lessons plans drawing on teachers’ voices through their plans. In this paper I discuss how language-driven CLIL was envisaged by a group of 47 trainees enrolled in a teacher education course in southern Argentina. Data emerged from a survey and lesson plans aimed at secondary-school learners for whom English was usually taught two hours a week. Results show that language-driven CLIL follows forward design; it focuses more on content than on explicit knowledge of the language, and it is aimed at revising language with older learners.

Teacher-developed materials for the integration of content and language : an action research project in Argentina

This action research project explores the principles that teachers follow when developing their own materials for lessons aimed at integrating content and language in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lessons in state secondary education.

ELT through videoconferencing in primary schools in Uruguay: first steps

Abstract Plan Ceibal is an interinstitutional undertaking which has distributed XO laptops and Internet connectivity among primary school learners and teachers across Uruguay and developed a wide range of educational programmes. Ceibal administration believes that it is imperative to introduce English as a Foreign Language in primary education through the use of new modes of teaching which incorporate the OLPC XO laptop as a tool for learning engagement and democratisation. Uruguay has secured funds for a project based on blended learning which integrates remote teaching through videoconferencing, the use of a learning management system, and professional development. Plan Ceibal seeks to demonstrate that lessons delivered by remote teachers via videoconferencing with support from classroom teachers (CTs) with very limited or no command of English can facilitate successful learning outcomes in learners and CTs. In this article, I describe the pilot phase of this project which aims at delivering 5000 remote lessons by 2015.

Teaching linguistics to low-level English language users in a teacher education programme: an action research study

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate the outcomes of teacher educator-initiated action research (AR) process at a teacher education institution in southern Argentina. This process was triggered by a challenge which emerged in the 2016 academic year: how to teach a linguistics module through English to low-level English language users in the first year of a programme designed for teaching English as a foreign language at primary and secondary schools in Argentina. Such a situation became a pedagogical opportunity to engage in AR with a group of student-teachers during a whole academic year. Framed in qualitative research, data collection included journals, teaching and learning artefacts, and interviews. Results show that the integration of content and language learning helped student-teachers develop their language proficiency and strengthen their awareness as language users and future teachers.

Second Language Creative Writers: Identities and Writing Processes, by Zhao, Y.: (2015). New York, NY: Multilingual Matters. 200 pp.

People usually engage with the outputs of creative writing through the reading of fiction and nonfiction (Hyland, 2009). Behind each text we read there is a creative writer with a complex universe ...

39.95 (paperback)

PERMA, as the significant contribution to advancing PosPsy in SLA, however PERMA is still used as the theoretical model in subsequent chapters (e.g. Włosowicz’s and Szymczak’s chapters in Part 3 and Part 4). Despite these limitations, the book is one of the very few publications in this new area of study. Two memorable issues are proposed in the book. One is the caution not to misrepresent PosPsy in SLA by an idealistic approach to focusing exclusively on positive aspects (especially positive emotions) in FLL, which facilitates expanding the range of PosPsy in SLA. The other is the highlighting of contextual and social factors in FLL/FLT, which have been traditionally underexplored. In conclusion, the book is a recommended read as it caters for different scholarly and practical needs. The intended readership includes final-year undergraduates working on SLA projects, postgraduate students involved in SLA research, researchers and teachers in general whose interests include an SLA component, and FL/SL curriculum designers. It is thoroughly structured and a worthy source of knowledge on the theory, research and practice of PosPsy in specific areas of FLT, FLL and FL assessment. It is one steady step forward in achieving theoretical and methodological maturity and transforming PosPsy in SLA into a discipline in its own right.