What Is Innovation?: WWW - Udima.es

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1
UNIT
WHAT IS INNOVATION?
Objectives of the Unit
1. A diagnose of the situation

2. The paralysing search for culprits
3. Modernisation and innovation
4. Reform and innovation
5. Innovation: factors for success
6. Innovation in foreign languages
Basic concepts
Topics for reflection
References
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EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH
 OBJECTIVES OF THE UNIT

• Know the fields in which educational innovation may be possible from the
perspective of the teacher's job description.
• Know the difference between modernisation and innovation.
• Know the process of innovation and the elements that are involved in the
correct development of innovation.
• Know the difference between reform and innovation.
• Know and identify the factors that can cause the blocking of the process of
innovation.
• Recognise the factors that might help the consolidation of the process of
innovation in schools and departments.
• Know the role of the languages project of a school in the process of insti-
tutionalising changes.
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C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?
1. A DIAGNOSE OF THE SITUATION
Innovation is a tricky word. When we hear it we usually link it with new techno-
logy, with some smashing digital devices that make our lives more comfortable and
easy, or even with sci-fi paraphernalia. However, being innovative is much more di-
fficult and challenging than using new electronic toys, and even more if we are talking
about schools and teaching.
The job description of a teacher includes managing several different realities. Ordi-
narily, people think that being a teacher means standing in front of a group of pupils,
explaining some lessons and checking some exercises from time to time. The attitude
expected in a teacher varies from the strict and disciplined old fashion way to a more
open and friendly one. The cliché does not recognise all the other relevant questions that
an average teacher needs to manage every year and almost every day.
Teachers' management skills concern:
• Curriculum:
– Design of the long term and short term programmes.

– Adapt the legislation to the day-to-day reality of the school: contents
and evaluation.
• Materials:
– Review and select the material used in class: books, exercises, ICT.
– Adapt the contents to the necessities of the various courses the teachers
teach.
• Class dynamics:
– Seek the most efficient class management bearing in mind the pro-
files of the class.
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– Review and update the classroom dynamics.

– Analyse class and assessment results.
• School organisation:
– Collaborate in school's activities and management.
• Themselves:
– Train themselves to be updated.

– Self-evaluate their work and improve.
– Plan their own career goals.
In brief, most teachers face new groups every year, and their need to be adapted
to the demanding necessities of their pupils goes with their job. For many teachers, the
need to innovate is as natural as having teaching time. So, considering the introduction
of new technology as the only feasible innovation in schools is like missing the variety of
aspects in which an open-minded attitude towards innovation can favour a real change.
Didactics is mostly about making decisions that affect all the elements, as the ones
listed above, which make teaching possible. Behind didactics there is always a way
of understanding the goals of education. Nowadays, the debate lies between stand-
ardised and personalised models. Both try to make schools better, one (standardisa-
tion) by introducing level exams and selecting students for upper cycles, and the other
(personalised education) by customising the way the students face the construction
of their own education. Teaching in these two models requires different approaches
and objectives but, whatever it is the model in which the teachers do their jobs, they
still have the need to adapt the educational objectives to their own classrooms to the
demands of society.
The reason for this pressure on teachers, regardless the model they support, comes from
the fact that we are no longer living in a society whose economic background is an industrial,
or product-based system, but one based on the production of new knowledge. The wealth
of Western nations does not come from manufacturing solid products in high numbers, but
from a more intangible asset: skills. Education has two main goals: help pupils in the con-
struction of their own being as persons in a society; help them to get prepared for an auton-
omous life by having their own professional career. There is no need to insist on the idea
that both things are equally important. An educational system that only prepared people
for their own intellectual reflection but with no practical and real vision about their impli-
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cation in society would be completely useless. In its turn, a system that prioritised or only
valued the professional outcomes would be a mechanism of producing learning machines.
For all this, we can conclude that our society is different from the one inherited by
the contemporary ruling generation and this is forcing the educational systems to change.
It is true that the insistence on innovation comes from the natural need to be updated, but
this must not be regarded as a blind acceptance of economic or ideological pressure. In
education, change and adaptation is the rule. It was and it is. Governments change, eco-
nomic models change, the entire society changes, so teachers cannot be doing the same
things generation after generation. Teaching goes in parallel with change. The present
problem is that being updated is becoming more difficult due to the end of the economic
cycle in which we have been living. Until the end of the last century, casual innovation
came with the use of some new methodologies, some technologies and the introduction
of comprehensive principles in schools. However, several generations lived within the
same economic model that set out in the 19th century. Currently, we also have new tech-
nologies, new methodologies, new principles and in addition to all this, a new economic
system that will require different profiles in the future.
2. THE PARALYSING SEARCH FOR CULPRITS
As was said above, change and adaptation to a new reality is the reason to remain
alert and open to innovation. Change in education is not an easy task and all countries
have gone through intense debates on the matter. Nevertheless, teachers and schools tend
to feel that the problem with education is so big that they can do nothing at their level if
nothing is previously done from the top.
This temptation of looking for culprits is quite a commonplace these days but it is
unequivocally false. Schools in Spain have enough autonomy so as to put into practice
some measures that might help lessen the effects of this concern about the need of con-
stant innovation. Schools can design their own set of projects and through them they can
start new ways of facing the challenges of these days' education.
For example, concerning FL, schools can design their own Languages Project, with
a long term view about how they want to deal with (foreign and national) languages
teaching in the school. Another option to work with languages would be a Project of new
literacies, in which the school could also include the digital literacy. Also, there can be
Projects for Social Coexistence (for migrant communities, or to tackle violence and dis-
crimination, etc.) both at the school and in the community in which the school is integrated.
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It is true that there are some things that cannot be changed from the school, but
many of the problems that make our schools stagnant, such as poor methodologies,
poor evaluation criteria and practice, lack of long-term projects, lack of social involve-
ment and influence, are certainly at hand and can be reversed with the work of a task
force of school managers and teachers. The condition for that, of course, is not a law
or regulation but the persuasion that change is as necessary as inevitable, and can be
done. Otherwise, even if laws or governments crave for change and innovation, there
will not be any.
3. MODERNISATION AND INNOVATION
In other words, is an up-to-date, modern classroom innovative? Maybe or maybe

not. Some teachers confuse modernise with innovate. Let us explain this with a case.
A few years ago, many schools started to purchase digital or interactive white-
boards. Many of them considered this to be disrupting, the sign of becoming this centu-
ry's schools. However, after their implementation nothing basic changed.
The whiteboard occupied the same space as the blackboard, and shared all its func-
tions, whereas the pupils sat with the same distribution, had to do the same type of exercises
and applied the same strategies that
they did before the invention. The soft-
Figure 1. The impact of digital whiteboards in the
ware designed for it made the display
classroom
of the exercises easier and contributed
to a better interaction with the pupils in
some written skills. Apart from that, it
did not represent any further progress
in educational terms.
This fact shows that technology

has its limitations and its introduction
not necessarily motivates innovation.
Schools that lay aside CD players and
use iPads, PCs or digital whiteboards
instead are not innovating but modern-
ising. Innovation has to do with those
things that introduce a relevant, disrupt-
ing change in the principles of education.
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Not quite long ago, in a private school in Madrid, a teacher of Science in 6th year
of Primary, requested her pupils to buy the newspaper and check the weather map on
it. She wanted her pupils to see how the isobars and the low and high pressures are
commonly represented. This teacher, in her fifties, was unable to get into the internet
and check the magnificent weather pages belonging to different agencies all around
the world. She was content with having the drawing from the (possibly) only newspa-
per that published it. In this case, she needed modernising, more training in the inter-
net use and a different attitude that favoured change. In the meantime, her students
were being taught as they were in the past century, not following the standards of our
society.
A look back, however, can help to detect some examples of change that eventually
became innovative.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, foreign language learn-
ing entirely depended on having a teacher if the student wanted to have a minimum idea
of oral communication. Individual learning was limited to the skills that can be learnt with
a translation method, as in the classic languages. Although some 19th century in-class
approaches to language learning, such as the direct method, are still valid, individual
tuition changed a lot since then. The reason for it: the phonograph.
From then on, students could hear the voice of native speakers and learn the pro-
nunciation of vocabulary with the required accuracy. This meant that individual students
could start learning the language without the need of a teacher, so texts, methods, objec-
tives and strategies (all the basics) changed. Foreign language learning was no longer
similar or comparable to the learning of a classic language. The role of the teacher, and
mostly the native teacher, changed too. Socially speaking, language learning was no
longer restricted to the privileged ones that could afford classes with a native speaker,
and its massive introduction in schools was possible, since non-native teachers could
make use of tips of "real" native language in their classes.
This is a historical case of disrupting innovation, that is to say, the introduction of a

single element that causes changes at different levels and brings about unexpected advan-
tages and the modification of roles. We can compare it, however, with the introduction of
some electronic devices these days. Many schools have campaigned to introduce iPads
or tablets in class. These portable computers let children keep a large amount of informa-
tion, including books, in just one light device, they can have access to external information
quickly, and they can do some exercises with an easy interaction. However, these electronic
pads did not change education at all. They added speed to information search and avoided
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loading children with heaps of books, but the objectives, the strategies, the role of the stu-
dent and the teacher, and even the structure of the exercises is or may be exactly the same.
Consequently, having computers in every classroom or connect the students and

the teachers through Moodle platforms may enhance communication or the access to
information but they can also coexist with the staunchest conservative attitude towards
education. In technologically advanced schools, evaluation may be based on contents,
exams may follow standardised criteria and inclusion may not be guaranteed. In these
cases, considering that these schools are innovative would be difficult to say.
Innovation, then, is gradual, as we exemplified with the phonograph. This process

follows more or less these phases:
Figure 2. The process of innovation
Individual solution to a particular and

Change
immediate context
Improvement Better answer to problems
Innovation Stability. Institutionalised change
The first step in the long way of innovation is change. Change commonly comes in
an individual or restricted context. It can come up from the application of a theory (for
example, the methodological changes that Chomsky's transformational grammar caused,
or the Communicative Language Learning that the functional grammar brought about),
or just the best adaptation of a methodology to the particular circumstances of a group.
Whatever is the case, the scope of change is not very broad in this first stage. Sometimes
it can be just experimental.
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In a second stage, change becomes an improvement. Once some changes have

been implemented and it has been proved that they worked in different environments
and contexts, they can be used as a response to different demands. In the example we
used, the first people who think that recording native speakers could be useful, per-
haps did not realise that they were facilitating the massive introduction of languages
in schools and the creation of external certifications and exams for huge numbers of
students.
The final stage is innovation itself. For that, some scholars (Paredes and de la Her-
rán, 2009) think that once the improvements prove to be effective, they can be institution-
alised and it is then when they become actually innovative. Innovation is a consequence
of the institutionalisation of previous improvements. It is when changes become part of
an institution. Let us explain why.
It is not difficult to find teachers with "innovative" or distinctive approaches. In

schools, there are always one or two teachers that are constantly planning new things
and new activities, but these dynamics are so characteristically theirs that it is almost
impossible that other teachers, in their circumstances, try to do the same and if they do,
they look like impersonators. However, when teachers find something that work not
only with them, for example, a new assessment tool that can be used by any teacher, this
improvement can be supported by the school in their institutional role, in other words,
the school can make of that improvement a distinctive feature of the institution. The sta-
bility of that improvement makes the whole school become innovative. If improvements
are not assumed by the school as a part of it, what happens when creative teachers leave
it? The possibility of changing leaves with them. It is only when the institution accepts
the change when this has its effects. Instead of affecting only the lives of the selected
pupils that have been with the creative teacher, these changes will affect all the students
that will study in that school sooner or later, and it will be then when the school will
have its impact in society.
Unfortunately, many schools do not have the internal mechanisms to detect improve-
ments that can be institutionalised, and changes at teachers' levels are viewed with scep-
ticism or even with open mistrust. Schools should realise that innovation in education
can only irradiate from them, that it will not come from above and there will be no magic
spell to invoke it.
This process requires a climate, and climate depends on both the managers and the
teachers. Change demands constant monitoring of the actions, evaluation and new trials
in case of failure. Robinson (2015) applies Tim Brighouse's model to explain the ele-
ments that any process of change needs to be successful in the school:
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Figure 3. Tim Brighouse's model of change dynamics
Vision Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan = Change
Source: Robinson 2015, p. 249
Basically what teachers need is to have a long term project, a vision of how the
future of the school can be. If they have the skills and are motivated, it is important the
there is a constant flow of resources (when resources are external there is always a risk
of not receiving them any longer, and innovation can be frustrated). Finally, it is neces-
sary a realistic action plan, something that really matters, that offers a clear solution to
the demands and challenges of the teachers, the students and the whole school. If any of
these elements is missing or fails during the process the consequences can be different
from those expected:
Figure 4. Tim Brighouse's model of attempts to change
Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan = Confusion

Vision Incentives Resources Action Plan = Anxiety
Vision Skills Resources Action Plan = Resistance
Vision Skills Incentives Action Plan = Frustration
Vision Skills Incentives Resources = Diffusion
Source: Robinson 2015, p. 250
4. REFORM AND INNOVATION
When social changes were necessary, there were several attempts to improve the
conditions of the educational system. These improvements were introduced through laws
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and regulations and they were the systemic response to the need for a better social inte-
gration of minorities, reduce the age of schooling, or some other questions such as give
more autonomy to schools or redefine the way they can finance themselves. As Carbonell
(2012), quoting Peter Holly, would say, there are three types of reforms: one meant "do
the same, but more", the second one was "do the same but better", and the last one was
"restructure and redefine the educational system". Unfortunately, most of the reforms
tended to match the first two types.
The problem with reforms is that in order to be effective they require the conver-
gence of the Administration (both, national and autonomous in the case of Spain), unions,
professionals, pupils, and parents. As they commonly do not have the global picture,
reforms get stuck.
Another question that blocks the impact of reforms is that changes are introduced
so gradually and independent from other factors that conflict is the natural consequence.
For example, the Spanish laws proclaim that the competence approach is the one to be
followed in all schools nationwide. However, the ratio teacher/pupil is not regulated,
so the dynamics that a competence-based approach require is not feasible with large
groups. Cross-curricular approaches which may require a different distribution of time
and modules face the problem of the distribution of teaching time among teachers, as
their contracts depend on how many modules of teaching time they have. So, a compe-
tence approach would require flexibility of time and spaces in schools and small groups,
but there are too many restrictions for it in real life that class dynamics tend to remain
as they were. Only a whole team of committed teachers with the support of the whole
school would be able to implement such a reform.
The State Administration by itself is not able to produce change and innovation,
but it is important that it supports those institutions that are or want to be innovative,
and that it creates the accurate context for innovation. As was seen above, innovation is
produced in schools when the context is receptive. However, there can be some factors
that block any new initiative (freely based on Carbonell 2012):
1. Reluctance of teachers. A way to resist to any reform is by being stuck

to one's routines. Some teachers, for various reasons, are quite reluctant to
any change, because it can affect to their feeling of security. In a bad under-
standing of what solidarity among colleagues represents, many change-re-
sistant, old-fashioned teachers, those that do not change their planning in
years, receive the support of unions, associations and teams, making any
hope of change impossible.
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2. Individualism and corporatism. Individualism is the tendency to believe

that "my class is my castle", where nobody has the right to get in, and of
course my inventions are mine, and only mine. Corporatism, linked in a cer-
tain way to it, means that groups within the institutions fight for their own
interests and comfort, commonly to obtain power or influence. This segre-
gation of interests makes impossible the introduction of a common project.
3. Pessimism and professional discomfort. The discourse of defeatism is
widely spread in education. The ideas that teachers are all burnt out, that
their conditions are poor, that they do not have adequate means, that they
are not valued, etc., create a bubble of discomfort that raises a wall against
any new approach. It is true that the conditions of many teachers should be
better, and it is true that the Administration often fails to manage personnel
and resources in accordance to the interests of teachers and schools, but it
is also true that teachers that have never tried to innovate, and who do not
devote an extra minute to their job and their careers are quite prompt to pro-
test about the bad conditions in which they have to work. Innovative teach-
ers need to distinguish between real factors that can be challenging (as the
lack of resources) and the fictitious claim that everything in education is a
disaster.
4. The effects of reforms. Educational reforms, as has been said above, tech-
nocratic and bureaucratic reforms do not always create the best impulse for
innovation and real reforms. In Spain, there is a long tradition of an exces-
sive intervention in education, and teachers are very much obliged to follow
every kind of norm and they cannot do anything that had not been pre-
viously regulated.
5. The paradox of the "double curriculum". Teachers innovate in many
aspects of education, but the standardised evaluations at some levels
that have been imposed by the Administration (alleging some reasons of
"quality control") cause that some teachers follow their own innovative cri-
teria and procedures, but momentarily suspend them to train the students
for the evaluations (which are just ordinary tests that are prepared by re-
petition and memorisation). In English teaching this is what happens with the
external examinations or certifications. Many schools now use external certi-
fications as a means of auditing their progress in English teaching. As some
of these certificates require their own methodology and contents, teachers
combine the training for the exam with the contents of the curriculum. In
some occasions, schools substitute entirely the contents of a course and
prepare the students for the external exams, as these are commonly more
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demanding than the average curriculum. However, by doing so, schools are
placing themselves out of the boundaries of the regulations.
As the regulations contain some guidelines about more innovative practices,
based on competences (for example, research), some teachers regard them
as something imposed (some sort of technicians' whims) that contravenes
"real and effective teaching", in other words, traditional. So, they have to
introduce them in their classes, but actually quite reluctantly, giving them
scarce time and planning.
These are the two ways in which some attempts to innovate can coexist with
traditional approaches without being really integrated in the institutions.
6. The ideology of effort. In the past few decades, as a reaction to the estab-
lishment of the comprehensive school model, more focused on competences
than the old contents-only approach, much criticism has arisen about the
need to go "back to basis". This travel to past is not depicted as a conserv-
ative attitude, but as an essentialist one as a reaction to the variety of sub-
jects that comprehensive curricula have.
This ideology of effort is characterised by the insistence on knowing con-
cepts, doing constant objective testing and selecting "the fitted" for higher
studies. Actually, all the standardised exams that the students need to go
through during their school days come from this concept of education. In
Ken Robinson's words (2015):
"The standards movement is rooted in competition between stu-

dents, teachers, schools, districts, and now between countries. There
is a place for competition in education, as there is in the rest of
life. But a system that sets people against each other fundamentally
misunderstands the dynamics that drive achievement. Education
thrives on partnership and collaboration – within schools, between
schools, and with other groups and organizations."
Innovation, which is a cooperative matter, can hardly survive in this kind

of environments, and it is quite unlikely to even flourish.
7. Lack of collaboration between universities and schools. The academic
world is not united and there is not much communication between the two
main poles of it: universities and schools. Universities should be the centres in
which every kind of reflection about education should be possible, the place
in which all the information about schools should be, and the places where
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teachers might have their own space for reflection too. However, the lack of
transparency of administrations about educational outcomes, bureaucracy and
lack of culture of cooperation make that both realities have scarce and some-
times only theoretical approaches, quite far from the reality of the classrooms.
The above is a list of possible causes or difficulties that block innovation in
schools, but not everything is lost, there are also proposals of feasible ini-
tiatives that could help introducing new practices.
5. INNOVATION: FACTORS FOR SUCCESS
Once we have pointed at some of the factors that block, stop or brake innovative pro-
cesses of change in schools, we must now try to find out what should be done in order to
maintain an open mind about innovation, something that everyone demands, but nobody
seems to accept as a responsibility.
We have said that a system cannot be innovative, only schools can be so after accept-
ing innovative proposals from their teachers. We know that education is the object of
political agendas, unions, parental demands and professional revisions. But we cannot
forget that the core of education is the relationship between the pupil and the teacher.
The most important thing is not the legislation, the organisation of the school, the salary
of the teachers or the headmasters, the syllabuses, the ambitions of the parents, or the
unemployment rate of the country; the relevant thing is that everything has to be set up
in such a way that that relationship flows naturally and successfully. According to Ken
Robinson (2015), we need to create the conditions to make this happen:
"• The focus of education has to be on creating the conditions in which students
will want and be able to learn.
• The role of the teacher is to facilitate students' learning.
• The role of principals (headmasters) is to create the conditions in their schools
in which teachers can fulfil these roles
• The role of policy-makers is to create conditions in which principals and
schools can fulfil these responsibilities".
The objective, then, of all innovation is to improve the relationship between teacher
and student. In this very line of thought, Carbonell (2012) identifies some factors that
compound innovation within the scope of comprehensive education.
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1. Change and innovation are personal experiences that address the needs of
individuals and groups.
2. Innovation tends to gradually establish meaningful relationships between
subjects in such a way that students have a more global picture of reality.
3. Schools become more democratic and attractive through innovative prac-
tices.
4. Innovation causes reflection on the experiences and dynamics lived in the
classroom.
5. Since innovation comes from the teachers, it breaks up the classic idea about
the teachers being "obedient" to what the Administration (the experts in
education) tell them to do in class.
6. Innovation widens the pedagogical autonomy of schools.
7. Innovation is the expected and natural response to the goals of education as
a way to being adapted to the needs of each era.
8. The way to become innovative lays on the capacity to work in teams.
9. Innovation is both a theory and a practice, at the same time, none of them
can be put aside.
10. Innovation makes possible that unknown wishes and passions that the stu-
dents had come up to surface.
11. Innovation facilitates apprehending new knowledge, but at the same time
it helps understanding the nature of knowledge too.
12. Innovation produces some kind of permanent intellectual restlessness.
13. It is easy to override the fact that training and education go together, but
there is no possible training without a global educational approach.
Fernando Trujillo (2012), quoting Waters, states some features that help predicting
the success or failure of educational innovation:
• The innovative solution offers more or extra advantages than the previous
practice.
• Degree of compatibility with the persistent values, previous experiences
and the needs of the agents of change involved.
• The innovation can be monitored for some time to check its success.
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• Visibility of the results of the innovation for external observers.

• Degree of originality. The greater the originality the lesser the degree of
compatibility and the greater the possibility of failure.
• Innovation must be concrete in theoretical and practical terms.
• Perception of the status that innovation generates in the educational
community.
Although an innovative practice is highly unpredictable in its first stages of imple-

mentation, it has more chances of becoming successful, in other words, accepted and
institutionalised, if all this happens (Trujillo 2012):
• Innovation is designed to be implemented as part of the normal routines of

the school's.
• Strategies, internal regulations, information or resources of any kind are
provided in order to make innovation possible.
• Schools organise the necessary support to the main project by organising
parallel actions (for example, training courses for teachers).
• Before and during the implementation, all the agents are coordinated: direc-
tion, management, inspectors, etc.
As Robinson said, the core of the process of innovation is the relationship between
learner and teacher, and this relationship must be looked after. Carbonell (2012) remarks
some factors that not only support this idea and but also create the favourable atmos-
phere for constant innovation:
1. Stable and receptive teamwork. When teachers are organised as teams,

sharing and willing to share information, innovation is much easier. Schools
with a departmental organisation which commonly design activities or pro-
grammes together are more inclined to introduce innovative practices.
2. Exchange networks for cooperation. Communication technologies facili-
tate the exchange of experiences. Blogs or other instruments favour contact
with other teachers with similar interests. The participation in associations,
conferences or other institutions open to discussion and critique, help fos-
tering collaboration among teachers. The exchange of ideas and observation
of others' experiences are basic for the renewal of pedagogical techniques
and principles.
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3. Innovative regions. It is good to have innovative schools but if the schools

of a whole area go together, innovation is much likely to endure for longer.
In those areas in which a region or a city supported their schools, these
became a continuous source of new initiatives. When a region shares their
findings and all schools within it put them into practice, the effort previously
devoted to compete is diverted to collaboration, improving all the schools
at the same time.
4. Improving personal communication. Innovation is better and more prompt
in an atmosphere of solidarity and cooperation, and for that purpose, com-
munication is vital but also physically sharing spaces and routines, acts
that celebrate the common purposes and show that that union of interests is
real.
5. Correct institutionalisation. It has been repeatedly said that innovation
must be institutionalised, but there is an real risk of turning it in a stagnated
practice if it is too routinised or transformed in a mere slogan for the promo-
tion of the school. In those cases, the "atmosphere" for change can be easily
lost.
6. Constant movement ahead. The previous point implies that innovation
must be something constant. A school cannot be conformist with what they
have and must inject the necessary enthusiasm in teachers to keep change
alive. Schools that stop innovating die. "Being innovative" cannot be conju-
gated in the past. Schools depend on the degree that they know the society
in which their students live. If they keep doing something that was innova-
tive a decade ago, but did not bother renewing their pedagogical practice,
the capacity of teachers of becoming innovative again is quite marred.
7. Reflection and evaluation. An internal evaluation procedure is absolutely
necessary, as well as the debate and the publicity of the experience in sci-
entific or professional journals in a way that may give cause for construc-
tive criticism that initiates a new cycle of innovation.
6. INNOVATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
This manual will present some approaches to the fields and themes in which inno-
vation in FL teaching may be possible. Everything that was presented in the previous
sections, however, is applicable to FL teaching and learning.
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FL teachers need to face the same challenges and solve the same problems that
teachers of other areas have. But the growing importance of the role of the English lan-
guage in schools can be turned into an advantage. It has been said that innovation must be
institutionalised in order to be stable and have impact on the educational community. In
Spain, there are gradually more and more schools that design their own PLCs (Proyecto
Lingüístico de Centro) to make all the languages spoken (studied) in the school1 converge
into one single project. This is clearly the way FL teachers have to make their proposals
of change evolve into institutionalised innovation.
Taking the PLC as a reference, teachers can make change possible at least in these
areas (freely adapted from Pérez Esteve and Roig Estruch 2004, p. 97):
• Timetables, time devoted to each language and most adequate exploitation

of time distribution.
• The sequence in which the contents of each language are presented.
• Disciplines that are taught in each language.
• Criteria for the selection of contents in case of cross-curricular subjects.
• Literacy initiation, handwriting skills initiation.
• Attention to diversity applied to FL.
• Actions of educational intervention, i.e., with non-nationals.
• Evaluation of the skills for each language. The role of external certifications.
• Materials and resources.
• Accountability and communication of skill achievements to families.
At present, FL teachers need to face a twofold challenge: the integration of contents

and the "double curriculum". CLIL and communicative approaches in schools are in
process of implementation but they still have a long way to go before achieving a wide-
spread acceptance. Although the Administrations do not oppose and even support these
approaches they simultaneously raise the ratio pupil/teacher to reduce costs or impose
a summative and numeric evaluation, which at the end of the day make communicative
1 We refer to the national languages spoken in some Autonomous Communities, plus the first and second
foreign languages, and even the classical languages that can be studied in Bachillerato. All of them have
to be present in the PLC with their corresponding relevance and at their own level of acquisition.
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approaches fail. On the other hand, the use of external examinations is applauded by
parents and politicians who think that these certifications are either a "guarantee" of the
"level" of the school or a merit with a view to the professional development. Whatever
are the ambitions of both, the teachers need to cope with the "double curriculum" that
this implies. As happens with the standard examinations imposed by the Administra-
tions, the teachers have to put aside the official curriculum or even worse, the approach
they follow, to train their students in the approach and contents that are required by the
certifying agency or institution.
Among these difficulties and obstacles, however, FL teachers have a sufficient num-
ber of fields in which they can glimpse the issues that eventually will benefit from new
viewpoints and innovatory initiatives.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Corporatism. The defence of the interests of a group by the members of
that group over the interests of others.
• Disruption. The consequence of introducing an innovative and altering ele-
ment in a process, and achieving much more than predicted in return.
• Double curriculum. It is the duality of objectives and procedures that a
teacher has to teach and follow as a result of introducing exams, tests or
external evaluations in the ordinary course of the academic year.
• PLC –Proyecto Lingüístico de Centro–. The school project that describes
all the actions and strategies to be taken to teach languages in every cycle.
 T
OPICS FOR REFLECTION
1. After reading the management skills list, try to find examples of innovation
that had been put into practice in the last few decades and that affect any of
the skills.
2. Make a list of projects that could be implemented in a school that could
reflect on new measures and practices and that balance the feeling of defeat-
ism that can be found in schools.
3. Look for more examples of the implementation of devices or practices
that may be confused with innovation but they correspond more with the
category of modernisation.
4. Search about the reforms that took place in Spain in the recent years and
try to categorise them according to Peter Holly and Carbonell in section 4.
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5. The list of section 4 is not exhaustive but covers the main factors that usu-
ally block innovation. Think about any other aspect that you think that could
be included in such a list.
6. One of the factors identified by Carbonell for the development of innovation
includes theory and practice. Why do you think that theory is as important
as practice in the case of innovation?
7. How do you think a school should react to each of the points stated by
Carbonell as the elements that help introducing constant innovation?
8. Think about the pros and cons of the introduction of CLIL and other meth-
odologies encouraged by the educational authorities.
 REFERENCES
Carbonell Sebarroja, J. (2009). Una educación para mañana. Madrid: Ediciones Octaedro.
Carbonell Sebarroja, J. (2012). La aventura de innovar: el cambio en la escuela. Madrid: Ediciones Morata.
Christensen, C. M. (2008). Disrupting Class. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Paredes, J. and de la Herrán, A. (eds.). La práctica de la innovación educativa. Madrid: Síntesis.
Pérez Esteve, P. and Roig Estruch, V. (2004). Enseñar y aprender inglés en educación infantil y primaria
(Vol. I). Barcelona: ICE-Horsori.
Robinson, K. (2015). Creative Schools. Penguin Random House.
Trujillo Sáez, F. (2012). Propuestas para una escuela en el siglo XXI. Madrid: Catarata.
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2
UNIT
COORDINATING EFFORTS
IN THE CLASSROOM
1. Introduction
2. Coordinating classroom roles
2.1. Who is who?
2.2. Working together
3. Making the most of your practicum

3.1. Common challenges
3.2. Practical tips for the practicum
3.3. Tips for maximizing your growth
4. Opportunities abroad
4.1. Working as a language assistant
4.2. Working as a teacher abroad
4.2.1. Visiting Teachers from Spain Program
4.2.2. Actividad Educativa Española en el Exterior
4.2.3. Other programs
5. EPOSTL: reflection, collaboration and self assessment

5.1. What is the EPOSTL?
5.2. How can a teacher use the EPOSTL?
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Basic concepts
References
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L. R. Buckingham Coordinating efforts in the classroom

• Identify and define the main roles that may exist in the EFL classroom.
• Understand how different teacher figures may coordinate within the same
classroom.
• Consider a number of guidelines for making the most of the practicum
experience.
• Reflect on the opportunities for personal and professional growth that can
be found in the practicum experience.
• Identify professional opportunities around the world for Spanish EFL
teachers.
• Understand the purposes and use of the EPOSTL for teachers in training.
• Consider the advantages of reflection on the competences related to language
teaching, both in the training phase and throughout one's teaching career.
• Evaluate the EPOSTL as a tool for reflection, collaboration and self
assessment.
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1. INTRODUCTION
This unit deals with the different roles that may be present in the same classroom as
well as various aspects of the teaching profession that deal with teacher training, reflec-
tion and further opportunities. In each section of the unit, it will be necessary to consider
different roles that the teacher may take on from time to time. The teacher may be the
sole teacher, the trainee teacher, the language assistant, the collaborator, the observer
and more. While reading through this unit, the reader is encouraged to reflect on the var-
ious aspects of the teaching profession, the many roles a teacher may play at one time or
another in his or her teaching career, and what each of these roles can contribute to the
teacher's ongoing professional development.
2. COORDINATING CLASSROOM ROLES
2.1. WHO IS WHO?
There can be different acting roles within the same EFL classroom that creates a
challenge for those involved. It is important for each person to know his or her purpose
and place as well as how to work with the others for the most efficient teaching-learn-
ing situation. Here we will explore the most common roles and how these roles can be
coordinated effectively.
• Classroom or subject teacher. The classroom or subject teacher is the per-

son who is responsible for the class. He or she is in charge of the program-
ming, lesson planning and coordinating of everyone else. The classroom
teacher should be the one to mark and discipline students and generally
direct the class. He or she will answer to the administration and heads of
the school.
• Foreign language assistant. The FLA is a native speaker who is hired part-
time to support foreign language learning for students and assist the foreign
language teacher. Generally, this person will support mainly oral communi-
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cation and cultural aspects of foreign language teaching. He or she cannot

be completely responsible for a group of students and should not be asked
to mark or discipline students. See Unit 7 of EFL Teaching and Learning I
for more details on his or her role in the classroom.
• Practicum student. The practicum student is a trainee teacher, usually in
the final phases of his or her teacher training, who attends class to observe
and occasionally teach lessons. The trainee teacher is there to learn about the
EFL teaching and learning and witness the process first-hand. The trainee
is also there to put into practice all that he or she has learned in the teacher
training classes by planning lessons and teaching them to students.
2.2. WORKING TOGETHER
This combination of teaching professionals in the same classroom can sometimes

cause challenges when they need to coordinate and work together. After all, three indi-
viduals with very different backgrounds, amounts of teaching experience and types of
training will need to pull together to offer students a comprehensive and coordinated le-
sson. They will probably not coincide every day together, but rather the teacher may teach
with the FLA one day, with the practicum student the next, with both the following day
and alone on the fourth day. It will be a challenge to coordinate timetables and know who
will be present to support which lessons, as well as to define the role and inform each
person of the plan in order to work together with the group of students. What follows is
a series of suggestions that aims to enable this working relationship.
• Know your role. Each person in the classroom has a role, as described
above, and as far as possible, these roles should be respected. The class-
room or subject teacher will generally be the person that plans the class
and informs the others of their roles. However, that could change from one
class to the next (see below). Regardless, there should be a lesson plan for
each class and that plan should be known, followed and respected by each
figure in the classroom.
• Communicate. Communication is essential to coordination and working
together. In general there is very limited time to coordinate in a school set-
ting, so teachers will have to be creative in making time for communica-
tion. It can be done during break or lunch time, in an online document, over
mobile messaging services, or before or after school hours. Last-minute
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mini-meetings may be held in the hallway a few minutes before class starts
or while students are working independently or in groups. The important
thing is to speak about the lesson plan and make sure that each person knows
his or her role and the objectives of the lesson so that they can contribute
effectively to those objectives.
• Allow one person to coordinate. In general, the lesson plan will have
been prepared by one person. This is often the subject teacher, but it may
also be the FLA or the practicum student, or it may have been a joint effort
through a previous coordination meeting. In any case, the person that is
responsible for the lesson should be the one to inform the others and give
each of them their roles. The lesson may involve one central teacher figure
and other supporting roles, small group work with all supporting teacher
roles, a team teaching setting in which two or more teachers have equally
important roles, or any number of combinations. However, it is essential for
each person to know his or her role and carry it out in the best way possi-
ble. This is perhaps done easiest by having only one person coordinate the
roles and inform the others.
3. MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR PRACTICUM
The practicum period of your teacher training is an exciting and stressful time.
Many teacher trainees have never been in front of a group of students before, which
can be stressful, but most are also quite eager to begin their teaching career and put into
practice all they have learned in their classes. The objective of this section is to help
teacher trainees make the most of the experience, first by examining common challenges
involved, then by offering practical tips and finally by giving suggestions for maximiz-
ing their growth as future teachers.
3.1. COMMON CHALLENGES
Being in front of a classroom presents a teacher with many different challenges.

When it is the first time a teacher stands before a group of students, the challenges are
greater. Add to that the experience of being observed by a veteran teacher, and the stress
multiplies. Here are some of the common challenges, as summarized by Olenka Bialsh
(Tips for Student Teachers):
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• The stress of interacting with students. Regardless of thorough prepara-

tion in teacher training courses regarding classroom management, pedagogy
and adolescent development, physically being in front of a group of students
can be stressful. Student teachers will strive to act professionally while also
attempting to create rapport with students, and a full day of teaching can be
exhausting.
• Mentor teacher relationship. Teacher trainees may also be anxious about
forming a relationship with the mentor teacher in the classroom, as this is
quite important for their time in the school.
• Planning and teaching. Planning engaging and interesting lessons is not
easy, despite previous training. Also, putting these lessons into action, espe-
cially for the first time, is challenging, especially considering that the men-
tor teacher and students are continually evaluating them.
• New environment. Simply being in the school environment is something
new for most people as it has probably been several years since the trainee
was a student. Finding one's way around the school, becoming used to the
timetable and routines and getting to know the staff can add to an already
stressful situation.
• Evaluation. Knowing that the mentor teacher will be evaluating the trainee
and reporting back to the university can add pressure to perform well.
3.2. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE PRACTICUM
The following are several practical tips that are offered by experienced teachers in
the sources found in the References section of this unit.
• Be professional. It is important to behave properly when interacting with

the staff and students in the school. This includes dressing appropriately,
being punctual and being respectful at all times. After all, a student teacher
is a guest in the school.
• Do not expect perfection. Skills involved with the teaching profession,
such as classroom management, developing rapport with students, lesson
planning and interacting with other teachers, are all developed over time.
A teacher trainee will eventually be successful if he or she is patient and
makes an honest effort.
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• Be open to new experiences. There are many opportunities in a school to get

involved in different classes, extracurricular activities, parent meetings, etc.
A student teacher should take every opportunity to experience as many dif-
ferent aspects of the teaching career as possible.
• Be organized. Lesson planning takes a lot of time and teaching can be very
tiring. Being as organized as possible will minimize the stress of keeping
the timetable, planning ahead and meeting responsibilities. Use a daily plan-
ner to organize all important information and coordinate with the mentor
teacher.
• Do not forget your life. As with any profession, it is important to main-
tain a life and work balance. Setting aside time for personal activities will
help one to relax and lead a more stable life, both personally and professio-
nally.
• Take care of your voice. Speaking for long periods of time can be exhaust-
ing and, if not done properly, can have long-term affects on one's voice.
A trainee teacher must remember to drink plenty of water, avoid speaking
over noise by finding other classroom management techniques, maintain
rhythmic and relaxed breathing and pause from time to time. These strate-
gies and others will allow a teacher to maintain a healthy voice throughout
the years.
• Social media concerns. It is important to remember that a teacher is a sort
of public figure and certainly one who influences young people. Therefore, it
is essential to follow sensible criteria when posting on social media, even on
personal accounts. Keep in mind the school's Internet policy and avoid using
the Internet and social media while at the school. Revise privacy settings
in social media accounts and avoid posting criticisms of others, confiden-
tial information or images (especially of students), and other inappropriate
content. More useful suggestions can be found at the website of ASTI, an
Irish teachers' union, as found in the References section.
• Always plan too much. An inexperienced teacher will find it challenging
to determine the time necessary for each activity and very difficult to fill
unexpected extra time. Therefore, it is always better to have a few extra
activities planned in case something goes unexpectedly.
• Maintain confidentiality. When reporting back to the university about
experiences in the school or speaking with colleagues, it is best to avoid
using names of students in order to protect their identities.
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3.3. TIPS FOR MAXIMIZING YOUR GROWTH
The practicum period is an exceptional opportunity to try out the profession before
obtaining a position in a school. It is also part of a student teacher's training and a chance
to put into practice all he or she has learned previously. The following tips are meant to
help trainee teachers make the most of this opportunity.
• Resources. Being in a school allows a student teacher access to a wealth of

resources to be used in the practicum or in his or her future teaching career.
Ask the mentor teacher's permission to look at his or her resources for ideas.
The school or department library may be another useful source of inspira-
tion. Taking pictures of school or classroom displays can be a good way to
store ideas for future use.
• Relationships. Speaking with staff and developing relationships with them
will allow a student teacher insight into the profession, school policies and
other useful information. They may also help the student teacher with prac-
tical considerations on starting his or her career.
• Extra-curricular activities. There are often a wide variety of opportunities
during the practicum period for the trainee teacher to take part in extra-
curricular activities, school-wide projects or celebrations and more. Even if
the activities are not within the trainee's field, the experience will be valua-
ble, and the school staff is often enthusiastic to include interested volunteers.
• Different classroom experiences. A student teacher may be asked to take
part in classes that are outside of his or her field of expertise, but this can
often be seen as a positive opportunity. A teacher is often asked to teach
classes outside of his or her field for different reasons throughout his or her
career, and this can be a way to gain experience in doing so. Taking on this
challenge will reflect positively on the student teacher's ability and flexibility.
• Observation. Teachers often seek out opportunities to observe other teach-
ers throughout their teaching career, as this can be a source for innovation
and cooperation. Student teachers should accept any opportunity to observe
as many teachers as possible in different fields and with different teaching
styles, as this will often help them compare and contrast techniques and
learn quite a lot about teaching in general.
• Accompanying the mentor teacher. If possible, it is best for the trainee
teacher to follow the mentor teacher to any coordination meetings, parent
conferences and so on. This will give the trainee maximum exposure to all
aspects of teaching.
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• Innovation. Trainee teachers are encouraged to try out the teaching tech-
niques and classroom management skills learned in the training courses.
Even if it is different from what the mentor teacher does, a trainee may ask
permission to try something new in the classroom. It is the time to experi-
ment and try out innovative lessons and activities to see their effect.
• Student input. A student teacher will benefit from receiving student input
on his or her lessons. Their opinions and ideas can be quite valuable, and
they will most likely be enthusiastic to help.
4. OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
Nowadays there are many different opportunities available to teachers who are
trained in Spain. Whether it be to further one's training before teaching or to broaden
horizons after several years spent teaching, the various possibilities abroad offer excep-
tional experiences to those that seek them out. In this section we will discover two of
the main possibilities for working abroad, as a language assistant and as a teacher, and
some of the programs involved.
4.1. WORKING AS A LANGUAGE ASSISTANT
As a result of agreements between Spain and several other countries around the world,
young Spanish people have the opportunity to work as language assistants in Spanish as a
foreign language (ELE) classes. As of 2015, these positions are available in Germany, Aus-
tralia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the United States, France, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway,
New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Sweden (RSEEEPU, 16 November 2015). Young
people from those countries are also permitted to spend a school year in Spain to assist in the
teaching of their own languages. Through these initiatives, Spain hopes to promote multi-
lingualism and enhance foreign language competence as demanded by the Spanish society.
There are several general requirements for those wishing to work as a Spanish lan-
guage assistant. They must be in their last year of studying or have completed a degree
related to philology, language or education, and they cannot have been been language
assistants previously. There are a series of merits related to schooling and training that
give the applicant a number of points that ranks them for selection to the program. Also,
each country has its own requirements that potential applicants will need to fulfill in
order to be considered, including age restrictions and language levels, among others.
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Language assistant applicants may choose two preferred countries when applying
to the program, and in some countries, their preferences regarding the region to which
they would be assigned. The initial selection process is done in applicants' home coun-
tries, though language assistants are hired directly by the educational authorities in the
host countries. They work between 12 and 20 hours per week, having been assigned to
one or more host schools.
As a country example, in the United Kingdom, Spanish language assistants are

assigned to mainly secondary education (though about 15% are destined to primary edu-
cation). They may express a preference between three different regions in the UK, and
they may be assigned to up to three different schools among which they share twelve
weekly hours of contact time with students. The program is organized by the Ministry
of Education, Culture and Sports in Spain in collaboration with the British Council. In
the words of the Spanish Embassy in the United Kingdom:
"The main objective of the language Assistants' work is to enhance the qual-
ity of the teaching of Spanish in their schools, awakening among their stu-
dents the interest and motivation to learn about the Spanish language, serving
as a model for its use in communicative situations, and providing a fresh and
direct vision of present-day life and culture in their native country. On the other
hand, the language Assistants, who are in the process of learning the English
language and culture, will have the opportunity to live through a personal and
professional experience which will allow them to deepen their knowledge of
the society and education system of the UK.
Their work consists mainly of supporting the teaching of Spanish through
the practice of oral skills and communicative and cultural activities with their
students. The Language Assistants frequently collaborate in extracurricular
activities organized by the school, such as the Spanish Club. (Consejería de
Educación de España en Reino Unido, 2015)".
The experience of working as a language assistant is quite often very enriching as

it gives young people the opportunity to see first-hand how a different educational sys-
tem works. For a future (or even experienced) teacher, this can be eye-opening in that
we see other ways of doing things: sometimes better, sometimes worse, but often diffe-
rent. Cultural differences will result in a contrast in relationships within the classroom
and around the school to that with which we are accustomed. Methodology is likely to
vary among countries and even regions within the same country. The same happens with
school and classroom organization, professional development opportunities, and so on.
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On a more personal level, the experience of living in a country other than our own
is educational and stimulating in many ways. We learn to function under a different set
of societal rules, which we may often find surprising or even offensive at first. However,
further reflection again leads us to compare these experiences to our daily lives in our
home countries and reach quite interesting conclusions. Indeed, there may be no better
way to increase our own intercultural, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences, some-
thing that is essential to developing those of our students.
4.2. WORKING AS A TEACHER ABROAD
For teachers with some teaching experience, there are also various opportunities avail-
able, some specifically for state employees and others open to all trained teachers. Some
of the programs described below are aimed at improving Spanish as a foreign language
education in foreign countries, while others are directed toward Spanish expatriates in
order to offer Spanish education abroad. All of the programs described will certainly offer
those teachers who seek them out an exceptional personal and professional experience.
4.2.1. Visiting Teachers from Spain Program
The program that involves the largest number of teachers is the Visiting Teachers
from Spain Program which is a result of an agreement between the Ministry of Educa-
tion, Culture and Sports in Spain, the Department of Education of the United States and
Alberta Education in Alberta, Canada. In recent years, it has employed over one thou-
sand Spanish teachers to teach Spanish as a foreign language or other content subjects
in Spanish in public schools in the United States and Alberta, Canada (Profesores Visi-
tantes en EE.UU y Canadá). The program began in 1986 and since then, Spanish teachers
have spent time teaching in 25 states of the US and in the Alberta province of Canada.
Teachers are not required to be state employees and may be primary or secondary
level teachers. They are able to spend up to three years in the program. Those who are
selected teach in different types of programs, including bilingual education, dual language,
Spanish immersion, Spanish as a foreign language and Spanish as a heritage language.
According to the Consejería de Educación en Estados Unidos y Canadá, the objectives
of the program include the following:
• Support the development of quality educational programs in the US and

Canada.
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• Promote the teaching of the Spanish language and Spanish and Hispanic
cultures.
• Strengthen cultural ties between Spain, the US and Canada.
4.2.2. Actividad Educativa Española en el Exterior
Within the initiative, Actividad Educativa Española en el Exterior, there are several
programs that are designed to support Spanish citizens living in other parts of the world
as well as the promotion of the Spanish language and culture. The following programs,
which are generally limited in number, employ teachers who are employees of the Span-
ish state to teach in a number of countries around the world.
• Spanish state-owned schools. Spanish regulated education is taught to

Spanish citizens living in other countries, and the Spanish language, cul-
ture and educational system are promoted in other parts of the world.
• Schools owned partially by the Spanish state and another state. An inte-
grated curriculum is taught, which leads to a dual certification for students.
Spanish state employees serve in the direction of these schools.
• Spanish sections in schools owned by other states. Certain subjects of
the Spanish curriculum are taught in order to complement the educational
system of the host country. The program is aimed at Spanish and foreign
citizens in an effort to strengthen intercultural and bilingual experiences.
• Bilingual sections in schools owned by other states. Spanish language
and culture are taught as a complement to the curriculum, and other sub-
jects from the host country's curriculum are taught partially in Spanish.
• Spanish sections in Escuelas Europeas. Each specific program's local cur-
riculum is taught in Spanish in order to achieve a multicultural and mul-
tilingual education. In some cases where a Spanish section does not exist,
Spanish is taught as a foreign language or even as a mother tongue subject
for Spanish citizens.
• Spanish language and culture groupings and classrooms. These include
specific programs of complementary classes for Spanish citizens or chil-
dren of Spanish residents who do not have access to Spanish language and
culture classes within the educational system they attend.
(Acción educativa en el exterior. Curso 2014-2015)
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4.2.3. Other programs
There are a few other programs that exist in which teachers are not required to be
state employees in order to participate.
• Technical advisor program. The technical advisors work under the super-
vision of the education ministry office in the host country (Consejería de
Educación) in order to organize, implant, manage or otherwise follow up
on the programs and initiatives that are in place.
• Centros de convenio. There is a small number of schools under specific
agreements in several South American and Central American countries.
• Secondary schools and bilingual sections in Central and Eastern Europe,
Turkey and China. There are a number of schools and bilingual sections
that exist in the above-mentioned regions that function in a slightly differ-
ent way from the other European programs.
(Acción educativa en el exterior. Curso 2014-2015)
5. E
POSTL: REFLECTION, COLLABORATION AND SELF ASSESS-
MENT
The European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL) is a guide

for one's development as a teacher and provides an excellent opportunity for reflec-
tion, collaboration and self assessment. It was commissioned by the Council of Europe,
intending to create a reflection tool for students undergoing their initial teacher educa-
tion to become language teachers. However, as argued below, this document may also
be useful for practicing language teachers. This section will give more details about its
functions, sections and possibilities for its use.
5.1. WHAT IS THE EPOSTL?
The EPOSTL is similar to the better-known European Language Portfolio in its

aims and use (see also Unit 8 in EFL Teaching and Learning II), but it is specifically
for those studying to be language teachers. Rather than focusing on language abilities, it
helps teachers and future teachers to reflect on the skills that are necessary to teach lan-
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guages and to assess their own didactic competences. It is used to record one's progress
as they develop competences related to language teaching. It also provides the oppor-
tunity to collect and save records of teaching experiences throughout ones's teaching
career, including through initial and ongoing teacher training.
The EPOSTL includes the following sections:
• A personal statement. This helps teachers reflect on their personal feel-

ings and views related to teaching in general, and specifically on language
teaching. It should be done at the beginning of one's teacher education.
• A self-assessment section. This section is divided into categories of pro-
fessional competences related to language teaching, as seen in Figure 1.
Each section contains a series of "can-do" statements that helps the teacher
reflect on his or her progress in developing those competences throughout
the time at the university and even when teaching afterwards.
Figure 1. Self-assessment sections of the EPOSTL
Source: Newby, et al (2007)
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• A dossier. This section is for recording and keeping evidence of what you've
learned and examples of your work as you train to be an English teacher.
You'll include materials from lessons you teach, feedback from your pro-
fessors, your own analysis of lessons you teach and important assignments
that demonstrate your reflections about English teaching.
• Finally there are additional sections to support you as you work with the
Portfolio. There is a glossary of the most important terms related to lan-
guage teaching, an index of the terms used in the Portfolio, and a user's
guide that will help you learn to use the Portfolio.
5.2. HOW CAN A TEACHER USE THE EPOSTL?
The EPOSTL provides an excellent framework of all the competences involved in

language teaching. It helps teachers in training and practicing teachers understand the
knowledge and skills that are necessary for a language teacher, and gives them respon-
sibility for their own learning and training, promoting learner autonomy and ongoing
professional development.
It encourages teachers to reflect on these competences and the knowledge which

feeds these competences. Through the use of the document, they will be asked to think
about the competences and how to acquire them. They should see the purposes behind
the knowledge they have acquired in their training, which can help them in applying this
knowledge to the teaching profession and everyday circumstances.
While the teacher strives to acquire these competences through training and prac-
tice, the EPOSTL will help them prepare for their future or current profession as a lan-
guage teacher in a practical way. It helps teachers see the connection between their initial
training, ongoing professional development and experience in order to understand the
complete preparation that they provide for an English teacher. Teachers will learn to
recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and how to continue their professional
development throughout their career as an English teacher.
The EPOSTL provides an excellent opportunity for discussion and reflection with
classmates in training sessions, and colleagues, mentors and supervisors in schools. The
document encourages self reflection as well as group reflection and discussion of the
competences involved. As seen in previous sections of this unit, collaboration is essen-
tial among teachers and can even make a teacher's job easier. The EPOSTL may be a
first step to help a teacher to begin collaborating with his or her peers.
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Teachers can use the EPOSTL to assess their own abilities as they develop each
competence, therefore working toward recognizing opportunities for improvement and
further development, both in training and in practice. The dossier section of the EPOSTL
can be used a tool for recording one's progress throughout his or her training period and
teaching career. This helps a teacher to see his or her progress in a tangible way, reflect
on what has worked well or not so well, and it will provide a way to collect evidence
of successes as an English teacher. This could be useful for professional interviews and
accrediting experience.
Finally, the EPOSTL can provide teachers with an example for using a different
type of evaluation in education. Experience using the EPOSTL personally will provide
ideas of how to use the European Language Portfolio with students. Teachers can see
how reflection and self assessment can work in the classroom, and how they can help to
develop learner autonomy.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Classroom or subject teacher. The main teacher in a classroom who is
responsible for the correct functioning of the class.
• Dossier. A section of the EPOSTL that permits the user to collect evidence
of teaching practices, professional development and reflective practices.
• European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages (EPOSTL). A
document commissioned by the Council of Europe to provide a reflection
tool for students undergoing their initial teacher education to become lan-
guage teachers.
• Foreign language assistant. A native speaker of the target language who
supports the teacher and students in linguistic and cultural aspects.
• Personal statement. A section of the EPOSTL that allows personal reflec-
tion on foreign language learning and teaching.
• Practicum student. A student in the final phases of his or her initial teacher
training who is assigned to a school and mentor teacher in order to observe
and teach occasional lessons.
• Self assessment section. A section of the EPOSTL that is divided into the-
matic sections that list a series of descriptors which describe competences
appropriate to be acquired by a foreign language teacher.
 TOPICS FOR REFLECTION
1. Research the employment conditions and responsibilities of foreign lan-

guage assistants in your region. Identify their most important contributions
to the classroom. Reflect on how the EFL teacher might make best use of
this human resource.
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2. Research the technique of team teaching and consider how it might be

applied when working with a foreign language assistant and/or a practicum
student in the classroom. What other possibilities might it offer for the EFL
or CLIL classroom?
3. Think about the suggestions and tips given in section 3 of this unit. Which
do you consider to be the most important? Make a list of goals for yourself
for the practicum period and try to follow through on them.
4. On the Internet, research personal experiences of teachers who have taught
abroad through one of the above-mentioned programs. Were their experi-
ences positive, negative or mixed? What have they learned? Do you think
that a similar experience would be positive for you? Why or why not?
5. Download the EPOSTL (see References) and complete the personal state-
ment. Read through the user's guide and become familiar with the docu-
ment. Do you think that the EPOSTL is helpful to a trainee teacher? To a
practicing teacher? In what way(s)?
 REFERENCES
Acción educativa en el exterior. Curso 2014-2015 [website]. Retrieved from http://www.mecd.gob.es/
servicios-al-ciudadano-mecd/estadisticas/educacion/exterior/accion-educativas.html (Accessed 11
December 2015).
Advice for your teaching practice. [website]. Retrieved from http://www.asti.ie/asti-membership/student-
teacher-network/advice-for-teaching-practice/ (Accessed 16 December 2015).
Consejería de Educación de España en Reino Unido. (2015). The Spanish Language Assistants programme.
Available from http://www.mecd.gob.es/reinounido/en_GB/convocatoriasHYPERLINK "http://
www.mecd.gob.es/reinounido/en_GB/convocatorias-"-programas/ministerio/Auxiliares-de-conver-
saci-n-espa-oles-en-el-Reino-Unido.html (Accessed 11 December 2015).
España, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Resolución de 16 de noviembre de 2015, de la Secre-
taría de Estado de Educación, Formación Profesional y Universidades, por la que se convocan plazas
para auxiliares de conversación españoles para el curso académico 2016-2017. Boletín Oficial del
Estado, 25 November 2015, no. 282, pp. 111385-111397 [Retrieved 9 December 2015]. Available
from http://boe.es/boe/dias/2015/11/25/pdfs/BOE-A-2015-12754.pdf
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Profesores Visitantes en EE.UU y Canadá. [website]. Retrieved from http://www.mecd.gob.es/eeuu/convo-

catorias-programas/convocatorias-eeuu/ppvv.html (Accessed 11 December 2015).
Student Teaching Tips. [website]. Retrieved from https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/student-tea-
ching.html (Accessed 16 December 2015).
Tips for Student Teachers. [website]. Retrieved from http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/
best%20of%20bilash/tipsforST.html (Accessed 16 December 2015).
Using the European Portfolio for Student Teachers of Languages. [website]. Retrieved from http://epostl2.
ecml.at/ (Accessed 11 December 2015).
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3
UNIT
REFLECTIVE TEACHING
IN FL CLASSROOMS
1. Introduction
2. What is reflective research?
3. Reflection in and on action
4. Instruments and tools for reflection
4.1. Teaching journals
4.2. Lesson reports
4.3. Surveys and questionnaires
4.4. Audio and video recording of lessons
4.5. Observation
5. Action research
6. Conclusions
Basic concepts
References
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• Learn what reflective practice is and why and how we should do it.
• Learn about reflection in and on practice.
• Differentiate among the technical, contextual, and dialectical modes of
reflective practice.
• Recognize and be able to describe the cyclical process of reflective thinking.
• Learn about the different tools that can be used as means of reflection and
consider their advantages, disadvantages and procedures.
• Discover and learn what action research is and the different stages it involves.
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D. Sánchez García Reflective teaching in FL classrooms
1. INTRODUCTION
A fundamental aspect of teaching which is often left aside is reflection. The ability
to reflect on what we do as teachers, why we do it and how we do things so that we can
adapt our actual practices to our lifelong and daily learning is one of the features that
makes a good teacher. As it is acknowledged by the Office for Standards in Education,
Children's Services and Skills (2004: 19),
"The most distinctive of (…) very good teachers is that their practice is the
result of careful reflection... They themselves learn lessons each time they teach,
evaluating what they do and using these self-critical evaluations to adjust what
they do next time".
Therefore, taking some time to think about our learning and teaching attitudes,
beliefs and assumptions, and to explore our classroom processes becomes key and is
what this unit is all about.
2. WHAT IS REFLECTIVE RESEARCH?
According to Donald Schön (1983) reflective practice is "the capacity to reflect on

action so as to engage in a process of continuous learning". Adopting a reflective approach
to teaching is does not involve describing what effective teaching is and does not present
itself as an alternative methodology, in fact it can be employed with any method or approach
as a beneficial complement. It is positive regarding how much can be learned about teach-
ing by means of self-enquiry, especially considering that we tend not to be aware of the
type of teaching practices and behaviors that we implement in class. This is something very
common when teachers are shown videos of their own classes, to which they usually pro-
vide comments such as "I didn't know I did so much talking! I thought I offered plenty of
opportunites for my students to express themselves". Consequently, critical and conscious
reflection is a way of obtaining a deeper understanding of our own teaching practices since
experience may be a starting point, but it is definitely not enough on its own for development.
For reflection to be effective, it should consist of a process with certain features

such as being deliberate, purposeful, structured, bringing theory and practice together,
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bringing about change and development. There is an extensive number of stage-based

frameworks offering an account of competence and which serve as good representations
of the reflection process. One of them was put forward by Reynolds (1965) as a model
of developing competence in social work.
Figure 1. Reynolds's (1965) model of developing competence
Second
Relative Nature
‘Sound’ Mastery
Hit & Miss
Have a go
Help!
Applying this model, it is suggested that we undergo different phases in our learn-
ing as teachers, from being novices to start experimenting through trial and error and
progressively become more experts, to finally master the skill until it is naturalized and
automatized, which is what the concept of 'second nature' refers to.
Another very famous model of competence that is also based on a staged progres-
sion is the one offered by Atherton (2011). This system can be easily equated to Reyn-
olds's, as can be seen here:
• Unconscious incompetence (Reynolds's "Help").

• Conscious incompetence.
• Conscious competence.
• Unconscious competence (Reynolds's "Second Nature").
This second model claims that we move from (1) not knowing what we cannot do
(unconscious incompetence) to (2) becoming aware of our needs and the fact that we
need to change things in order to improve (conscious competence) (3) to monitoring our-
selves so as to control how those changes are developing (conscious competence) and (4)
to finally reaching mastery and naturalization (unconscious competence).
What these and other similar models have in common is the fact of displaying that
experience does not necessarily entail becoming an expert. Experience needs the extra ingre-
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dient of thinking about what we do and how and why we do it so as to achieve expertise,
improve our skills and knowledge of things, and, in our case, become proficient teachers.
3. REFLECTION IN AND ON ACTION
Reflection typically sparks off when we encounter difficulties, uncertainties, new

situations or when things do not go according to our initial plans. On these occasions
we may feel overwhelmed, but these are precisely crucial times for learning since they
lead us to think and reflect on what we have to face and how to do so (Dewey, 1933).
Donald Schön (1983) also agreed on this belief and claimed that reflection begins with
working practice, especially with unique and confusing scenarios that need to be con-
fronted. Deriving from this, he differentiated between reflection in action and reflection
on action. While the first one makes reference to reflecting while you are doing it, the
latter addresses reflection after you have done it. When we are teaching, we need to be
aware and attentive to how our planning is developing; thus, we are able to make instant
decisions and sudden changes in our teaching on the go. Likewise, once our classes are
finished, you also tend to wonder whether or not they have gone as planned and expected.
Therefore, reflecting in and on action complement each other and allow our continuous
improvement. A possible representation of such process is illustrated in figure 2.
Figure 2. Reflection IN and ON action
Starting point
Teaching and learning session Reflection ON action

• ‘Reflection IN action’ • Time to think about what happened
• Observing yourself • Relate theory and practice
• Monitoring • Time to think about learning instances
• Writing notes on completion of the session • Time to wonder if this learning can be used
in future planning
Planning the next session Teaching and learning session

• Think about what can be incorporated • ‘Reflection IN action’
from previous reflections, if something • Observing yourself
new should be tried • Monitoring
• Writing notes on completion of the session
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Schön also acknowledged that as teacher trainers we learn certain theoretical knowl-
edge – what he termed technical rationality -of our subjects together with knowledge from
the actual teaching practice – what he termed tacit knowledge. These two provide us with
a synthesis that results from the interdependence of theory and practice. In fact, during this
course, you will acquire a body of theoretical knowledge directly related to your future
teaching. This knowledge should be later applied in real practice, although reality may
not turn out to be as easy as theory says. This notion of reflection as bringing together
theory and practice is present in the work of Kolb and Gibbs. Kolb's model of learning
and reflection (1984) entails a cycle of four different phases: (1) concrete experience, (2)
reflection, (3) abstract conceptualization, and (4) active experimentation. It is an iterative
practice in that the teacher can start at any given point, but all four stages should be fol-
lowed. Similarly, Gibbs' model (1988) is also based on iteration, although in this case, he
defends that feelings also play an important part in the reflection process (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Gibbs' model of 'learning by doing'
ACTION PLAN DESCRIPTION
CONCLUSION FEELINGS
ANALYSIS EVALUATION
The transition resulting from linking theory and practice has led to the classifica-
tion of three main modes or levels of reflection: (1) technical, (2) contextual, and (3)
dialectical.
The first and most basic level of reflection is the technical one. It works with mini-
mal schemata to draw on when facing problematic situations. Reflection tends to occur
in isolated episodes and as a short-term measure that helps resolve some nonroutine
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issues, mainly dealing with the identification of objectives and activities. This technical
outset paves the way for contextual reflection, which entails thinking about the clarifica-
tion and elaboration of underlying assumptions and predispositions of the teaching prac-
tice together with the consequences derived from the strategies employed. At this point,
problems usually result from personal biases regarding teacher's belief system and the
challenging of practices due to teacher's own pedagogical knowledge and skills. This
second level of reflection is conducive to interpreting, informing and establishing con-
gruency between theory and practice. The highest level of reflective practice is dialectical
reflectivity, which implies the questioning of moral and ethical issues in the educational
context. Teachers functioning at this level typically examine norms and rules critically
and challenge instructional planning and implementation (Taggart & Wilson, 1998).
As suggested by Richards (2005), there seems to be three main parts in reflection

that are always undertaken irrespective of the approach or model employed:
• The event itself: An actual teaching episode such as a lesson, a seminar, a

presentation, etc. We can self-reflect about our own instructional events and
compare it to other colleague's teaching practice.
• Recollection of the event: The account of what happened, without any fur-
ther explanation or evaluation. This may include the use of different tools
(as will be seen later on this chapter) such as video and/or audio recordings,
checklists, descriptions, and so on.
• Review and response to the event: It involves reviewing the event and pro-
cessing it at a deeper level asking ourselves questions about the experience.
4. INSTRUMENTS AND TOOLS FOR REFLECTION
For teachers to capture, analyze and reflect upon instructional events there are a
number of procedures and tools that can be used. Next some of the most influential ones
are explained and discussed in more detail.
4.1. TEACHING JOURNALS
These journals are written or recorded accounts of teaching experiences. They

offer opportunities for later reflective practice on the events and ideas written down.
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More-over, the writing process itself can serve to promote insights; thus triggering
what seems to be a discovery process. Journals can then be used to keep track of per-
sonal reactions to things that have taken place in the classroom, questions or observa-
tions about issues that have emerged as well as potential ideas for future analysis or
implementation.
In order to keep a journal in an effective way that invites us to reflection, the fol-
lowing procedures are suggested:
• Make entries on a regular basis. Although writing daily would be ideal, doing
so once or twice a week may also be helpful. It would also be very convenient
to do an immediate writing as classes finish off, so that all events, feelings
and thoughts are fresh in our minds and easily recalled.
• Review the entries regularly. It is often the case that what is not obvious
and does not stand out as we write events down can become apparent some
time later. Therefore, it could be effective to read our past entries some days
after we have experienced and scribbled them down.
It is also worth noting that there are some alternatives to keeping a teaching jour-
nal as just described. For example, we can find that recording our teaching experiences
may save us more time; thus, we can create an "audio journal". In this case, the proce-
dures to follow would be similar to the ones carried out in the writing journal; however,
recording audio files can be done while doing other tasks, and instead of re-reading our
entries, we will be listening to them.
A further addition to journal writing would be to share our (either written or spo-
ken) journal with colleagues. Journals could be exchanged and meetings leading to dis-
cussing our reflections, experiences and afterthoughts could be arranged. In this case the
reflective practice expands and enriches as it becomes collaborative. This points out to
a different alternative: Collaborative diary keeping. In this case, reflection is scheduled
and planned as a joint activity shared by all the members of a department. In this kind
of collaboratively diary-keeping, teachers can write their own diaries along a term, and
read each other's journals during the following term while discussing their teaching on
a regular basis. Teachers could also provide written responses, thoughts, reflections and
suggestions as new entries in other teacher's journals.
Next a series of questions that can be used as a starting point and as a first entry in
our journals are suggested (Richards & Lockhart, 1996):
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• What do I do as a teacher?
• What principles and beliefs inform my teaching?
• Why do I teach the way I do?
• What roles do learners play in my classes?
• Should I teach differently?
• Do I often depart from my lesson plan?
• Are students challenged by my lessons?
4.2. LESSON REPORTS
Another useful way of engaging in the reflective process is through the use of les-
son reports. This tool can be defined as "a structured inventory that enables teachers to
describe their recollections of the main features of a lesson" (Richards & Lockhart, 1996:
9). With these lesson reports teachers can easily monitor what took place in each class,
the time devoted to all different parts of the lesson and how effective each part, activity
and procedure was. Therefore, although a lesson report is not a fine-grained account of
what happened in a class, it does record its most salient events and features, those teach-
ing and learning instances that for one reason or another the teacher finds remarkable
and valuable to reflect on and remember. It is important to distinguish between a lesson
plan and a lesson report. While the latter describes what happened in the session from the
teacher's point of view and once the class is finished, the former is a sequenced detailed
plan of what the teacher intends to do during a lesson and is then structured and planned
before the lesson takes place.
For lesson reports to be effective, some procedures need to be followed:
• The philosophy underlying the course, and the activities, procedures and
resources needs to be clearly identified and in line with the goals and con-
tents of the course.
• The main structure of the lesson report should be prepared beforehand and
in such a way that it does not need to be adapted for every single lesson and
can serve as a useful tool for all classes.
• Lesson reports should be used regularly throughout the course to record
main classroom events.
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• It would likewise be advisable to compare and contrast lesson reports with

instructors teaching the same or similar (but comparable) courses. Brain-
storming about main differences and the reasons for those differences could
bring to light interesting insights about those teaching practices.
Possible formats that could help us design our lesson reports could include general
questions such as the ones suggested next:
• What were the main goals of the lesson?

• What did the learners actually learn in this lesson?
• What teaching procedures did I use?
• What problems did I face and how did I handle them?
• What were the most effective parts of the lesson?
• What were the least effective parts?
• Would I do anything differently if I taught this lesson again?
An alternative variation could involve a checklist containing similar statements or

prompts of thought. A checklist could cover the same contents and issues but it would
take less time for teachers to complete than the report since it does not require writing
long answers as the questions proposed above do.
4.3. SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
Reflecting about our teaching practices can often be biased or limited since it only
contemplates our own perceptions. This is one of the reasons why other options com-
prising other teachers' viewpoints are considered. Taking into account learners' affective
dimensions would also be an added value in our reflective practices. And this can be
achieved by means of administering surveys and/or questionnaires to our students. These
tools could, similarly to lesson reports, be elaborated through a series of open-ended ques-
tions or by means of a checklist. One way or another, we should try to gather as much
information as possible to gain a deeper understanding of learners' beliefs, attitudes, moti-
vation and preferences. All these would be extremely beneficial for our own reflection
process since we can contrast our perceptions with those of our students' and check if
they are in accord; and in case they are not, this will be another thread to ponder about. A
short sample of a checklist that could be administered to our learners is illustrated here:
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In English class, I like to learn by reading No A little Good Best
I like the teacher to explain everything to us
I like the teacher to let me find my mistakes
I like to learn English with the whole class
I like to learn English in a small group
I like to practise the sounds and pronunciation
I like to study grammar
I like to learn English words by seeing them
At home, I like to learn by watching TV in English
(Adapted from Richards & Lockhart, 1996)
4.4. AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDING OF LESSONS
For many reasons, audio and/or video recording of lessons can also provide a basis
for reflection. For example, as opposed to previously discussed instruments, they capture
the moment to moment processes of the teaching and learning practices. This is valuable
since in a classroom there are many different things happening at the same time, and often
we are not aware of them all or it is quite difficult for us to recall every single fact and
event. Besides, audio and/or audio recordings can help us compare our first impressions
and perceptions to actual classroom behaviors. In addition, we can locate a camera and
a recording device in a strategic place in the class so that we obtain students' interactions
and work, our own discourse and the physical arrangements present in the class. There-
fore, we get a varied collection of fundamental aspects that happen to be crucial in the
course of a lesson. What would be highly interesting is to be able to combine the data
written in our journal with learners' opinions as collected from surveys or questionnaire
plus the actual event as recorded by a camera. This, however, may just be an ideal scenario
since it will require a lot of free time and equipment that teachers usually do not have.
Recordings also allow choice of focus, that is, we do not need to record the whole
educational event or all the participants in it, we can decide whether the focus of our
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reflection would be the teacher, the students, a particular small group of learners, spoken
exchanges, students' presentations and so on.
In spite of the fact that recordings seem to present many advantages, they also have
some limitations. For instance, the presence of a camera or a recording device may be
disruptive and may influence our learners' attitudes negatively. This will be back to nor-
mal once all participants become familiarized with the device, but we should be aware
of such influence.
4.5. OBSERVATION
Observation concerns visiting a class in order to observe different aspects of teach-

ing. Most teachers are usually reluctant to be engaged in observation since it is often
equated to evaluation. However, observation can be approached as a way of collect-
ing information. By being involved in peer observation, we will be exposed to differ-
ent teaching styles and approaches that may trigger new chances for critical reflection
and new opportunities of professional development since we can become aware and
acquainted with different ways of doing things in class. This may help us think out of
the box and experiment with new methods. It can also provide us with the perfect solu-
tion to some problem we have been encountering but have not been able to solve by
ourselves.
Some procedures that could be carried out if a peer observation process was under-
taken are the following (Richards, 2005):
• Each participant would both observe and be observed. Teachers could

work in pairs and take turns to observe each other's classes and teaching
practices.
• Before participating in the actual observation, teachers could meet up and
discuss the nature of the class to be observed, each teacher's approach and
teaching style and philosophy, the types of students attending the lesson,
the common interactional patterns and ways of collaboration, the activi-
ties that would be implemented and possible problems that may emerge.
The teacher being observed could also set a specific goal for the observer
to achieve and focus on, especially if the teacher being observed wishes to
obtain feedback on a particular teaching feature. At this point, it should be
clearly agreed that observation would be the means of gathering valuable
information about teaching practices and that, if requested by the teacher
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observed, positive feedback could be provided; however, evaluation would

not be contemplated in the process. Observation tools and procedures could
also be agreed upon in advance.
• The observation would then take place as previously discussed and agreed
on.
• As a post-observation stage, teachers would get together once again and
as soon as possible after the lesson observed in order to report on the data
collected.
Some of the main aspects that observation could address are the following: the over-
all organization and structure of the lesson, time management, learners' performances on
tasks, time-on-task, teacher's questions, teacher's scaffolding and feedback techniques,
learners' responses, general classroom participation and interaction, participants' use of
L1 and L2, to name but a few.
5. ACTION RESEARCH
Action research typically refers to teacher-initiated classroom investigation which

tries to improve teacher's understanding of the teaching and learning processes and which
aims at bringing about change in educational practices.
Whether the research is conducted by a single teacher or a group of them who share
a common concern or problem, action research involves the same seven stages: select-
ing a focus, clarifying theories, identifying research questions, collecting data, analyz-
ing data, reporting results and taking informed action. Each of these steps are detailed
next.
• Step 1: Selecting a focus
Action research should begin with a reflection that aims at identifying the topics that
are worth delving into. The question we can ask ourselves as a springboard could be What
element(s) of our practice or what aspect of student learning do I wish to investigate?
Since as teachers we do have hectic daily schedules with barely free time, we should
make sure that the issue that we are to investigate would help us improve our teaching
practice and benefit students' learning.
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• Step 2: Clarifying theories
At this stage our work should be directed to identifying the values, beliefs, and the-
oretical perspectives that we hold in relation to our focus. For example, if we are trying
to improve interaction in the classroom, we should consider what classroom features,
prompts, activities and language can be developed to promote a more collaborative and
interactive behavior and whether we rely on theories from a sociocultural perspective,
draw on communicative language learning, cooperative work, etc.
• Step 3: Identifying research questions
Once we have chosen a focus of research interest as well as our perspective and
beliefs on the matter to be investigated, we need to reflect and formulate the meaningful
research questions we would like to get an answer to and which will guide our enquiry
process and further reflection.
• Step 4: Collecting data
The data that we collect should meet certain requirements, such as being valid and
reliable. It is also extremely important that the conclusions and lessons learned from
that data are in accord and take into account any unique characteristic of the classroom,
the students or the school.
One of the advantages of action research is that classrooms are typically data-rich
environments and, in addition, we have a deep knowledge of our classroom and the learn-
ers participating in it; thus, we do not need time to get to know the context from which
the data are gathered and we know where to obtain the data we actually need. However,
we may want to reflect upon the most suitable tools for the collection of such data.
• Step 5: Analyzing data
In the case of action research, we do not need to rely on statistical procedures to

get valuable information from the data collected, as it is often the case in other types of
research. Instead, we can use and ask ourselves easy but revealing questions about the
phenomenon under investigation. For instance, we can ask ourselves:
• What is the story told by these data?

• Why did the story play itself out this way?
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• Step 6: Reporting results
Action research will lose part of its meaning if we keep our conclusions and find-
ings for ourselves. It may not necessary to publish the results in a scientific or specialized
journal (although it is also a possible option), but we can share our results and reflections
about them with our colleagues. We can arrange a formal meeting with the teachers of
our department, especially if action research has been undertaken as a joint project, or
we can report them informally to our closest teachers. Sharing our reflections and find-
ings may help us gain an even better understanding of the phenomenon under investiga-
tion. Besides, our colleagues may have something interesting to add to our perceptions
and this can always open up new areas of research or critical self-reflection.
• Step 7: Taking informed action
This is the last step in action research and it involves bringing change to our practices
based on what we have discovered and reflected upon. These changes may entail modifi-
cations in our lesson plans or in our way of implementing them in the actual classroom.
Although all teaching can be classified as trial and error, action research could turn out
to be a reflective practice that liberates us from continuously repeating past mistakes. At
least, we will feel satisfied with our initiative towards improvement.
After having analyzed the steps action research requires us to take, it could be con-
cluded that this type of reflective practice can serve three main purposes:
1. Building the reflective practitioner

2. Making progress in our teaching priorities
3. Building our professional culture
6. CONCLUSIONS
Reflection as the process whereby we make informed and logical desicions that lead
to the evaluation of their consequences by means of an inner dialogue with ourselves is
fundamental in our teaching practice. This is so because it could ultimately transform
our knowledge and actions, making us improve as professionals.
As we have seen all throughout this chapter, there are multiple instruments that can
help us reflect about our practices, we just need to select the most appropriate one for
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our purposes and be constant in our reflection. With time and practice, it will be easier
for us to gain deeper understanding and reach higher levels of reflection. All in all, by
critically reflecting on our teaching practices, we may be able to make a difference in
the learning of our students. As Fosnot (1989: xi) claimed,
"An empowered teacher is a reflective decision maker who finds joy in learn-
ing and in investigating the teaching/learning process – one who views learn-
ing as construction and teaching as a facilitating process to enhance and enrich
development".
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Iterative. Doing something again and again, usually to improve it.
• Reliable data. Meaning the teacher researchers are confident about the
accuracy of their data.
• Schema (plural – schemata). A mental model of aspects of the world or
of the self that is structured in such a way as to facilitate the processes of
cognition and perception.
• Second nature. An acquired deeply ingrained habit or skill. Something
you can do easily or without much thought because you have done it many
times before.
• Valid data. Meaning the information represents what the teacher research-
ers say it does.
1. If you are already teaching, can you identify changes you have made in your
own teaching or in your approach to teaching? Why did you make these
changes and how did they come about?
2. Make a list of issues and concerns that would be useful to focus on when
keeping a journal about your teaching.
3. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of doing a leeson
report in the form of (a) a checklist and (b) a response to questions like the
ones suggested in the chapter?
4. Make a 15 minute recording of one of your lessons or of other teacher's les-
son. Did you learn anything unexpected from it once you reviewed it?
5. Read the following situations. Which of the tools presented in this chapter
would be most appropriate for collecting information about it? What are
the advantages and disadvantages of the instrument you chose?
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• Situation 1: You are very meticulous about planning your lessons,

but one way or another they never seem to go according to plan. You
barely have time to go through all the activities that you have pre-
pared. You want to find out why this is happening.
• Situation 2: You are concerned about one of your students who always
sits at the back of the class. This student seems to be paying atten-
tion, but never participates actively in your lessons. Since you have a
very large class, it is quite hard for you to monitor individual students.
However, you want to find out this student's attitude about the class
and learning in general as well as why the student behaves that way.
 REFERENCES
Atherton, J. S. (2011). Learning and teaching: Learning curves. Retrieved November 2015 from http://
www.learningandteaching.info/learning/learning_curve.htm.
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative pro-
cess. Boston: D. C. Heath.
Fosnot, C. T. (1989). Enquiring teachers, enquiring learners: A constructivist approach for teaching. New
York: Teachers College Press.
Gibbs, G. (1998). Learning by doing. London: Further Education Unit.
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, UK. (2004). New measures of success:
priorities for development.
Reynolds, B. (1965). Learning and teaching in the practice of social work. New York: Russell and Russell.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Towards reflective teaching: The teacher trainer. Retrieved November 2015 from
http://www.tttjournal.co.uk.
Richards, J. C. & Lockhart, C. (1996). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.
Taggart, G. L. & Wilson, A. P. (1998). Promoting reflective thinking in teachers: 44 action strategies.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press.
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4
UNIT
WRITING AND PUBLISHING

YOUR RESEARCH

1. Introduction
2. What is research?
3. Quantitative methods
4. Qualitative methods
5. How to write your research
6. Conclusions
Basic concepts
References
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• Learn what research is and all the steps and procedures that it involves.
• Distinguish between different types of research and their implications.
• Analyze the difference between quantitative and qualitative research and
their approaches.
• Be able to choose the research method that best suits our research objectives.
• Learn how to present our research in written form.
• Learn the different sections that a paper needs to include to be published.
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D. Sánchez García Writing and publishing your research
1. INTRODUCTION
This chapter will explore what research consists of so that, as teachers, we can
improve our research knowledge and skills. By going through the different research
methods and approaches and all the processes that they entail we can hone our enquiry
attitude and establish a solid basis that will help us discover and select the most suita-
ble technique for our investigations. In addition, this chapter will provide some useful
guidelines to know how to explain our research project in written form and the structure
that should be met for its future publication.
2. WHAT IS RESEARCH?
Research can be simply defined as the attempt to find answers to questions. In fact,
questions are something essential for research to exist and be conducted. To begin with,
there should be a phenomenon that is not clearly understood or a problem that needs to
be identified. In order to identify it or make sense out of it, that phenomenon is observed
and analyzed. The starting point of such process is the fact of asking questions (why,
how, when, etc.). Typically we may be able to make several guesses, and offer intuitive
answers or possible explanations anticipating the results derived from the analysis of
the data collected. These anticipated explanations may be our hypotheses about the phe-
nomenon under investigation. The next step then is to verify whether these hypotheses
are true or false by collecting more data and testing the extent to what our hypotheses
can be maintained.
All these basic steps will give shape to the performance of an experiment and can
be translated into a much more scientific language. The starting point of research is to
identify the type of research that we could undertake. We can conduct three different
types of research:
1. Basic or theoretical research, which attempts to build abstract theoreti-

cal models which explain phenomena, for example, which will provide an
account of second language teaching and learning.
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2. Applied research, which involves applying already existing theoretical mod-

els to different areas of study, such as education.
3. Practical research, which makes practical use of the two previous types
of research, theoretical models and their application. For instance, it could
involve testing classroom hypotheses, experimenting with several pedagogi-
cal principles in class, and so on. One clear example of practical research is
classroom research. Its main objective is providing an explanation of what
happens inside the classroom, the influences that internal and/or external
factors exert on classroom participants, the English language teaching cur-
riculum, teacher's beliefs and how they impact the development of the les-
son, to name but a few cases.
Once we have a phenomenon we would be interested in looking into and we know

the type of research we are going to be dealing with, we can establish our variables. A
variable is typically defined as anything that has a quantity or quality that varies. There-
fore, conducting research will involve manipulating a variable to see what happens to
another variable. However, variables vary in their nature and can work as:
• A dependent variable, which the variable the researcher is interested in. It

may change and be influenced by other factors. For example, a test score
could be a dependent variable because it could change depending on sev-
eral factors such as how much you studied, how much sleep you got the
night before you took the test, or how nervous you were when you took it.
It is then the variable that the researcher measures.
• An independent variable, which is the variable that stands alone and is
not changed by other variables or factors that you are trying to meas-
ure. It is then the variable that the researcher manipulates. In the pre-
vious example, how much you studied or slept is not going to change;
thus, they are the independent variables. Researchers will find out if by
manipulating these variables, the dependent one (the test score) will be
modified.
In the particular context that concerns us, classroom research, we must bear in mind
that there is a large number of variables that may have a direct or indirect influence or
a mutual relationship. Madrid and Bueno (2005) propose the following framework for
second language teaching research:
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1. The learner 2. The teacher

• Social context • Individual characteristics
• Individual characteristics: cognitive • Beliefs, preparation, personality
styles, motivation, personality
PROCESS VARIABLES
SLA
SLL
4. Learning process acquisition process 3. The classroom
• Mental processes • Educational treatment
• Learning strategies • L2 curriculum
• Tasks
• Materials
PRODUCT VARIABLES
5. Results/attainment/competence/proficiency
• Principles, concepts: grammar, functions, cul-
tural aspects...
• Procedures, skills: listening, speaking, rea-
ding and writing
• Attitudes and values
According to this model, the main protagonists of this research setting are the learner
and the teacher, who are active agents in the learning and teaching processes. If the learner
acquires the second language in a naturalistic setting (in other words, without formal instruc-
tion and without the guidance of a teacher), the main variables involved would be those
included in boxes 1, 4 and 5. However, if the learner participates in a formal setting in order
to learn the language with a teacher's assistance and additional resources such as books,
recording, etc. all the variables comprised in boxes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 will play a role. It is
important to mention that, as acknowledged by Madrid and Bueno (2005: 644), even though
boxes 4 and 5 seem to be present in both naturalistic and formal contexts, the different set-
tings may trigger the development of distinct strategies and learning processes. In any case,
the five different variables introduced in this framework clearly establish an interaction
and a subsequent influence among each other. For this reason, if they are researched, they
should be controlled in some way, either following quantitative or qualitative procedures.
As we started discussing at the beginning of the chapter, research questions can be

investigated taking on different perspectives, which at the same time, will entail diverse
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approaches and procedures. The perspective that we adopt needs to be suitable for the
type of research that we plan to conduct and the variables that we want to measure. There
will be times when observing the phenomenon under study will be enough to obtain sig-
nificant data and draw conclusions from it, especially if the phenomenon looked into
cannot be quantified. However, there will be other times in which representing our data
in numerical form will be deemed necessary for our research purposes. Sometimes, these
two approaches need to be combined in our analysis. Consequently, the choosing between
a quantitative and a qualitative methodology affect our data collection and our analysis.
The difference between quantitative and qualitative research is commonly addressed

as the "paradigm wars". This idea has to do with the various underlying philosophies and
world views of researchers in both paradigms. Consequently, there seems to be two fun-
damentally different world views that underlie quantitative and qualitative reseach. While
the former is often described as being 'realist' or 'positivist', the latter is often viewed
as being 'subjectivist'. In other words, realists affirm that 'the truth is out there' and thus
research uncovers an existing reality while it is researchers' job to detach from the research
process as possible and to use methods that maximize objectivity and minimize research-
ers' involvement. The most extreme form of such stance is positivism, which claims that
the world works according to fixed laws of cause and effect that need to be investigated
developing reliable instruments that allow completely objective measurements.
In contrast, qualitative researchers emphasize the role of human subjectivity in the

process of an investigation since they believe that reality is at least in part constructed
by us and our observations. According to the most extreme view of this position, rela-
tivism, there is no pre-existing objective reality, but all truth is relative and becomes
changed and transformed by us.
In spite of these radical positionings, there are very few people in both research
strands that actually hold these extreme viewpoints. Quantitative and qualitative research
methods are analyzed in more detail next.
3. QUANTITATIVE METHODS
Quantitative research is typically associated with the collection and conversion of

data into numerical form so that statistical operations can be carried out and conclusions
drawn. Data is gathered by various means following a strict procedure and prepared for
statistical analysis. This analysis is typically done with the aid of sophisticated computer
packages and enables the researchers to identify possible relationships between one or
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more variables. Statistical analysis allows us to discover simple associations (for exam-
ple, students who spend more time studying at home obtain better results) or complex
and causal ones (daily study leads to better academic performance).
Objectivity is key in quantitative research. As a result, researchers take great care

to avoid their own presence, behavior and attitude influencing the results. They also pay
attention to any possible bias affecting the investigation.
Deductive reasoning, which usually implies a top-down process moving from the
general to the specific, has relevant weight in quantitative research and the validity of
conclusions is shown to be dependent on one or more premises being valid.
In addition, quantitative research tends to be interested in studying large groups of

subjects. However, it is not always possible to access all member of a particular group. A
way of doing this is by making inferences from a smaller scale study that would include
a representative sample of that wider population/group. However, not all generalizations
are valid. Factors such as the number and nature of the people involved in the study,
how they were selected and to what extent they are really representative of the larger
group will determine the validity of those generalizations. Likewise, particular situations,
and not just populations, will also have a say about the generalizability of the inves-
tigation.
There are three main types of research questions particularly suited for quantita-
tive research:
• Those questions demanding a quantitative answer, such as "How many stu-

dents choose to study English?" or "How many English teachers do we need
in our school?".
• Those questions trying to track numerical changes, for example, "are the
numbers of students in Bachillerato increasing or decreasing?".
• Those questions trying to discover the state of something, like "What fac-
tors are related to the changes in student achievement along an academic
course?".
Dörney (2007) compiled the main advantages and disadavantages of quantitative

methodology. Its strengths reside in that it is systematic, rigorous, focused and tightly
controlled. It involves precise measurement and produces reliable and replicable data that
is generalizable to other contexts. Besides, the research process is relatively quick and
it enjoys universally reputation. In contrast, its weaknesses include the facts that it con-
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centrates on the meaning of the general and not the meaning of the particular, and does
not uncover the reasons for specific observations or the dynamics and rationale underly-
ing the phenomena under investigation.
4. QUALITATIVE METHODS
This strand of research methodology is not easy to define as it does not have any
theory, paradigm or practices that are distinctly on its own. As explained by Dörnyei
(2007), it is of an emergent nature, meaning that its design is not closely prefigured, but
left quite open and flexible allowing possible future changes or adaptations.
Qualitative research works with a wide variety of data, including texts, interviews,
journal entries, photos, videos, etc., and is mostly concerned with subjective phenomena
such as subjective opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals. Besides, it typically
occurs in natural settings, without aiming at manipulating the situation under scrutiny,
as opposed to quantitative laboratory experiments. Data is not converted into numerical
form and is not statistically analyzed.
The approach adopted is usually inductive, that is, a theory or pattern of meaning
is developed drawing on the data collected. Therefore, it involves a bottom-up process
that moves from the specific to the general. The data collection tends to be carried out
in several stages rather than once and for all. The research process may dictate whether
additional issues need to be addressed, questions dropped or more data to be gathered;
therefore, qualitative research can adapt the overall investigation mid-way and is more
open-ended, less narrow and more exploratory. Besides, it usually involves a small num-
ber of participants, mainly due to the fact that in-depth interviews are time consuming,
but also because a large number of informants is not needed as no statistical analysis or
generalizations are aimed at. The two main techniques that can be employed to analyze
qualitative data include (i) deriving a set of categories for dealing with text segments
from a piece of text itself (inductive procedure), or (ii) applying a system of categories
or predetermined classification to the data.
As pointed out by Madrid and Bueno (2005: 662), the main features common to all
quantitative reseach analysis comprise the following:
• The analysis of qualitative data is systematic, but not rigid.

• The main procedures used are comparison, a search for likeness and diffe-
rences.
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• In order to be compared and contrasted, the raw data need to be summa-

rized and condensed.
• As a result of summarizing and organizing the information, some prelimi-
nary and tentative classifications of categories emerge.
• The analysis is not the final phase of the research project. The results of
each analytical session point to other questions that need raw data.
• Qualitative analysis is a process that demands deep involvement on the part
of the researcher.
• Finally, there is no exclusive and right way of analyzing qualitative data. It
is possible to analyze the information in different ways.
Although statistical analyses are typically not considered in the analysis of qualita-
tive data, some descriptive statistical procedures could be of help in these kind of stud-
ies, mainly the calculation of frequencies, central tendencies and variabilities.
Frequencies will disclose how often the phenomenon under study occurs. Central
tendencies will help us measure the average and the typical behavior of the subjects by
obtaining the mean, the mode and the median. And, finally, variabilities will provide
information on the difference or spread of the behaviors by means of calculating the
standard deviation and the variance in our data.
Apart from the use of descriptive statistics, there are a number of qualitative
approches that we can draw on to carry out our research. Next the five most representa-
tive ones are described:
1. Narrative research. It is often defined as a study of experiences "as

expressed in lived and told stories of individuals" (Creswell, 2010: 70). This
approach derives from a literary, storytelling tradition and has been used in
many social science disciplines in which seeks to gather stories, documents
and/or conversations about the life experiences of one or more informants.
The primary tools used for data collection are interviews, direct observa-
tions, recordings, images, etc. These experiences are typically reported either
through written or spoken mode for further chronological analyses. These
are the main types of narrative:
– Biographical study, which consists of writing and recording the expe-

riences of another person’s life.
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– Autoethnography, in which the writing and recording is done by

the subject of the study herself/himself (using instruments such as
journals).
– Life history, which involves portraying one person’s entire life.
– Oral history, which comprise reflections of events, their causes and
effects.
2. Phenomenology. Phenomenology is a way to study an idea or concept that

holds a meaning shared by a small group (3-15) of individuals. The approach
focuses on lived experiences of a particular phenomenon, such as happi-
ness, and guides researchers to distill individual experiences to an essential
concept. Following the lines of narrative research, in phenomenology you
can also employ interviews to collect the participants' descriptions of their
experiences, the participants' written or oral self-reports, or even their aes-
thetic expressions (e.g. art, narratives, or poetry). Therefore, this qualita-
tive approach involves trying to understand the essence of a phenomenon
by examining the views of people who have experienced it first hand.
3. Grounded theory. In spite of its name, it is not a theory, but rather a quali-
tative research method whose aim is to discover a general explanation for
a social process or action such as the development of a general education
program. As Dörnyei (2007) explains, we cannot talk about doing grounded
theory unless we meet two basic criteria:
A. The data analysis follows the particular sequential coding system advo-
cated by it, namely, (i) open coding which is concerned with identify-
ing, naming, categorizing and describing phenomena found in the text.
Basically, each line, sentence or paragraph is analyzed so as to give an
answer to the questions "what is this about? What is being referenced
here?", (ii) axial coding, which involves the process of relating codes
(categories and properties) to each other, and (iii) selective coding,
which relates to the process of choosing one category to be the core
category, and relating all other categories to that category.
B. The analysis produces some theory as the outcome of the research.
4. Ethnography. It originated from cultural anthropology, and it describes

and analyzes the practices and beliefs of cultures. "Culture" does not refer
exclusively to ethnic groups, but rather to any "bounded units" such as
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organizations, programs, etc. (Dörnyei, 2007). Therefore, we can carry out

an ethnographic analysis of a language class or a school. It is characterized
by the immersion of the researcher in the culture that is under investigation
so as to offer a thick description of that target culture. One of the challenges
present in such an approach is that it requires a prolonged period of time on
the field in order to understand the social behaviors of the culture.
5. Case study. Case studies investigate the particularities and complexity of
a single case. Cases can refer to people, programs, institutions or commu-
nities, that is, single entities with clearly limited boundaries. When we are
dealing with more than one case, we can talk about a 'multiple case study'.
Three different types of case studies can be identified:
ii(i) The intrinsic case study, in which an entity is worth being researched
for its own value and not for its representativeness.
i(ii) The instrumental case study, which tries to provide insight into a
wider matter. Thus, the entity in itself is of secondary importance.
(iii) The multiple or collective case study, which requires the investi-
gation of more than one case to throw some light into the phenom-
enon studied.
5. HOW TO WRITE YOUR RESEARCH
Once you have conducted your research, it is of great importance to share your
findings and conclusions with your educational community. Apart from doing so infor-
mally through talks with our direct colleagues, we can also submit our work in the form
of a paper to be published. In this case, our research paper needs to follow a particular
structure and organization. It should contain the following sections: Title, abstract, intro-
duction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, references and
appendices.
The first thing we need to have in mind is the fact that our main purpose is to com-
municate new knowledge or to either provide or disprove existing ideas. Good research
must offer relevant results that could ideally be applied to the teaching and learning of
foreign languages and could provide solutions to real-life teaching and/or learning prob-
lems (Alonso Alonso, 2011: 43). As we have seen so far, research must be organized in
a logical and systematic way. Some guidances to achieve such organization following
the basic sections that our research paper should contain are presented next.
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A. Title. The title is the first thing that caughts readers' attention. Consequently,
it should provide as much information about the content of the paper as pos-
sible, while avoiding redundancy.
B. Abstract. The abstract follows the title and it should provide a comprehen-
sive summary of the research project. Its length may vary depending on the
demands of the particular journal, but could range between 100-300 words.
It is advisable that the abstract contains the topic and purpose of the paper,
a brief descritpion of the participants, materials and procedures used and
followed during both data collection and analysis, and the most important
results and their subsequent implications for the field.
C. Introduction. The introduction of the paper should offer the general back-
ground to the study, mentioning aspects such as the area of research, the
importance of the phenomenon under study. It is also the place to introduce
all the hypotheses or research questions that our investigation tries to pro-
vide an answer to.
D. Literature review. This section deals with a discussion of previous research
that is relevant to the study. It should include an extensive background of
previous studies on the very same topic together with an explanation of how
these investigation are related to the one we have carried out.
E. Methodology. The method section typically provides the answer to the ques-
tions who, what, when, where, how and why. Therefore, we need to offer
a detailed account of the participants involved in the study, the corpus you
have collected and used, the materials that have been employed, the differ-
ent procedures and steps followed from the beginning of the investigation
to the end of it and how the data was analyzed.
F. Results. This section focuses on describing the results obtained from the
data analysis. Their presentation should vary depending on whether we have
drawn on descriptive or inferential statistics. We can include graphs, fig-
ures, tables, numerical data, etc. In some cases, the presentation of results is
complemented with the discussion of those findings. However, this expla-
nation can also be introduced as a separate section in the paper.
G. Discussion. Here the discussion of the results previously displayed is offered.
It is at this point where the answers to the research questions stated at the
beginning of the paper are given and explained. This section should not sim-
ply summarize the results obtained, but should discuss, make statements
and explain those findings.
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H. Conclusions. This part of the paper contains the importance of the discov-
eries and the potential implications of our research. It could be also help-
ful to mentioned previous studies so as to indicate the new developments
that our investigation offers and that expand that previous research. Pos-
sible suggestions for future research could also be included in this section.
I. References. It is a list comprising all the books, articles, chapters, websites,
documents and resources that you have mentioned in the study. All these
sources should have been acknowledged and cited throughout the paper.
There are various citation styles that can be used and which typically depend
on the academic discipline being researched. Some of the most relevant ones
and the fields that tend to be associated with are the following:
– APA: psychology, education, and other social sciences.

– MLA: literature, arts, and humanities.
– Chicago: history and many other subjects in scholarly and non-schol-
arly publications.
– Turabian: an adaptation of the Chicago style, designed for college
students to use with all subjects.
– AMA: medicine, health, and biological sciences.
Each of these citation styles present cites and references in a different for-
mat. The most important thing is then to choose one style and stick to it so
that the way we cite is homogeneous all throughout our paper.
J. Appendices. This section contains all the information that is not included
in the body of the study. For example, samples of analyses, samples of
materials used such as questionnaires, tests, interviews, etc., full statistical
analyses, lists of subjects involved in the study and so on. The aim of the
appendices is to provide central information that mainly for length reasons
cannot be introduced as part of the main text of the study, but which is refe
renced in it.
6. CONCLUSIONS
This chapter has offered a general overview of research by defining and explaining
its main strands and approaches. It has also provided guidance to help us decide which
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method would be of best value for our investigations and how to write our research
so as to share it with our academic and professional community. As a conclusion, it is
worth recognizing the importance that research has in our knowledge of teaching and
learning foreign languages and its subsequent impact in these experiences. Research,
then, becomes a basic tool for innovation in English language teaching. It can open new
perspectives and insights by which we can gain a better understanding of what our stu-
dents might need during their learning process. Besides, communicating these new view-
points and findings can be of great value for the rest of the teaching community and can
help improve the quality of classroom teaching and learning.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Deductive reasoning. It is also known as top-down reasoning and works
from the more general to the more specific. We might begin with thinking
up a theory about our topic of interest. We then narrow that down into more
specific hypotheses that we can test, from there to collect observations and
to address the hypotheses, and ultimately to test the hypotheses with specific
data in order to obtain --a confirmation (or not) of our original theories.
• Hypothesis. A tentative explanation that accounts for a set of facts and can
be tested by further investigation.
• Objectivity. Lack of bias, judgment, or prejudice.
• Inductive reasoning. It is also known as bottom-up reasoning and moves
from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories. First we
begin with specific observations and measures to detect patterns and regu-
larities, then formulate some tentative hypotheses that we can explore, and
finally end up developing some general conclusions or theories.
• Mean. The sum of all scores of all subjects in the group divided by the num-
ber of subjects.
• Mode. The score which has been obtained by the largest number of sub-
jects, i.e. the most frequent score in the group.
• Median. The score which divides the group into two parts, so that half of
the score are above it and half are below it.
• Reliability. It is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable and
consistent results.
• Sample. It is the process of selecting units (e.g., people, organizations) from
a population of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly gen-
eralize our results back to the population from which they were chosen.
• Standard deviation. A measure of the dispersion of a set of data from its
mean. The more spread apart the data, the higher the deviation. Standard
deviation is calculated as the square root of variance.
• Validity. It refers to how well a test measures what it is purported to measure.
• Variance. The average of the squared differences from the mean.
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1. Identify which variables are independent and dependent in the following

examples.
Phenomenon: poor performance of students in college entrance exams
Examples of variables related to poor academic performance:
– Entrance exam score.

– Number of hours devoted to studying.
– Student-teacher ratio.
– Number of students in the class.
– Educational attainment of teachers.
– Teaching style.
– The distance of school from home.
– Number of hours devoted by parents in providing tutorial support.
2. Can you think of three research questions you could study by using quan-
titative methods and three other research questions you could study using
qualitative ones?
3. Gender (male/female) is not a quantitative variable. Can you think of any
ways you could look into gender in qualitative research?
4. Delve into the main characteristics of intrinsic, instrumental and collective
case studies and think of specific research statements for each of these three
types of qualitative research.
5. Design a study that focuses on the role of secondary education teachers in
the acquisition of speaking skills. Include the following aspects:
• Which are your objectives/research questions?

• What type of research methodology would you choose?
• What studies will you use in the literature review?
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• What subjects will participate in your study? How many groups? What
are their features (age, working experience, native language, etc.)?
• Any other important aspect you consider key to take into account.
 REFERENCES
Alonso Alonso, R. (2011). Research methods in second language acquisition. In S. House (Coord.). Inglés.
Investigación, innovación y buenas prácticas. Teacher development. Barcelona: Editorial Grao.
Creswell, J. (2010). Mapping the developing landscape of mixed methods research. In A. Tashakkori & C.
Teddlie (Eds.), Sage handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research, 45-68.
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed method-
ologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Madrid, D. & Bueno, A. (2005). Classroom research. In N. McLaren, D. Madrid & A. Bueno (Eds.), TEFL
in secondary education. Granada: Universidad de Granada.
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5
UNIT
CRITICAL THINKING
1. Critical thinking in the curriculum

2. Definition and characteristics of critical thinking
2.1. CT cognitive skills and sub-skills
2.2. Dispositions of the good critical thinker
3. Critical thinking in class

4. Critical bilingualism
Basic concepts
References
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• Understand the relevance of critical thinking as a competence that must be
present in the curriculum.
• Know the evolution of the terms "critical" and "criticism" and their conse-
quences for education.
• Know the principles of critical thinking.
• Know the skills and sub-skills in which the competence of critical thinking
can be broken down.
• Be aware of the role of affective dispositions in critical thinking.
• Be able to explain the relationship between critical thinking and the com-
petence of learning to learn.
• Be aware of the role of the teacher in a critical thinking environment.
• Know the steps and the dynamics that the practice of critical thinking implies.
• Know the concept of "critical bilingualism".
• Be aware and know the attitudinal demands of critical bilingualism for both
teachers and students.
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C. Segade Alonso Critical thinking
1. CRITICAL THINKING IN THE CURRICULUM
Critical thinking is not a competence in the same way that they are commonly defined
and developed in the curricula. The way in which it will be present in the syllabuses is
suggested by the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of
18 December, 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning (2006/962/EC). This doc-
ument, also known as Reference Framework, establishes the eight competences that all
the curricula developed in any European country should set out. But in order that the set
of competences can be correctly applied, it is necessary that other themes are worked in
a cross-curricular manner: "critical thinking, creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk
assessment, decision taking, and constructive management of feelings". As far as criti-
cal thinking is concerned, this is understood as an "attitude of critical appreciation and
curiosity, an interest in ethical issues and respect for both safety and sustainability, in
particular, as regards scientific and technological progress in relation to oneself, family,
community and global issues".
All the subsequent Spanish legislation follows the principles of this Recommenda-
tion and it must be understood that not only the competences but also the background
and themes implied in critical thinking must be developed in the national and autono-
mous legislations.
2. DEFINITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITICAL THINKING
Kant's famous Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung? (Answering the Ques-
tion: What is Enlightment?) opens with this emphatic statement: "Enlightenment is man's
emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own under-
standing without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in
lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind with-
out another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) 'Have the courage to use your own
understanding', is therefore the motto of the enlightenment".
The foundations of contemporary Europe, as far as the process of scientific thinking

is concerned, are based on this statement. The Enlightenment itself, with all what rep-
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resents, concentrates its essence in that motto forwarded by Kant in 1784: Sapere aude.
According to Kant, indifference, questioning and a severe criticism show a deep think-
ing. Criticism, understood in these terms, means following an attitude that considers that
there is no way to know the world, the reality, without previously examining the back-
ground and foundations of knowledge and action. In other words, criticism tries to find
out the real meaning and the rational foundations of any belief, not only those organised
as systems of beliefs (religions or ideologies, for example), but also those which may be
accepted unconsciously, like prejudices, stereotypes and so on. The main goal of criti-
cism is to avoid people being dragged to those forms of conduct imposed by those kinds
of social organisations (Horkheimer) that keep people closed to new information or hin-
der any type of open-minded attitude.
In 1916, the North-American thinker John Dewey published the book Democracy and
Education. Actually, it was both about the civic values that sustain democratic systems
and the benefits of thinking methodically as a good habit in schools. Both things, however,
support each other. The way in which Dewey applies and describes thinking, although
it cannot be described as "critical" in the same sense in which was later understood, is
clearly laying down the foundations of what will be critical thinking (CT) in education.
Dewey's approach is based on these principles:
• Experience. The initial stage of that developing experience which is called

thinking is experience.[...]Speaking generally, the fundamental fallacy in
methods of instruction lies in supposing that experience on the part of pupils
may be assumed. What is here insisted upon is the necessity of an actual
empirical situation as the initiating phase of thought. Experience is here
taken as previously defined: trying to do something and having the thing per-
ceptibly do something to one in return. The fallacy consists in supposing that
we can begin with ready-made subject matter of arithmetic, or geography,
or whatever, irrespective of some direct personal experience of a situation.
• Need of information and balance difficulties. There must be data at com-
mand to supply the considerations required in dealing with the specific diffi-
culty which has presented itself. Teachers following a "developing" method
sometimes tell children to think things out for themselves as if they could
spin them out of their own heads. The material of thinking is not thoughts,
but actions, facts, events, and the relations of things. In other words, to think
effectively one must have had, or now have, experiences which will fur-
nish him resources for coping with the difficulty at hand. A difficulty is an
indispensable stimulus to thinking, but not all difficulties call out thinking.
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Sometimes they overwhelm and submerge and discourage. The perplexing

situation must be sufficiently like situations which have already been dealt
with so that pupils will have some control of the meanings of handling it.
A large part of the art of instruction lies in making the difficulty of new
problems large enough to challenge thought, and small enough so that, in
addition to the confusion naturally attending the novel elements, there shall
be luminous familiar spots from which helpful suggestions may spring.
• Thinking involves seeking tentative explanations of things, not truths.
The correlate in thinking of facts, data, knowledge already acquired, is sug-
gestions, inferences, conjectured meanings, suppositions, tentative explana-
tions: –ideas, in short. Careful observation and recollection determine what
is given, what is already there, and hence assured. They cannot furnish what
is lacking. They define, clarify, and locate the question; they cannot supply
its answer. Projection, invention, ingenuity, devising come in for that pur-
pose. The data arouse suggestions, and only by reference to the specific data
can we pass upon the appropriateness of the suggestions. But the sugges-
tions run beyond what is, as yet, actually given in experience. They forecast
possible results, things to do, not facts (things already done). Inference is
always an invasion of the unknown, a leap from the known. In this sense, a
thought (what a thing suggests but is not as it is presented) is creative,–an
incursion into the novel. It involves some inventiveness.
• Thinking is linked to reality. It provides ethical solutions to real pro-
blems. Ideas, whether they be humble guesses or dignified theories, are
anticipations of possible solutions. They are anticipations of some continuity
or connection of an activity and a consequence which has not as yet shown
itself. They are therefore tested by the operation of acting upon them. They
are to guide and organize further observations, recollections, and experi-
ments. They are intermediate in learning, not final.
Dewey's proposal was interpreted in different ways during the following decades,
and scholars stressed some aspects more than others, for example, the logical aspects
of learning, the meta-cognitive activity or the orientation towards action. Whatever the
case, the basis of critical thinking were laid down.
Criticism and the critical theory were two constant approaches to academic matters
in the 20th century, vastly found in scholarly circles but, unfortunately, not adapted to
all levels of education. The benefits of CT, then, were reserved for an elite of thinkers,
despite the proposal of Dewey of translating the habits of thinking to schools. On the
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one hand, it is difficult to have experienced thinkers in the top levels of education if the
pupils were not previously trained to think. On the other hand, good habits of thinking
must not be an elitist discipline.
In the 1980s, the American Philosophical Association commissioned a study to a

panel of conspicuous scholars to define the concept of "critical thinking" and explore
the ways in which it can be taught and implemented in the schools curricula. Professor
Peter Facione, the coordinator of the team, published the conclusions of the two-year
research in the report "Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes
of Educational Assessment and Instruction"1. In this report, also known as 'The Delphi
Report', the researchers reached a consensus about the definition and features that char-
acterise critical thinking (CT) and the ideal critical thinker:
"We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgement

which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as
explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or
contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential
as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a power-
ful resource in one's personal and civic life. While not synonymous with good
thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon. The ideal
critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-
minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases,
prudent in making judgements, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly
in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the
selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which
are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit. Thus,
educating good critical thinkers means working toward this ideal. It combines
developing CT skills with nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield
useful insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic society".
The Delphi Report also remarks that those ideal goals that are forwarded in the
consensus definition can only be achieved if students gain and practise some particular
skills and sub-skills. These skills were divided into cognitive skills and dispositions (of
an affective nature), being both sets inter-dependent. We will first see the cognitive skills.
1 Published by The California Academic Press, Millbrae CA, 1990. In 1994, a group of researchers of the
Pennsylvania State University, led by Professor Elizabeth Jones, published a report that confirmed the
proposals of Facione's statement.
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2.1. CT COGNITIVE SKILLS AND SUB-SKILLS
If we represented CT as a set or a sphere, Figure 1. Consensus list of CT cognitive skills

we could draw each of these skills sur-
rounding it and taking part of it because
each of them, individually taken, is not Inference
exclusive of CT, although all together make
Analysis Explanation
CT possible.
Critical Thinking
Each of the skills can be broken down
into different sub-skills, and these, in their Interpretation Self-regulation
turn, can be the initial formulation of learn-

Evaluation
ing standards for the introduction of CT
abilities in the curriculum.
Table 1. List of CT Cognitive skills and sub-skills according to the Delphi Report (1990).
Skills Sub-skills Skills Sub-skills
Interpretation • Categorization Inference • Querying evidence

• Decoding significance • Conjecturing alternatives
• Clarifying meaning • Drawing conclusions
Analysis • Examining ideas Explanation • Stating results

• Identifying arguments • Justifying procedures
• Analysing arguments • Presenting arguments
Evaluation • Assessing claims Self-regulation • Self-examination

• Assessing arguments • Self-correction
The skills and sub-skills listed above must be understood in this way:
1. Interpretation. "To comprehend and express the meaning or significance

of a wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgements, con-
ventions, beliefs, rules, procedures or criteria".
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• Categorization:
– To formulate categories or distinctions for understanding or

describing information.
– To describe experiences, situations, beliefs in a way that they
can be understood according to their categories or distinctions.
• Decoding significance:
– To decode conventional communication features and functions

in systems such as language, social behaviours, drawings, num-
bers, graphs, tables, charts, signs and symbols.
• Clarifying meaning:
– To paraphrase or make explicit the meanings of words, ideas,

concepts, statements, behaviours, drawings, numbers, graphs,
tables, charts, symbols, rules, events or ceremonies.
– To use the necessary resources to avoid vagueness or ambiguity.
2. Analysis. "To identify the intended and actual inferential relationships

among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions or other forms of rep-
resentation intended to express beliefs, judgements, experiences, reasons,
information, or opinions".
• Examining ideas:
– To determine the role of expressions, define terms, compare

ideas and concepts and identify issues and determine their com-
ponent parts.
• Detecting arguments:
– To analyse pieces of discourse or data and determine if they

intend to support any particular point of view.
• Analysing arguments:
– Once the point of view of an argument has been detected, to

proceed by identifying the conclusions and the reasons and
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premises in their support, and other elements which are not

intended to take part of the main reasoning and its conclusions.
3. Evaluation. "To assess the credibility of statements or other representations

which are accounts or descriptions of a person's perception, experience,
situation, judgement, belief, or opinion; and to assess the logical strength
of the actual or intend inferential relationships among statements, descrip-
tions, questions or other forms of representation".
• Assessing claims:
– To assess the credibility, relevance and acceptability of the

sources of information, questions, beliefs or opinions.
• Assessing arguments:
– To determine (deductively or inductively) if an argument can

be accepted as true.
– To determine reasonable or fallacious premises, inferences,
assumptions or arguments.
– To determine the extent to which possible additional informa-
tion might strengthen or weaken an argument.
4. Inference. "To identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable con-
clusions; to form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider relevant informa-
tion and to educe the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles,
evidence, judgements, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions,
or other forms of representation".
• Querying evidence:
– To determine which premises would require the support of

additional information and design a way of seeking it with
investigatory strategies.
• Conjecturing alternatives:
– To formulate redefinition strategies, alternative solutions and

possible consequences of decisions, positions, policies, theo-
ries and beliefs.
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• Drawing conclusions:
– To apply the necessary ways of inferring the position one

should take on a given matter.
– To employ different types of reasoning; analogically, scientifi-
cally, arithmetically, dialectically, etc.
5. Explanation. "To state the results of one's reasoning; to justify that reason-
ing in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological
and contextual considerations upon which one's results were based; and to
present one's reasoning in the form of cogent arguments".
• Stating results:
– To produce accurate ways of presenting the results of one's

reasoning.
• Justifying procedures:
– To accurately present the processes followed to reach one's

results.
• Presenting arguments:
– To give reasons for accepting some claim or meet objections

to others' arguments.
6. Self-regulation. "Self-consciously to monitor one's cognitive activities,

the elements used in those activities, and the results educed, particularly
by applying skills in analysis and evaluation to one's own inferential judge-
ments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting
either one's reasoning or one's results".
• Self-examination:
– To reflect on one's reasoning and make an objective self-assess-

ment on one's opinions.
– To judge if one's thinking may be influenced by lack of know-
ledge, prejudices or any other factors that might constrain one's
objectivity.
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• Self-correction:
– To design the accurate procedures to correct the deficiencies

detected in the process of self-examination.
2.2. DISPOSITIONS OF THE GOOD CRITICAL THINKER
As is the case of bilingual students, for whom their attitude towards the language
is as important as their knowledge, to become critical thinkers requires a disposition
to engage in critical judgement. Actually, the above last skill and sub-skills demand
a clear disposition, more than others, because assessing a process that would lead to
improving the whole procedure of thinking implies a natural inclination to upgrading.
It is in this sense that the word "good" in "good critical thinker" must be understood. Of
course, classifying someone as a "good" critical thinker does not have any moral con-
notation, and it does not mean that a "good" critical thinker ethically approves or dis-
approves those things which are the object of their research or questioning, or that the
results which are obtained after the process of inquiry are morally good. In this context,
"good" can only be used in terms of the level of commitment or engagement in critical
judgements.
People are not robots and critical thinking is not just about training a list of cog-
nitive skills and get people "programmed" to think like that. CT can be applied to any
field in life and so, Facione (2013) states that one of the most relevant characteristics of
it is being pervasive. Thoughtful judgement and reflective decision-making can be use-
ful to face any circumstances in life, so being critical is also a way to approach life itself.
Those who think that nothing can be changed or that seeking alternatives is a waste of
time will never be critical thinkers, and what is worse, they are quite likely to live a poor
and alienated life.
The experts of the Delphi Report, after evaluating the affective characteristics
required for anyone to complete the critical process, stated this list of Affective Dispo-
sitions of Critical Thinking:
• "Inquisitiveness with regard to a wide range of issues,

• Concern to become and remain generally well-informed,
• Alertness to opportunities to use CT,
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• Trust in the processes of reasoned inquiry,

• Self-confidence in one's own ability to reason,
• Open-mindedness regarding divergent world views,
• Flexibility in considering alternatives and opinions,
• Understanding of the opinions of other people,
• Fair-mindedness in appraising reasoning,
• Honesty in facing one's own biases, prejudices, stereotypes, egocentric or
sociocentric tendencies,
• Prudence in suspending, making or altering judgements,
• Willingness to reconsider and revise views where honest reflection suggests
that change is warranted".
And for some specific issues that require a particular approach, the Delphi Report
states the following:
• "Clarity in stating the question or concern,

• Orderliness in working with complexity,
• Diligence in seeking relevant information,
• Reasonableness in selecting and applying criteria,
• Care in focusing attention on the concern at hand,
• Persistence though difficulties are encountered,
• Precision to the degree permitted by the subject and the circumstance".
In his late writings, Facione prefers to talk about "strong" and "weak" critical think-
ers instead of "good" or "ideal" thinkers. There are two reasons for that: first, the word
"good", as was said above, has a moral connotation. There can be cases in which an excel-
lent critical thinker (a person who is able to judge, seek alternatives, make decisions and
so on) can conclude that the best solution for a problem can be something that contra-
venes our society's ethical standards. In that sense, the thinker should not be classified
as "good". Someone who uses the cognitive skills to manipulate or confound would not
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be an "ideal" critical thinker. Actually, an unethical use of CT would not be possible, as

CT implies and ethical commitment, based on an unbiased, honest and truth-seeking
attitude. The conclusions can differ from one person to another, but both would be hon-
estly seeking the best possible and harmless solution. It is precisely in here where the 20th
century's education mostly failed. In Facione's words (2013) "we must look to a broader
set of outcomes including habits of mind and dispositions, such as civic engagement,
concern for the common good, and social responsibility".
Secondly, with the distinction between "weak" and "strong", a common natural
disposition to being critical is better highlighted and, at the same time, no one can be
laid aside for not sharing all the dispositions at their best. In other words, it is feasible
to evolve from "weak" to "strong" dispositions towards CT. This is important for the
curriculum and education in general. As it is a way of thinking that requires a cognitive
process and an attitudinal training, it can be progressively introduced.
Teachers can easily recognise the degree of disposition to CT and try to plan actions to
improve or consolidate it. For example, comments like these would reveal a weak disposition:
• I prefer that the teachers tell us what to do.

• I don't like English because I can't stand Americans/the British.
• Who's this to say so? I have my own opinion.
• Looking up words is a waste of time, I prefer asking the teacher.
• Well, that is what the book/the Wikipedia says.
• Foreigners are idiots, I don't know why we need to learn languages.
• This subject is useless.
• Oops, too complicated/too much thinking for me!
• Teacher, tell us exactly where we can find the solution.
As will be seen below, there are some things teachers can do in class to deal with
these attitudes that eventually would lead the students to failure or, at least, not to obtain
any actual benefit from studying the subjects of the curricula.
In summary, CT is a way of thinking that tries to seek the truth and objectivity by
questioning, looking for alternatives with integrity and fair-mindedness. It has nothing
to do with a particular set of beliefs, religious tenets, ethical values or political orienta-
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tions. Its objective is the growth of individuals as distinctive persons. Most of times, it
implies openness to innovation, but this does not mean that it should take the place of
creative or innovative thinking as they emerge in the liberal arts.
A liberal1 education has much to do with the process of learning to learn, and this
basically means learning to think on your own and collaborating with others. The main
objective of CT is to "liberate" the students from the dependence on others, to show them
the way to be free from a naïve acceptance of authority, relativism and contextualism,
culminating in "principled reflective judgement" (Facione, 2013).
3. CRITICAL THINKING IN CLASS
Several scholars set different approaches to work CT in class: decision making,

cognitive process, problem solving or argument analysis (Albergaria-Almeida, 2011).
But perhaps the tightest link between a sub-skill and CT is that concerning questioning.
Asking questions is perhaps the core and fundamental way of getting involved in mean-
ingful critical thinking. Browne and Freeman (2000) consider questioning as the main
indicator that a CT process has been activated, and so, they suggest a list of questions
that may initiate or improve this process:
"• What words or phrases are being used in an ambiguous fashion?

• What descriptive and value assumptions provide the foundation for the
reasoning?
• What evidence was provided for the claims in the reasoning?
• What is the quality of the proferred evidence?
• Are the analogical components of the argument persuasive?
• What important information is omitted from the reasoning?
• What rival causes might explain the conclusion?
• What alternative inferences can reasonably be drawn from the evidence?"
1 It is well known that "liberal" in English does not imply a political positioning. In its turn, "liberal" in CT
terminology is a synonym of "liberating" and it is in this sense that it is used in this chapter.
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All these questions deal with the main issues that can be found in a discourse and,
of course, cannot be delivered to our secondary students as such, but under more com-
prehensible wordings. Basically, with what students are challenged to work is with this
process of thinking:
• What is this piece of discourse trying to mean?

• What is the way the ideas are presented?
• How is objective information displayed?
• Are the conclusions presented so evident?
• Are there alternatives to the reasoning or the conclusions?
In order that the students may start their own process of thinking and activate their
own strategies, teachers must be aware of their own role in CT. The teacher's role in CT
is to become the facilitator of new challenges for the students, and no longer the con-
ductor of the class. The teachers will help with the generation of hypotheses, the search
for new sources of information or assist at the time of applying principles to the conclu-
sions or situations that the students had been able to achieve.
Very frequently, discussion and controversy will be two class dynamics that will
naturally go with a CT environment, and the process of them will be as important as the
conclusions of those debates. As Sternberg states (1987) there are some myths around
CT and class dynamics that must be eradicated:
• "The teacher has nothing to learn from students.

• Critical thinking is exclusively the teacher's job.
• There is a correct way to teach CT.
• The most important is the 'right' answer.
• Discussion is a means to an end.
• The role of a course in critical thinking is to teach critical thinking".
Consequently, the students' role becomes quite active in comparison to traditional

education. If students are either facing a piece of discourse or applying CT to problem
solving, students will need to:
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Table 2. CT dynamics (freely adapted from Facione, 2007, 2013)
CT applied to a piece of discourse CT applied to problem-solving
IDENTIFY the problem: "Which The main message, idea The problem and set priorities
problem are we facing here?"
DEFINE the context: "Which cir-

cumstances and facts are related Understanding and gather new relevant information
to this problem?"
ENUMERATE the options: "Which The alternatives and contrast Options and anticipate conse-
are the most plausible options?" them to the information given quences
ASSESS the options: "Which is our The conclusions and advance The situation and make a pre-
best plan, considering all the op- a judgement based on them liminary decision
tions?"
LIST the reasons explicitly: "Let's List the motivations and reasons that activated our judgement
be clear: why are we opting for in the previous step. This final step represents the ethical com-
this?" mitment of all the process. Without it, there would not be a real
CT approach.
SELF-CORRECT: "Let's check it

The process and self-correct as needed
again: Is anything missing?"
A very easy way, depending on the maturity of the students, of introducing the
above process is by selecting some simple questions aiming at awaking the mind and
let the students understand that the process of thinking is starting. For example, if the
students need to analyse a text, the teacher can select a part of it, perhaps the title or
some meaningful paragraph and openly ask "What do you think?". Most teachers would
be happy with just a simple answer to the question, and most students too. Quite com-
monly, students say something quite randomly, knowing that the teacher does not really
matter what they think. Precisely that is why many times they say nothing or almost
nothing. However, in CT this cannot be so: the teacher MUST be really interested in
the answer, so he will look forward to a solid response and, in case that silence pre-
vails, he will try again until having a satisfactory (in other words, personal and real)
answer.
However, after this first question, regardless the answer the learner delivers, the
teacher will be ready for the next ones:
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• "Why do you think that?": it is the commonest way to ask for a reasoning.
The students will be obliged to elaborate the answer and the teacher will be
able to detect prejudices, lack of background, etc.
• "How do you know that?": the sources are important, because the teacher
can guide the students through new ones or encourage them to look into the
same sources but now contrasting information.
• "Can you tell us more about it?": the teacher can ask the students to share
more knowledge or perhaps start a short or large project in which research
will be the main issue.
• "What questions do you still have?": sometimes, after checking new materi-
als or sources or initiating a discussion some other questions can come up.
It is a good opportunity for the teacher to go ahead with them until all the
ideas that remained hidden eventually blossom.
After the students have gone through this initial process in which they have been
thinking about the discourse and their own ideas about it, perhaps even contrasting or
confronting them, they can be ready for a more systematic and deep approach as has
been described in table 2.
4. CRITICAL BILINGUALISM
The critical theory also influenced bilingualism and language learning. Everything
that has been showed above can be applied to and carried out in a FL class. Teachers
who are aware of the role of languages would consider them as valuable by themselves,
all of them equal, although not all of them equally spread or "useful" in societal terms.
Diversity in languages is, from the point of view of critical bilingualism, good in itself.
The imposition of a language over others due to "market" reasons, job opportunities and
so on are not part of the essence of language teaching and learning. The wealth that a stu-
dent obtains from studying a language has to do with his internal growth as a person but
not necessarily measurable in economic terms. Critical bilingualism also condemns the
prejudice of considering that the fact of speaking or not speaking a particular language
separates individuals by social class, income level, origin or whichever other conditions.
Learning a language is not only the ability to master the communicative proce-
dures as it were a mere technical question segregated from reality. Language learning
has also to do with the process of apprehending the functions of it and its affective and
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cultural implications. This means that language teaching cannot ignore cross-curricular
issues or remain oblivious to the competences that natives of the language are practis-
ing in the classroom.
Consequently, critical bilingualism is quite concerned about the day-to-day ques-

tions that affect classroom dynamics. Now that project-based and integrated language
learning are being rapidly implemented in mainstream FL classes, CT is becoming
more and more important. Students of a FL no longer reduce their learning to situ-
ational recreations or vocabulary and grammar exercises. The integration of contents
and the study of other subjects through projects or tasks are becoming usual parts of
the learning process. Consequently, students need to process a great deal of materials,
both adapted and real, in such a way that they need to segregate the meaningful from
the useless by distinguishing biased, subjective or clearly erroneous information from
the objective and unbiased one.
In addition to this, any FL book can contain assumptions (social matters, mainstream
opinions, concealed prejudices, etc.) that might be discussed in class in the same manner
that has been said above for any other type of discourse. The critical bilingual paradigm
has the goal of seeking the cause of any human reality that is linguistically expressed.
The way to do it is to evolve from the illusive state in which the personal interest is the
only reference, towards a new wider one in which the others' (the rest of the commu-
nity) interests are as important as one's. All this means that both the personal and social
dimensions are relevant for educating in languages. In practice, this way of understand-
ing the person's singularity leads to:
• Educate about the intellectual curiosity and wonder evoked by the ways of
expression in the foreign languages.
• Educate the willingness for new things and contexts.
• Educate the skill of considering complex realities as problems that can be
solved by knowing the keys that lead to the solution.
• Educate the finite dimension of the individual. This means that not everyone
can do anything, but each individual needs others in one way or another,
making communication possible.
• Educate the experimental character of language; the openness to experience
and conceptualise human experience through new lexical expressions.
• Educate the creative dimension of language.
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Through active critical bilingualism, FL students can become aware that they are free
and autonomous individuals, and as such, they become culture makers. In the same way
that the first literacy process (alphabetic training) opens individuals to society, foreign
languages give the opportunity to gain autonomy in a more global world through a post-
literacy or second-literacy process. This new process will let individuals make themsel-
ves heard in social strata that otherwise will be locked for them. In order that the teachers
can get their students be aware of the importance of this, they can:
• Train the students in the processes of decision-making about their own lan-
guage learning.
• Educate to get students understand reality as a challenge, in which the edu-
cational process is the search for the most accurate answer.
• Educate the skill to observe the reality in order to understand it better, avoi-
ding unfounded judgements.
• Educate the skill to analyse human communication, its methodologies or
approaches, without prejudices.
• Educate the individual's responsibility, specially at the time of putting
into practice the various functions of language, in order that the learner
accepts that communicating is also assuming the principles of veracity
and justice.
The societal dimension has a main role in critical bilingualism. Education, in gene-
ral, helps to identify the different contexts in which reality is presented to the individuals,
in a way that it helps to find their place in the world. Consequently, education has an
instrumental character that is manifested by its communicative dimension, which is by
definition societal. This principle of openness to the others represents the foundations
of the educational system and of critical bilingualism too. The teacher might work this
social dimension with the FL learner by educating:
• From the point of view of the other. The teacher can show the various points
of view in which the content of a piece of discourse is treated and how these
ideas are transparent through the structures of language.
• About how to discuss and engage in dialogues without being controversial.
• About the integration of word and experience. This is a way to avoid consi-
dering the acquisition of language as a storage of unconnected grammatical
features.
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• Spontaneous communication.
• Participation.
• The performative awareness, that is to say, the discovery that language pro-
duces changes in one's surrounding reality.
• The intention of seeking the other's development, without looking for one's
interest.
• The "political" and ethical dimension of language. Language has an egali-
tarian and democratic character, since by having access to the communica-
tive vehicle of power that some languages represent, the learner becomes
an actor, a maker of changes and a cause of the evolution of the language
instead of being a mere receiver of a tradition that cannot be changed.
In conclusion, critical bilingualism works through three different dimensions: singu-

larity, autonomy and citizenship. All three can be worked in a cross-curricular way and,
as it can be seen above, sometimes quite directly. Although many of these critical skills
are attitudinal, this does not mean that are less basic. They must be treated with the rele-
vance they deserve. In old educational paradigms, contents precede attitudes, but con-
temporary paradigms establish a fair balance between contents, procedures and attitudes,
and as happens with the critical ones, some attitudes are the key for a successful learning.
However, all those demanding dynamics that have been described above should not
be regarded as things that only students must do. Teachers need to learn several things
too: how to become facilitators of the thinking process; how to fix the attitudinal objec-
tives in his planning; how to avoid being the reference and only source of knowledge.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Cognitive skills. The abilities to process information, reason, remember,
relate and learn.
• Critical thinking. It is the process of reaching a kind of judgement charac-
terised by being purposeful, self-regulatory, which results in interpretation,
analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential,
conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations
upon which that judgement is based.
• Criticism. Kant's philosophy. The epistemological approach that looks into
the a priori forms that make thinking possible.
• Inference. The conclusions reached after the cognitive process of deriving
the consequences from known facts or evidence.
• Learning to learn competence. Metacognition. The competence through
which individuals manage their capacity to learn, the strategies successfu-
lly used in the past and their attitude towards new knowledge.
• Literacy. The ability to read and write, commonly in reference to the
mother-tongue.
• Performativity. It is the capacity of an act of speech (a communicative
act) to alter the status of reality from the very moment of being uttered. For
example, being appointed, baptised, contracted, inaugurated, etc. are effec-
tive when the act of speech is pronounced.
 T
1. After reading Kant's quotation, think about the consequences that his state-
ment had and still has for education.
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2. Based on Dewey's approach, seek the way in which his methodological

principles can be enacted in the classroom.
3. Using the characteristics of the ideal critical thinker of the Delphi Report,
design a self-evaluation tool that helps you define yourself and your stu-
dents as critical thinkers.
4. The skills and sub-skills of CT can be used for fixing objectives for the lan-
guage course. Try to design a list of evaluation standards that cover all the
skills and most of the sub-skills of table 1.
5. Think about the relationship between prejudices against language learning
and critical thinking. Which topics would you use in the classroom to help
your students improve their attitude towards the foreign language?
6. Design a action plan for a student or group of students that show a weak
disposition as described in the list included in section 2.2.
7. Reflect on the relationship between power and languages and how it is
mirrored in curricula and students' books.
8. Make a lesson plan to introduce some of the topics related to the three dimen-
sions of critical bilingualism as described in section 4.
9. Reflect on to which extent the evaluation of a course (in the Spanish system)
must be altered if CT competences are introduced in language learning.
 REFERENCES
Albergaria-Almeida, P., Teixeira-Dias, J.J.C., Martinho, M. (2011). "How can Critical Thinking Be Recog-
nized in the Classroom?" In Horvath and Forte, pp. 175-188.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education. Retrieved on 15th November, 2015: http://www.gutenberg.
org/files/852/852-h/852-h.htm.
Facione, P. (1990). Critical Thinking: A Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational
Assessment and Instruction (The Delphi Report). Millbrae, CA: The California Academic Press.
Facione. P. (2013, 2007). Critical Thinking: What it is and Why It Counts. Millbrae, CA: The California
Academic Press.
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Horkheimer, M. (2008 [1968]). Teoría crítica. Buenos Aires-Madrid: Amorrortu Editores.

Horvath, Ch. P. and Forte, J.M. (2011). Critical Thinking. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Kant, I. (1784). What is Enlightenment? Retrieved on 11th November 2015: http://www.columbia.edu/
acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/kant.html
McLaren, N., Madrid, D., and Bueno, A. (2005). TEFL in Secondary Education. Granada: Universidad de
Granada.
Segade Alonso, C. E. (2015). Lenguas de comunicación o de negocios. La aportación contemporánea del
bilingüismo crítico a la enseñanza de lenguas. Porta Linguarum 24, junio.
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6
UNIT
THE USE OF ICT IN THE EFL

CLASSROOM
1. Introduction
2. Classroom equipment
2.1. Characteristics of a 21st century classroom
3. Teaching and learning through ICT
3.1. Input sources
3.2. Output sources
3.3. Audio-visual aids
3.3.1. Using audio-visual aids successfully
4. 21st century tools

5. Characteristics of an edtech teacher
6. Conclusion
Basic concepts
References
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• Study the uses of educational technology and audio-visual aids which can
help teachers to improve the learning process.
• Suggest different materials and tasks in the EFL using ICT.
• Show some uses of the Web for learning and teaching English.
• Show how teachers can facilitate autonomous learning among students
through ICT tools.
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E. Bonal Martínez The use of ICT in the EFL classroom
1. INTRODUCTION
A few decades ago, we only had pencils, a blackboard and a chalk to work with in
the classroom. Students used to remain seated quietly at their desks while taking notes
in their notebooks. The inclusion of ICT in the classroom was a turning point and has
changed the way of teaching and learning in an unalterable way.
ICT stands for 'Information and Communication Technologies' and can be defined
as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, create, dis-
seminate, store, and manage information. These technologies include the use of comput-
ers, the Internet and broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and a classroom
environment.
The use of new technologies is a relatively recent development in the education

system, but it has evolved rapidly. ICT is becoming an important part of human beings'
lives. We use ICT in almost every activity, especially in education. The use of Informa-
tion and Communication Technologies in the English classroom enables the learners to
develop new skills and knowledge, to respond and present their ideas, and as part of the
imaginative and critical thinking they undertake in a foreign language.
The main changes we observed are related to the materials and the classroom man-
agement but, as we have seen in previous chapters, ICT will also help us to improve the
evaluation system and to obtain more and better resources to work with.
In this chapter, we will analyse the new technologies that can be used in the teach-
ing-learning process, both inside and outside the classroom.
2. CLASSROOM EQUIPMENT
The technological advances in the 21st century have highly influenced the teaching
and learning processes in today's world. Nowadays, educational centres all around the
world have a wide range of equipment and new technology at their disposal.
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Until the late 1990s, regular classrooms included a board, where the teachers and stu-
dents used to write on using a chalk, and students have books to work with. To improve
listening and speaking skills, the teacher had a tape recorder to play conversations and
songs. There was also an overhead projector, which the teacher could use to project
slides with lesson information. All these materials continue to be found in a classroom,
and teachers continue to use them in an integrated way with new developments in edu-
cation, since they are cheap and easy to transport and also an easy way to slowly intro-
duce new technologies in the classroom.
However, if we look back to our childhood and think about our old classrooms, they
would probably have nothing to do with current classrooms. Nowadays, most of the class-
rooms are equipped with ICT and modern technology. Here, the chalkboard has given way
to an interactive whiteboard, which has numerous special features. Because this board
is connected to a computer (and to a fixed data projector which shines on to it), teachers
and students can, not only show computer images, but they can also project students' own
productions or web pages to complete the lesson. Furthermore, they can watch films from
DVDs or computer files. Audio files are also stored on the computer and can be played
either through the speaker system or via individual headphones at the language laboratory.
The new 21st century classroom environment is a productive place in which stu-
dents can develop not only their knowledge, but also the skills they will require in the
workplace. As opposed to 20th century education, lesson plans are not teacher-centered
anymore and traditional classroom activities are no longer effective. Modern day educa-
tional practices are on students experiencing, thinking and collaborating, making them
adept at using ICT, important skills they will need in the 21st century world.
As we can appreciate, schools are adapting rapidly to ICT, but some teachers are
not. Some teachers feel more comfortable with these pieces of educational technology
than others. However, students will expect to use all the equipment in the classroom, as
they are so much in the habit of using them in everyday life. Learning how to use vari-
ous types of equipment is a major part of modern teacher training, and the educational
institutions should be aware of that and provide the means to make this possible.
2.1. CHARACTERISTICS OF A 21st CENTURY CLASSROOM
A 21st century classroom has many characteristics associated with it which distin-
guish it from the classrooms of the past centuries. Following T. Manichander, he suggests
that 'the followings are the key indications where classroom environment meets the
characteristics of the 21st Century' (2005, pp. 218-220):
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1. Student-centered education. From some time now, the learner plays an active
role in the lesson while the teacher's mission is only to monitor the activities. As
Manichander says, 'they are more facilitators of learning than lecturers. They
help students think critically and learn by doing and act as a resource while
their students discover and master new concepts'. Thanks to this student-centric
approach, students are able to develop their own learning styles and develop a
multiple intelligence classroom environment.
2. Computing devices. The advantages of the computers towards pen and paper
and undeniable. Not only they provide the necessary technology skills students
will need, but they also give teachers a chance to improve their lessons. Com-
puting devices definitely help in teaching and learning, and make them more
engaging and effective.
3. Active learning. In today's learning, students interact actively by talking, listen-
ing and reflecting during the lesson. When teachers encourage them to take an
active role in the learning process, they can retain better the knowledge they
have accumulated.
4. Adaptive learning. Regular classrooms have students with different learning
abilities and learning skills. This new trend of adaptive and cooperative learn-
ing give the students the opportunity to work freely and adapt themselves to the
classroom in the way they are more comfortable with.
5. Invitational environment. The use of ICT in the classroom is a great idea, but
classrooms should not be overloaded. They should include interactive white-
boards and CD players, as they make teaching more effective and interactive,
but that should be all. For those lessons when we need extra technological mate-
rial, some schools are implementing the BYOD approach, so students can bring
their laptops or other technological devices to work with them in the classroom
and achieve a more personalized learning.
6. Students understand and follow the rules and procedures. The learning envi-
ronment is carefully planned and well-organized. Class rules, procedures, and
notices of upcoming activities are posted in convenient places to help students
stay on track.
7. Mutual respect. Teachers and students should always have respect for each
other. The teacher is not the main character anymore, but he is still the figure of
authority and students should be aware of that. Also, teachers are in charge of
creating a good atmosphere so students can speak with confidence and respect
and they can feel their opinions and suggestions are valued. In a well-disci-
plined environment, students should also co-operate with and respect their class-
mates.
8. Students take responsibility of their learning. As students are encouraged
to actively participate in their own learning, they become responsible for their
learning. Teachers are responsible for creating variety of strategies to promote
responsible decision-making and create self-reliant students.
.../...
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.../...
9. Performance-based assessments. Regular performance-based assessments

are carried out by teachers through various methods which are not restricted to
tests. Assessments are tailored to the abilities and needs of the students.
10. Collaborative learning. Learning through collaboration is one of the most effec-
tive forms of learning. Learning in groups enhances the extent of learning and
develops critical thinking, as well as redefine the traditional student-teacher rela-
tionship in the classroom.
As a conclusion, we may say that technology plays an essential role in developing

these characteristics for modern classrooms. 21st-century classrooms inspire active, col-
laborative and reflective environments through discussions, project-based learning and
new attitudes that prepare students for higher education and labour market.
3. TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH ICT
The ICT content has been incorporated into the Educational laws to ensure that
all students have the opportunity to become competent and effective users of techno-
logy. A report made by the National Institute of Multimedia Education in Japan proved
that an increase in student exposure to educational ICT through curriculum integration
has a significant and positive impact on student achievement, especially in terms of
knowledge, comprehension and practical skills, in subject areas such as Mathematics,
Science, and Social studies.
ICT can improve student learning and teaching methods. However, there are many
education technology solutions which might cause some confusion among the educa-
tional community about how to choose the right ICT solution. In this respect ICT seem
to have advantages and disadvantages. Some of the advantages of ICT in education are:
• More images can be introduced in the classroom, related to topics and situ-
ations that interest students. Teenagers retain and memorise concepts easier
through images.
• Teachers can easily explain complex instruction using audio-visual resour-
ces and presentations. This would ensure students' comprehension.
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• Thanks to ICT, teachers can create interactive classes and make the lesson
plans more entertaining, which would improve students' concentration and
attendance.
On the other hand, teaching and learning through ICT may also have some disad-
vantages, such as:
• Setting up the devices can be troublesome. Lessons should be prepared se-

veral days ahead of time so the teacher is prepared to set all the equipment
as fast as possible, and, in some occasions, this is not possible.
• Some teachers are not especially brilliant with ICT, maybe because they
have not received proper ICT formation or because they are not interested
in the topic. This turns the use of ICT tools into something stressful and the
teacher might end by giving up using them in the classroom.
• To some schools, teaching and learning through ICT may involve an expen-
sive outlay that they just cannot afford and they have failed to invest in tech-
nology. While some schools have an excellent ICT infrastructure in each of
their classrooms, many other schools are still requiring teachers to reserve
time in the computer lab.
However, all these inconveniences should not tangle the importance of ICT in Eng-
lish teaching and learning. Technology is moving fast and new approaches in Education
need to catch up. Where ICT is used in education, there are different types of methods
used to improve learning. They include e-learning, blended learning and open-distance
learning, among others. This will be explained in following chapters.
Educational ICT tools can be divided into 3 categories: input sources, output sources,
and audiovisual aids. We will study them deeply in this section.
3.1. INPUT SOURCES
• Video and DVD. Video was introduced in the classroom in the late 1980s,
and broadened new horizons and new strategies to foreign language acqui-
sition. It gave teachers the opportunity to bring real input into the classroom
and it helped, not only to link images together with sounds but also to cre-
ate different learning contexts. It heightens the retention of information in
the memory and is less difficult than carrying a load of information.
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Video, and specially DVDs, are also used in today's learning environments.
They are mainly used to improve listening skills, and there are plenty of tasks
we can develop in the classroom. Students tend to distract easily and to focus
their attention on irrelevant aspects of the video. That is why these tasks must
be carefully chosen and monitored constantly by the teacher. Balatova (1994,
p. 506) suggests that the first signs of distractions in those groups appeared
after the first minute, and by the end of four minutes, distraction spread all
over the group, while in the video conditions several more students get dis-
tracted after six minutes, more students lost concentration after ten minutes
and around one third of them kept watching until the end.
To avoid these distractions, we need to make sure the video materials we have
chosen are not too intense or too long (for Secondary students, DVD clips
should take in length between 30 seconds and ten minutes, depending on the
activity) or too difficult for their level (if the content and level of language is
too dense or the speech is too fast, for example). Also, the aim of the activity
must be clear from the very beginning so we can exploit the macro-listening
skills and the micro-listening skills independently and through an appropriate
activity. Another important consideration when presenting a video activity
is to mind the age and maturity of the group of students; if they are not
interested in the topic, they will not be motivated to take part in the activity.
Some video techniques we may use, as presented by Harmer (1991, p. 214),
are the following:
– Silent viewing: turning off the sound on the TV or monitor and mak-
ing use of the visuals on their own.
– Freeze frame: using one single frame so the students can guess what
is happening or what the characters will say.
– Using sound only: students can predict where a conversation is tak-
ing place or who the speakers are only by listening the clip.
– Jigsaw viewing: two groups of students watch two different video
clips and then exchange information.
– Video production: these kinds of tasks bring dedication, motivation
and creativity to the classroom. They also develop teamwork and
management and equipment responsibilities.
In the early 2000s, schools started to incorporate in the classrooms the use
of tablets and laptops as a substitution of the DVD, but with the same pur-
pose and usage.
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• Language Lab. The origins of language labs can be found in Edison's tin
phonograph. It was first used to preserve and produce sounds. Until the
1890s, records could not be copied or used more than once.
In the 1980s, Audio-lingual Method approach started to use language labs
in a daily basis, and they provided an excellent tool for guided repetition
and language drills; students could listen and repeat the audio materials,
while the teachers monitored the lesson and gave specific feedback when
necessary. Thanks to these theories, schools began to install listening sta-
tions that used headphones and audio tapes and this practice is still in use
today, except now computers are used instead of audio tapes.
These activities might be seen as effective for some theories, but also use-
less and a waste of time for some others as it is very difficult to develop
communicative skills through this tool. For that reason, teachers are now
re-evaluating and modifying language labs so students can practice com-
munication and interaction.
Students achieve facility in using a language when their attention is focused on

conveying and receiving authentic messages (that is, messages that contain
information of interest to speaker and listener in a situation of importance to
both). This is interaction.
Rivers (1997, p. 4)
The use of language laboratories today is linked to Computer Assisted Lan-

guage Learning, that is, to the use of computers to create environments that
cannot be reproduce in a regular classroom. The language lab can serve as
an invaluable tool as they involve the learners in a way that intrinsically
motivates, reduces anxiety and creates a desire to outshine.
• Audio. In some occasions, even if the material has been revised and tested
by the teacher, listening material seems to be difficult for some students to
understand. Playing the audio track many times is not a solution: those stu-
dents who understand it better will be bored and distracted, and those who
have more difficulties might feel worried and unmotivated with the task.
One effective way to solve the situation is setting the context of the listening
topic before playing the track. A good explanation about what they are going
to hear and even some brief pre-listening activities (for example, guessing
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questions or predicting what will happen at the end) will help students to
focus on a specific set of vocabulary and expressions and will make the lis-
tening easier to understand. Also, give students a moment to read through
the questions, and make sure they understand what they are asking. You
can also allow them to take notes before listening.
Another solution might be playing the listening in chunks. This will make
the listening task less stressful, and teachers can make sure that the students
have understood each part before moving to the next one.
3.2. OUTPUT SOURCES
• Overhead Projector. Initially used by the U.S. military for training pur-
poses in World War II, overhead projectors quickly spread to schools and
became one of the most popular tools for educational resources. They were
mainly used with large classes to conduct many activities related to differ-
ent areas. It was one of the most widely used because of the low prices and
the ease of use; teachers only needed a plain surface to project and some
transparencies, which were usually handmade by the teachers.
However, overhead projectors have fallen into disuse these days. Multimedia
projectors and computer monitors are becoming the centrepiece of the class-
rooms as they bring more learning opportunities and variety to the classroom.
• Interactive whiteboard. It might be the most representative ICT tool in
the classroom. Traditional blackboards, one of the biggest inventions in
terms of educational tools, got a renewal with the interactive whiteboards
in the late 1990s. They turned into a more interactive system that uses a
touch-sensitive white screen, a projector, and a computer. The whiteboard
becomes a computer screen that can be seen by the entire classroom. The
projector shows the content from a computer onto board, while the teacher
controls the lesson contents with a pointer or by touching the screen, instead
of using a keyboard and mouse. The combination of software with the pro-
jector results in much more than simply a projected image.
Anything that can be done on the computer can be replicated on the inter-
active whiteboard. Through this device, the teacher creates engaging les-
sons that might integrate multiple items into such as websites, pictures and
matching activities that students can interact with, respond to orally or write
on the board itself. Contemporary research has proved that students learn
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better when they are fully engaged and interactive whiteboards provide an
excellent opportunity to recreate classroom environments where students
with different learning styles can engage and learn from each other. This
easy-to-learn technology ensures that both students and teachers are de-
veloping 21st century skills.
3.3. AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS
Audio-visual aids can help to enhance the power of a presentation. In the teaching
of language, the main purpose of the use of audio-visual aids is to enable the teacher to
make lessons effective and engaging. Examples of visual aids that can be used in the
classroom are charts, slide presentations and handouts, among others. The following
points are important for a proper use of teaching aids.
3.3.1. Using audio-visual aids successfully
In this section you will find some strategies about designing presentations and using
visual aids that might be useful for you, both for your lessons but also for your the TFM.
• Obey 'The Rule of Five' when designing a visual aid: Limit yourself to no
more than five lines of text per slide and no more than five words per line.
Try to not overload a visual aid with unnecessary information, because stu-
dents might feel overwhelmed and lose interest and concentration.
• Ensure the logistics of the setting are handy to the visual aid: Make sure that
everyone can see the visual aid, that any electronic equipment necessary
for the visual aid is functioning (and that the teacher knows how to make it
work), and that the visual aid is set up before the speech (students get very
impatient and disoriented when they have to wait while the teacher fiddles
with their equipment.). And, remember, technology is not always foolproof:
make sure you have a backup plan just in case all of the above is not working.
• Announce a slide before you show it: Giving background on what students
need to pay attention will help them to understand the content of the speech.
• Maintain eye contact and do not turn you back to the audience: A teacher
should always pay attention to the audience and not to the visual aid itself.
That is why we should never turn our back to the students; if we lose eye
contact, we often end up losing students' interest and attention as well.
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• Pictures and diagrams are normally more effective than words: As they say,
'a picture is worth a thousand words'. However, we should use them appro-
priately to minimize distractions. Also, we should not allow the visual aid
to overwhelm the important thing, that is, the lesson itself.
• Control when your audience reads a handout: If your visual aid requires any
supporting material or any handout to work with, avoid distributing them
before the speech, as students will be reading and analysing the paper instead
of listening to the speech. Materials should be passed out the moment we
need to work with it. Also, make sure all students have received the hand-
out before giving instructions.
• Practice before using visual aids in the classroom: The visual aid adds is a
support for the audience, and the teacher should be able to smoothly inter-
act with the aid and use it naturally. Keep in mind that experiencing with
one type of visual aid (a Power point presentation, for example) does not
necessarily provide the resources to deal with other resources.
4. 21st CENTURY TOOLS
Education World offers new ICT content every day. But if we are not into ICT or if
we are beginners in the use of ICT in the classroom, we can easily become overwhelmed
by the variety of tools that are available online today. In order to effectively choose the
appropriate tool, educationally relevant Web 2.0 tools have been grouped into catego-
ries below, which are reflective of 21st century skills.
• Collaborative tools. Learning is more effective when learners can share

processes, ideas and knowledge. Collaborative tools allow students to use
the network to work together, both within and beyond the classroom. Indeed,
more than just working in groups, collaboration emphasizes activities where
each student comes up with new knowledge and understanding, due to the
interactions with their classmates. Sharing, contributing to, reflecting on and
listening to different opinions are all important parts of this process, with the
outcome being a shared development of understanding. Examples of col-
laborative tools are Busuu (an online community for learning languages),
Google Docs (a space to create documents, spreadsheets and presentation
online offered by Google) and Lucidchart, a great website for concept map-
ping and presenting complex ideas by creating flowcharts. It also allows
collaboration with partners for real-time feedback and brainstorming.
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• Communication tools. Digital communication, which enables the students

to talk to one or more partners at the same time. To develop communica-
tion by using ICT, we may use Eyejot, which allows the user to create and
send video messages. Another communication tool is Voki, a service that
allows users to create interactive avatars. The service also includes the "Voki
classroom", with learning resources, materials and lesson plans available
for free. To improve digital communication among teachers, we can use
WeTheTeachers, an online social networking where teachers find and share
learning materials and educational resources.
• Creativity and Innovation tools. These tools will help us to be creative
when preparing digital activities. Prezi is an innovative and creative way
to create and share zooming presentations and it presents as an alternative
to traditional Power point. MuseumBox is a web tool where students can
build up an argument or description by combining texts and images. Another
example of a creativity tool is Scratch, an incredibly powerful teaching tool
to create and share games, music, art and stories.
• Problem solving and Productivity. In order to make a busy teacher's life
more manageable and to improve organization skills, there are some ICT
tools we can incorporate to our lesson plans. Assign-A-Day is a tool that
allows teachers to create and manage calendars, add and delete tasks and
projects, and give a description of assignments. All this information can be
shared with other colleagues or even with students. DocsPal can convert
documents, video files, audio files, images, e-books, and archived files from
one file type to another. If our purpose is to organize and save information
for later, we may use Pocket, a tool used to save articles, videos, and images
that you would like to read or view later.
5. CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EDTECH TEACHER
It is undeniable that technological development has affected the main areas of

our lives: the way we see the world, communicate, learn, and, of course, the way we
teach.
Teaching in the 21st century is an altogether distinct scene; learning never happened
this way before; we find new learning resources everywhere and all time, supporting any
possible learning approach or learning preference.
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Tsisana Palmer, ESL teacher and Educational Technology specialist at Boise State
University, establishes some characteristics of a 21-st century teacher (Edutopia 2015):
1. Learner-Centered Classroom and Personalized Instructions. Recent

studies and education approaches, such as Gardner's theory of multiple intel-
ligences supports the idea that learners have different personalities, goals
and educational needs, a more personalized education is required so these
students can achieve their goals. This personalized instructions should depart
from the students themselves; as Palmer says, "when students are allowed
to make their own choices, they own their learning, increase intrinsic moti-
vation, and put in more effort".
2. Students as producers. Even if we are living in a technological era and
we all have technological devices close at hand, it is still very common at
schools that students always have to work with physical handout and tradi-
tional worksheets. Today's students are digital natives, and we as teachers
should take advantage of that situation and let them produce digital content
instead of traditional writing activities, which are thrown away once graded
or stored in a desk. However, if you urge our students to create blogs, tutori-
als or movies, to name a few, not only motivational and creative skills would
be developed, but also we can teach them essential values such as teamwork,
cooperation and time management. Even younger students would see the
value of writing for real audience and establishing their digital presence.
3. Learn New Technologies. Since technology keeps developing, teachers
should be prepared and trained in order to give our digital natives the best
possible learning experience. There are many websites which have many
resources for learning new technologies, both for novice and more experi-
enced teachers. Some of these webs are busyteacher.org, theteacherscorner.
net and readwritethink.org.
4. Go global. It is a sad thing that with all the tools available, we still learn
about other cultures, people, and events from the textbooks. Teaching
students how to use the digital tools in their hands to practice and learn
languages, cultures, and communication skills will make them more knowl-
edgeable and considerate to the rest of the world.
5. Go digital. Organizing teaching resources and activities on one's own web-
site and integrating technology bring students learning experience to a dif-
ferent level. Sharing links and offering digital discussions as opposed to a
constant paper flow allows students to access and share class resources in
a more organized mode.
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6. Collaborate. Collaboration should go beyond sharing documents via e-mail

or creating Power Point presentations. Technology improves and encour-
ages collaboration between teachers and students. Creating digital resources,
presentations, and projects, together with other teachers from the school and
different classrooms students will make activities resemble the real world.
7. Use social networks. Participating in Twitter chats is the cheapest and
most efficient way to organize one's own professional development, share
research and ideas, and stay current with issues and updates in the field. We
can also use them to interact with our students outside the classroom and
develop a specific task. Sergio Pérez Marrero (@asergioperez), high school
teacher and professor at Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, gives
their students some 'food for thought' activities through hash tags on Twit-
ter. Students can connect and interact with each other while sharing their
knowledge and their opinions about the given topic –there is a great con-
versation happening with every activity.
Besides, working with social networks allows us to grow professionally and
to connect with like-minded individuals anywhere, any time. Have a ques-
tion for an expert or colleague? Simply connect via social media.
8. Project-Based Learning. As today's students can access to authentic
resources on the web, experts anywhere in the world, and peers learning
the same subject somewhere else, teaching with textbooks is very out of
fashion. Today's students should develop their own driving questions, con-
duct their research, contact experts, and create final projects to share all
using devices already in their hands. All they need from their teacher is
guidance.
9. Innovate. Teachers should expand their teaching toolbox and try new ways
you have not tried before, such as teaching with social media or replacing
textbooks with web resources. For example, using TED talks and activities
based on those videos will give students a very different feedback and they
will feel motivated, not for the use of ICT in the classroom itself, but the
new, more productive and interesting ways of using them.
10. Keep learning. It might sound obvious, but as new ways and new technol-
ogy keep emerging, learning and adapting is essential. Learn how to use
ICT in the classroom more effectively, how to produce and publish valuable
content, and how to create shareable resources. This might sound compli-
cated at first if we are not edtech experts, but just like in every other field,
a step at a time can take go a long way.
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6. CONCLUSION
We can conclude with the idea that we should do everything in our power to avoid
being too enthusiastic about the equipment itself. It is only worth using it when tradi-
tional things cannot. The essentials of good teaching –good activities, motivation, giving
productive feedback– will always be more important than the actual means of delivery.
We need to do everything we can to stay updated about the use of ICT in educational
resources, but we should never let technology drive our decisions about teaching and
learning.
This unit has tried to consider critically what ICT is relation to education, what su-
ccesses have been achieved and what the future will bring to younger students. What
we know for sure is that ICT has come to stay. It is already integrated in the curriculum
to provide different sources of information and help in no small way in improving tra-
ditional classroom interaction.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• BYOD approach. It stands for "bring your own device", and refers to stu-
dents bringing their own technology (smart phones, tablets, laptops...) for
educational use.
• Critical thinking. A disciplined process of actively conceptualizing, ana-
lysing, and evaluating information gathered from observation, experience
and reasoning.
• Feedback. Helpful information that is given to students to say what can be
done to improve an activity.
• Multiple intelligences. The idea of identifying strengths and weaknesses
in students so they can acquire language and knowledge through a variety
of means.
• Language Lab. A room prepared and designed for learning foreign lan-
guages and normally equipped with DVDs, tape recorders or computers,
connected to monitoring devices that enables the teacher to work with stu-
dents both individually and in groups.
• Podcasts. A method of publishing audio files via the Internet that can be
downloaded from a website to a media player or computer.
 T
1. Apart from practising language skills in the classroom, what other skills can
you develop when using the Internet?
2. Visit http://www.broadway.com/. Choose any of the musicals available and
design four different activities (one for each skill) to completed on the Web.
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Write an explanation showing how the activities would be carried out and
how they would serve to learn the items you are addressing, which are of
your choice. Remember to include the course and level of your students.
3. Prepare a Power point presentation with a topic of your choice. Keep into
consideration the strategies studied in this unit.
4. After observing some ESL classes in your Practicum, do you think audio-
visual aids and other technical resources are successfully used in the class-
room? How would you have improved the lesson?
 REFERENCES
Brown, J.S and P. Duguid. (2000). The Social Life of Information. Boston MA: Harvard Business School
Press.
Ecs.lewsiham.gov.au.uk, (2015). au.uk. [online] Available at: http://ecs.lewsiham.gov.au.uk [Accessed 14
Nov. 2015].
Edutopia, (2015). 15 Characteristics of a 21st-Century Teacher. [online] Available at: http://www.edutopia.
org/discussion/15-characteristics-21st-century-teacher [Accessed 15 Nov. 2015].
Manichander, T. (2015). Teacher Education. Maharashtra: Laxmi Book Publication.
McLaren, N., Madrid, D., and Bueno, A. (2005). TEFL in Secondary Education. Granada: Universidad de
Granada.
Newtech.coe.uh.edu, (2015). New Technologies and 21st Century Skills. [online] Available at: http://new-
tech.coe.uh.edu/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2015].
Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. Oxford: Pearson Education.
Hughes, J. and Mallet, A. (2012). Successful presentations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rivers, W. (1987). Interactive language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Warschauer, M. and Kern, R. (2000). Network-Based Language Teaching: Concepts and Practice. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press.
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7
UNIT
VIRTUAL LEARNING
ENVIRONMENTS AND
BLENDED LEARNING
1. Introduction
2. Virtual learning environments (VLE)
2.1. What is a VLE?
2.2. Potential benefits of the VLE
2.3. Challenges related to the VLE
2.4. Available platforms
2.5. Content creation
3. Blended learning
3.1. Types of blended learning
3.2. Why use blended learning?
3.3. Blended approach for oral skills
3.4. Blended approach for written skills
3.5. Difficulties with the blended approach
4. Summary
Basic concepts
References
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• Identify the most common types of VLE and their functions.
• Understand the potential benefits and drawbacks of employing a VLE in
foreign language education.
• Identify and compare possibilities for content creation to be used on a VLE.
• Recognize the different types of blended learning and their applications to
TEFL.
• Apply blended learning techniques to EFL methodology.
• Evaluate blended learning tools according to their pedagogical uses.
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L. R. Buckingham Virtual learning environments and blended learning
1. INTRODUCTION
We make use of technology in many aspects of our lives, and its influence on edu-
cation is inevitable. In fact, in some ways, the link between language learning and tech-
nology is difficult to separate.
"If we want to write a paper, we inevitably make use of a computer; if we want

to track down a reference we make use of the Internet. We also use tools like
Skype to interview participants in research projects. The students need the kind
of digital literacy skills that help them make effective use of these tools and that
language on its own is no longer the object of study" (Lankshear and Knobel,
2003, as cited in Motteram & Sharma, 2009:85)
For this reason and several others, virtual learning environments (VLEs) have
become an important part of education, especially at the university level and in pro-
fessional development, though they exist at most educational levels to a greater or
lesser degree. In this unit we will discuss some reasons behind making use of VLEs,
potential benefits and challenges related to their use, and some of the available options.
This will lead into a discussion of the types and possibilities for blended learning, or
the combination of VLEs and other online technologies with the traditional face-to-
face classroom.
2. VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (VLE)
2.1. WHAT IS A VLE?
To describe the same concept, there are several terms in use, most commonly: vir-
tual learning environment (VLE), learning management system (LMS), and course
management system (CMS). They are all synonyms which describe an online space in
which educators provide teaching/learning materials and students and teachers interact
for learning purposes. Dillenbourg, Schneider and Synteta (2002) offer the following
list of characteristics:
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• A virtual learning environment is a designed information space.

• A virtual learning environment is a social space: educational interactions
occur in the environment, turning spaces into places.
• The virtual space is explicitly represented: the representation of this infor-
mation/social space can vary from text to 3D immersive worlds.
• Students are not only active, but also actors: they co-construct the virtual
space.
• Virtual learning environments are not restricted to distance education: they
also enrich classroom activities.
• Virtual learning environments integrate heterogeneous technologies and
multiple pedagogical approaches.
• Most virtual environments overlap with physical environments.
These tools are generally quite complex and offer many different possibilities to
teachers, students, and school administration. Table 1 summarizes some of the main
functions of a VLE.
Table 1. Functions of a VLE
Teacher Student Administration
• Assessment ofstudents • Intuitive design and easy na- • Centralization and automa-
• Providing feedback vigation tion of course administra-
• Collaborationwith peers tion
• Allowing students to submit
and share their work • Access from different mobile • Consolidation of training
devices initiatives on a scalable web-
• Collaborationwith peers
based platform
• Tracking ofstudent progress • Contact teacher and peers
• Rapid assembly and deli-
• Generate reports • Access to learning materials
very of learning content
from anywhere at any time
• Sharing of different media • Support for portability and
and learning materials standards
• Personalization ofcontent
and enabling ofknowledge
reuse
Adapted from Faruque, 2012.
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2.2. POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF THE VLE
The VLE can provide many benefits to the teaching-learning process, though these
depend on many factors, especially those related to the content that is provided on the
VLE. In essence, a VLE is simply a different medium or space for the teaching-learning
process. Therefore, most of the same considerations for choosing materials and dynamics
for the classroom will apply to this process on a VLE. Of course, there will be additional
concerns, some of which are detailed below as challenges related to the VLE.
Dillenbourg, Schneider and Synteta (2002) summarize the potential benefits of a VLE
as increased social interaction, affordances for collaborative learning, and the effect of
teaching outside the web. It is clear that when using a VLE, the opportunities for social
interaction are multiplied, given that students are able to connect at any time and in any
place they have an Internet connection. This allows ongoing interaction within the learn-
ing group and with the teacher, providing additional language practice and contact with
course content. It also permits the student to request help or ask a question whenever it
may occur to him or her, rather than waiting for the next class.
This social interaction may take place in a variety of ways: synchronous or asyn-
chronous, text-based or audio- or video-based, one-to-one or one-to-many. Interaction
may be synchronous, as in the form of a chat, or asynchronous, as in the form of messages
and forums. Individuals most often interact in text form, though a VLE also provides the
possibility for audio- or video-based interaction, given its multimedia nature. Finally, inter-
action may be one-to-one, as in messages or emails, or one-to-many, as in open forums or
wikis. Dillenbourg, Schneider and Synteta (2002) stress that the purpose of a VLE is not
to imitate face-to-face communication, but rather explore the new communicative func-
tionalities offered by online interaction, discovering those which are more or less effective.
This increase in social interaction can be elaborated into a form of collaborative

learning if used properly. In this case, the objective would be for the social interaction
to go beyond a simple answering of questions. Instead, students should be encouraged
to negotiate meaning through rich interactions, which include explaining their ideas and
opinions, arguing about the meanings of terms and concepts, and so on.
Dillenbourg, Schneider and Synteta (2002) suggest encouraging students to shift

into a collaborative role through two main teacher actions: structuring collaboration and
regulating interactions. When structuring collaboration among students, the teacher does
not simply describe a task. Instead, he or she specifies a scenario or script with several
phases that students have to go through to eventually produce something. The teacher
assigns roles to the individuals in the group, such as criticizing the partner's proposal,
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summarizing what the partner has read, or probing the partner for justifications, which
are meant to trigger productive interactions. At the same time, to ensure that collabora-
tion is taking place, the teacher (or another figure) has to regulate interactions among the
group. This person does not intervene at task level, rather he or she is there to make sure
that all group members participate, to point out contradictions between ideas or members,
and so on. This is quite difficult for a teacher to do, especially if the interaction is syn-
chronous and there are 30 students divided into groups. Therefore, it is essential to look
for an alternative, such as one member of each group which is responsible for this role.
A third potential benefit of the VLE is the effect it may have on in-class learning.
Since the role of the teacher shifts from educator to facilitator in the VLE, and there are
many opportunities for interaction and collaboration among students, the hope is that
these tendencies influence traditional classroom settings. In fact, there is a study that sug-
gests that teachers working part-time at a virtual university indeed changed their teach-
ing style in the classroom setting by including more collaborative learning practices and
viewing themselves more as facilitators instead of providers of knowledge (Harasim, in
press, as cited in Dillenbourg, Schneider & Synteta, 2002).
2.3. CHALLENGES RELATED TO THE VLE
There are three main challenges related to the VLE: a change in teaching practices,
the technology involved and time. First, as hinted at in the previous section, teaching
using a VLE implies a change in practice and methods. As Madjidi et al. (1999) point out,
there has been a tendency to try to replicate the traditional classroom, and the practices it
entails, in a virtual environment. However, there needs to be a revision in the curriculum
and a shift toward involving students more in the teaching-learning process. As mentioned
above, the teacher will need to act as a facilitator rather than the knowledge provider.
Second, the technology itself is an issue when incorporating any new technologies
into education. There is a danger that the role of ICT in education be driven by the tech-
nology, rather than by pedagogical goals. Therefore, the technological issues should not
be dismissed, and they should not be the only concern. Instead, there should be an effort
to define the relationship between technological (or technical) choices and the teaching-
learning process (Dillenbourg, Schneider & Synteta, 2002).
Finally, time is a considerable factor, and it affects the teacher in two significant
ways. First, even though computer-based training was once considered to be more time-
effective than traditional training, this is not true with Internet-based teaching (Dillen-
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bourg, Schneider & Synteta, 2002). Therefore, it is important to consider our students'
availability when assigning work to be done on a VLE, and the teacher's preparation
time should also be taken into account, given the significant amount of time an Internet-
based activity takes to set up. Second, timing the activities proposed is also an impor-
tant consideration on a VLE. It is rather different from in-class learning in that certain
tasks may require more time so that all students may take part at their convenience. In
this change in timing, the dynamics of the activity also change, so that the teacher must
take this factor into account (Dillenbourg, Schneider & Synteta, 2002).
2.4. AVAILABLE PLATFORMS
There are three main types of VLE platforms currently available: open source,
commercial platforms and virtual spaces. An open source program is one that is freely
available to anyone to download and that offers the source code to permit manipulating
and further developing the program to those who wish to do so. There are several open
source VLEs, including Moodle, Sakai CLE, Apereo OAE, Canvas and Gibbon (see
References for the websites).
Moodle is probably the most widely used and known open source VLE. It was
developed in 2001 and is currently run from its headquarters in Perth, Australia. The
organization has built up a rather large community of users which include universities,
schools and businesses around the world. Through a collaborative effort that includes
user feedback, Moodle is continually being developed and new versions are released
periodically. There is extensive support available through the organization's own Moo-
dle (moodle.org). It is essentially a modular system that supports different types of plug-
ins that allows administrators and educators to create personalized courses for various
kinds of content and activities. The VLE also allows for tracking, evaluation and report-
ing, which is extremely useful for those who use it.
There are also several commercial platforms currently on the market, including
Blackboard, Echo 360, Desire2Learn, StudyWiz and Frog (see References for the web-
sites). Generally, these VLE offer similar functions that can be adapted to an educational
or professional training setting. In addition, these companies offer a series of services to
their clients and most will work with a school or organization to provide personalized
solutions, including interfacing with an existing platform or intranet.
Finally, virtual spaces can also be considered a VLE, if used for learning purposes.
They are virtual worlds that exist online that often attempt to imitate a real-world setting,
or at least a fantasy-based version of the real world. However, these spaces are much
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more open and multipurpose so that a considerable amount of preparation and develop-
ment is often needed before one can use them as a learning environment.
SecondLife is the most commonly known example of a virtual space, and there
are many published examples of its use for educational purposes. In this platform, each
student and teacher creates an avatar to represent them virtually. They can then create
and interact in a given virtual space, which may be as simple as recreating a classroom
setting in order for people around the world to "meet" and discuss certain topics. These
spaces can even be connected to others, such as a library, a course website or e-mail.
Other educational uses include virtual operations for medical students, scientific experi-
ments, or recreating crime scenes for criminology students. It is essentially only limited
by the imagination and technical abilities of the teacher or developer.
2.5. CONTENT CREATION
A VLE is really only a shell that provides the structure for an online course. One
can add tools such as forums, wikis, chats, links, etc. However, there is also a need for
content for learning, which may be available offline or online. If content is wished to be
shared online, the teacher or course developer will have to create this content for it to
later be shared on the platform. Content may be static or interactive and it can be shared
online in many different ways.
Static content may take several different forms, which is the advantage offered by
a VLE as compared to a textbook, for example. Content may be shared in documents
of various digital formats, though the pdf format is generally used for compatibility and
security reasons. A pdf document can be created from any number of original documents
including text documents, presentations and spreadsheets, and may include a mixture of
text, figures, graphs, Internet links and images. A VLE is also appropriate for sharing other
types of media such as videos or audio recordings, though there is often a limit for the
size of any given file to be uploaded to the platform, generally determined by the platform
administrator and the server capacity. Finally, content can be shared by creating pages
on the platform, generally in html format, though this type of content may not be com-
patible between platforms and its creation may require some basic technical knowledge.
Interactive content is often highly valued by students as it provides an opportunity

for them to interact with the online course, which usually favors learning. It may come
from several different sources or be developed by the course creator or the teacher. Many
publishers now offer the possibility to purchase or subscribe to interactive content that is
compatible with most VLEs. It may act as a complement to the textbook being used in
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the classroom, replace the textbook entirely, or stand alone as an independent resource
for general or skill-specific practice.
The person creating the course for the VLE may also develop personalized interac-
tive content, though it is important to take into consideration the compatibility with the
VLE. The content has to be packed in a way that is recognized by the VLE and allows
the results of the interaction (quiz scores, number of attempts, percent complete, etc.) to
be recorded by the platform and available to the student and teacher. For this reason a
standard packaging system called SCORM was created in 1999 by a research group in
the U.S. Department of Defense and has been since modified to newer versions for max-
imum compatibility. SCORM stands for "Sharable Content Object Reference Model"
and is the most common of these universal standards. Basically, it consists of a specially
packaged .zip file that contains technical information and formatting that makes com-
munication with the VLE possible.
In order to create interactive content that is compatible with all VLEs, developers
and teachers should use a specialized program or application that helps them properly
package the content. Examples include Xerte (open source), Adobe Authorware, Articu-
late, HotPotatoes and Qwizdom (see References for websites).
3. BLENDED LEARNING
As Motteram and Sharma (2009) point out, it is most important that EFL teachers
have a complete understanding of general learning theory and Second Language Acqui-
sition before attempting to blend practices, processes and technologies for their learners.
After all, technology has the potential to make a difference in the learning process, but
the underlying methodology will determine its success. Even so, the same authors admit
that students often find technology motivating and governments often make consider-
able investments to include the use of the latest technologies in school systems. There-
fore, in this section we will consider different ways to blend technology and traditional
classroom dynamics in an attempt to enhance the EFL teaching and learning process.
3.1. TYPES OF BLENDED LEARNING
Motteram and Sharma (2009) suggest that there are three different types of blended
courses:
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• Dual track. The teacher-led classroom runs parallel to a self-study portion

of the course. The latter may be in the form of a CD-ROM, a VLE, etc., but
there is no interaction between the two parts of the course.
• Integrated approach. Students are generally given technology-based work
either as pre-class work or consolidation work. The technology is used to
fill the time between class meetings.
• Embedded approach. Technology is embedded throughout the classroom
in different forms, such as an interactive whiteboard (IWB), an Internet con-
nection, Web 2.0 tools, CD-ROMs, etc.
While considering the type of blending that will be most appropriate for the sit-
uation, Liang and Bonk (2007) also propose three possible dimensions of interac-
tion to keep in mind when designing a blended learning approach specific to the EFL
context.
• Textual interaction includes interaction with reading and writing mate-

rials. Including this interaction online allows for links to further informa-
tion and encourages students to construct their own meaning from texts.
Including different combinations of linguistic activities and reading mate-
rials will facilitate meaning construction and content engagement in textual
interaction.
• Social interaction includes interaction with others in social learning envi-
ronments. This dimension is based on Vygotsky's theory of the ZPD and on
the use and development of social learning strategies. The use of different
forms of instructional techniques and organizational structures will facili-
tate the use of learning and communication strategies and active participa-
tion in social interaction within the group.
• Technological interaction includes interaction with or through technolo-
gies. By providing opportunities for the use of rich media and supporting
technology, we can facilitate flexible learning and interactive experiences
with the realm of technological interaction.
3.2. WHY USE BLENDED LEARNING?
There are many reasons for adding technology to a face-to-face classroom situa-
tion, and as mentioned above, they ought to be based on sound methodology. Liang and
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Bonk (2007) suggest the following situations that may justify the inclusion of technol-
ogy in some form:
• Self-paced skills practice.

• Collaboration and communication.
• Project-based learning.
• Content-based learning.
• Other academic or specific purposes.
When considering the possibility of proposing blended learning for our students,
we should ask ourselves the following three questions:
• Why would we like to blend web-based interaction with our face-to-face

learning?
• What is added to the experience that cannot be obtained in a traditional
classroom?
• What is the best way to blend effectively? (Liang & Bonk, 2007).
3.3. BLENDED APPROACH FOR ORAL SKILLS
The blended approach can be used to strengthen students' oral skills and give them
more listening and speaking outside of class. There are several ways to do this, inclu-
ding, but not limited to, the following:
• CDs, videos and podcasts. The format will depend on what is available
and most convenient for the students. However, audio and video can be
used outside of class to help strengthen students' listening skills. As with
any material, the teacher should take into account students' interests so as
to motivate them to make use of the resources. Also, it is probably wise to
draw some connection between these activities and the classroom in order
to give students a reason to complete them. For example, they might bring
the results of a post-listening exercise to class or complete it in class from
notes they have taken about what they heard.
• Guided speaking practice. Motteram and Sharma (2009) suggest the use
of recordings to provide students with speaking samples, which they then
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repeat aloud in order to compare their own pronunciation and intonation to

the original. It can be good practice for students to record their own voices
to obtain some degree of objectivity when comparing their own speech to
a model.
• Recordings of presentations and feedback. The teacher can record stu-
dents' class presentations or interventions and send the recordings to the stu-
dents to encourage self-evaluation. Additional listening practice is achieved
if the teacher also records his or her feedback orally to send to the student
(Motteram & Sharma, 2009).
• Videoconferencing. This can be done in a number of ways and between dif-
ferent people, such as student-student, student-teacher, student-community
member, and it may be done in or outside the classroom. For example, Wu,
Yen and Marek (2011) performed a study in which live interactive vide-
oconferences were held for groups of students with an American professor
on topics of American culture. They found that students' linguistic abili-
ties, motivation and confidence all increased as a result. At the same time,
Gillies (2008, as cited in Wu, Yen & Marek, 2011) warns that videocon-
ferencing can cause students to become passive, as if they were watching
the television. To combat this danger, the conference should be interactive
and a task might be set during or afterwards.
3.4. BLENDED APPROACH FOR WRITTEN SKILLS
The blended approach is also often used for strengthening students' reading and
writing skills as there are several tools that can be used quite effectively for these pur-
poses. One aspect that makes blended learning particularly beneficial for improving
writing skills is the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools. This fits very neatly with the
writing process while adding a technological aspect that can help teachers identify each
student's contributions and witness the collaborative process for support and evaluation
purposes. Also, given the vast amount of information and texts available online, there
is immediate and easy access to authentic materials on virtually any topic which can be
used to motivate and engage students. All of the following resources may be integrated
or linked to a VLE or used independently.
• Online news and texts. While it is perhaps the simplest of online resources,
news articles and other texts may be easily employed in blended learning
approaches. Liang and Bonk (2009) suggest that this resource allows for
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flexibility and student ownership of learning if they are allowed to choose

their own materials. When making use of online texts, students can practice
newly learned strategies for comprehension while they develop their read-
ing skills. When taken a step further, students may practice writing skills
such as paraphrasing, summarizing and manipulating multimedia texts.
• Blogs. While existing blogs may be a textual source as seen above, a class
blog can also be an effective tool for writing practice and collaborative learn-
ing. Blogs may be most often used for peer review purposes, though they
may also be useful for pre- and post-essay writing. There is a concern that
has come up in studies regarding the use of blogs for peer review purposes
that classmates' comments are often superficial and limited to encourag-
ing remarks or lower-order concerns (grammatical and lexical) rather than
higher-order (organization and content) (Wu, 2006; Wang, 2009, as cited
in Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010). This can be counterbalanced somewhat by
training students to offer constructive criticism. Another use of blogs could
also be student reflective free writing in which they are encouraged to write
about what they wish in the hopes of motivating them to practice their writ-
ing (Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010).
• Forums. This tool makes asynchronous collaboration and discussion pos-
sible while keeping it natural, given its conversational nature. In fact, some
studies show that the use of forums may also support oral skills since the
language employed shares some characteristics with oral speech (Montero
et al, 2007, as cited in Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010). One simple applica-
tion of the forum tool is online discussions of topics previously chosen in
class. Miyazoe and Anderson (2010) suggest selecting one or two volunteer
moderators to facilitate each forum discussion in order to keep the group
on task. Another possibility is to use a forum for an intercultural exchange
with a twin school. One study on such forum use suggested that students
displayed collaborative dialogue in their postings including lexical uptake,
uptake of content-relevant ideas, and uses of references, quotes, headings
and personal examples to mitigate conflicts (Savignon and Roithmeier, 2004,
as cited in Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010).
• Wikis. The wiki is the obvious choice for fomenting collaborative work
among students due to its nature. There are several possibilities for its use
in blended learning, including peer editing and commenting, idea sharing,
and collaborative translation and correction. Studies have shown that the
use of this tool for various purposes results in improvements in students'
writing, critical feedback, confidence, collective knowledge construction
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and ownership of work (Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010). Many wikis offer the
technical means to see individual contributions, which can support evalua-
tion procedures. Even so, Miyazoe and Anderson (2010) suggest that diffi-
culties lie in assessing the collaborative processes and final products when
using wikis. They suggest keeping the following in mind: the achievement
of each group as compared to others, the individual's share in the group's
achievement, and the individual's achievement before and after group work.
• Combination of tools. Studies tend to report success stories when differ-
ent online tools are combined, each with its different purpose, in a blended
learning approach. For example, student engagement increased and learn-
ing was enriched according to a study on American university students who
used a combination of blogs and wikis for e-portfolios and reflective writ-
ing (Chen et al. 2005, as cited in Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010). Miyazoe
and Anderson (2010) advocate for the employment of three tools: forums
for topic-based discussion, blogs for optional reflective writing and wikis
for translation practice. By assigning a separate task to each tool, the objec-
tives of each become clear. Particular skills are related to each tool and pur-
pose which help students distinguish between informal and formal language
and contexts. In fact, the authors of the study suggested that the division of
these tasks help to lighten students' cognitive load and therefore contribute
to language acquisition (Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010).
3.5. DIFFICULTIES WITH THE BLENDED APPROACH
There are some inconveniences and difficulties that should be taken into consid-
eration with blended learning, since often they can be palliated if the teacher is aware
beforehand. First, the linguistic level and fluency of the students will affect the quality
of discourse used in the online environment (Liang & Bonk, 2009). The danger is that
students may become discouraged by their own lack of fluency when they attempt to
comment or collaborate online. Of course, this is a possibility in many different learning
activities in any situation, though it may be exacerbated by the distance created by the
online setting. Students may drift away from social learning opportunities if this happens.
Therefore, the teacher should be very careful to set objectives which are within students'
reach and offer scaffolding when necessary.
Second, students may become overwhelmed or confused if there is too much choice
available within the tasks (Liang & Bonk, 2009). It is true that students are motivated by
the possibility to choose their own tasks or materials to work with. However, the Internet
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is a vast repository of texts and resources in which a student might easily be lost, even
after a simple search. Again, scaffolding the tasks will help avoid this pitfall. Teachers
can guide students by giving them several options to choose from or limiting them to a
particular website or task. Younger and less experienced students will especially need
this type of support. A webquest is an example of a way to guide students through the
Internet in search of specific information or working toward a precise task.
Third, technical issues could get in the way of carrying out the assigned task for
students with less online experience. We often assume that younger students are well-
versed in technological tools, and this may be true. But even if they know how to use
them, they will often benefit from guidance and lessons on the best ways to employ spe-
cific tools to work toward particular goals.
4. SUMMARY
The use of VLEs and blended learning are two ways to innovate in the EFL class-
room, though there are many things to take into consideration before doing so. Teach-
ers contemplating one of these options should examine their teaching situation and the
characteristics of their students. Specific objectives for the inclusion of such technologies
should be identified, ensuring that the technology enhances the learning objectives in a
way that other tools may not. Then the teacher may study the potential of different tools
to employ in order to choose the most appropriate one or combination of tools for the
objectives chosen. Finally, students should be prepared for the experience and supported
at all times throughout to ensure their correct use of the technology and efficient work
toward the set learning goals. If all of these steps are not taken, we risk using technology
for technology's sake, not reaching our goals or discouraging our students. However, if
chosen and used properly, VLEs and blended learning may offer a host of possibilities
and opportunities for social interaction and collaborative learning, two essential parts of
learning a foreign language.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Asynchronous communication tool. A tool that offers the possibility for
people to communicate with each other and allows each individual to con-
tribute at different times and/or places.
• Blended learning. A mixture of technological and traditional classroom
practices that are meant to function in a combined way in the teaching-
learning processes.
• Course management system (CMS). A synonym for virtual learning
environment.
• Interactive content. Learning content that encourages or requires student
interaction, often resulting in positive or negative feedback.
• Learning management system (LMS). A synonym for virtual learning
environment.
• Open source program. A computer program or application whose source
code is available to the public in order to encourage modifications and col-
laboration in its further development.
• Static content. Learning content that offers information, explanations, etc.,
but does not require or encourage any specific interaction other than its
visualization.
• Synchronous communication tool. A tool that offers the possibility for
people to communicate when they coincide at the same time and in the same
location or virtual space.
• Virtual learning environment (VLE). An online space in which teaching-
learning contents can be shared, social interaction may take place, and stu-
dents may be evaluated.
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1. Consider how the courses you have attended as a student on a VLE are
organized and designed. Do these courses make the best use of the possi-
bilities of the VLE? Does the design and organization facilitate learning?
Is there anything that could be improved?
2. Look at a course you have attended as a student on a VLE. Sort the teaching-
learning contents into static and interactive contents. What are the advanta-
ges and disadvantages of each?
3. Look at each tool mentioned in sections 3.3 and 3.4. Consider each of them
according to the three dimensions of interaction suggested by Liang and
Bonk (2007) in section 3.1. Which tools are stronger or weaker in each of
the dimensions? How might this be compensated?
4. If you are currently teaching, design a blended learning approach that is
appropriate for a group of students. Consider the learning objectives, the
tool(s) to be used and the activities to be proposed.
5. Design a blended learning approach for a project-based or content-based
learning situation. Consider the learning objectives, the tool(s) to be used
and the activities to be proposed.
 REFERENCES
Dillenbourg, P., Schneider, D. K., & Synteta, P. (2002). Virtual Learning Environments. In A. Dimitraco-
poulou (ed.). Proceedings of the 3rd Hellenic Conference "Information & Communication Techno-
logies in Education" pp. 3-18. Rhodes, Greece. Kastaniotis Editions, Greece.
Faruque, S. (2012). 10 alternatives to Moodle for e-Learning software, LMS platform using open-source/
GPL. Technology Tab [blog entry]. Available from: hHYPERLINK "http://tektab.com/"ttp://tektab.
com
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Johnson, M. (2013). Open Source Options for Education. OSS Watch [blog entry]. Available from: http://
oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/ossoptionseducation
Kalay, Y. E. (2004). Virtual Learning Environments. Itcon, 9. 195-207.
Liang, M.-Y. & Bonk, C. (2009). Interaction in Blended EFL Learning: Principles and Practice. Interna-
tional Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 6 (1), 3-16.
Madjidi, F., Hughes, H. W., Johnson, R. N., Cary, K. (1999). Virtual Learning Environments. (ERIC Docu-
ments Reproduction Service No. ED 429565).
Motteram, G., & Sharma, P. (2009). Blended Learning in a Web 2.0 World. International Journal of Emer-
ging Technologies & Society, 7 (2), 83-96.
Miyazoe, T., & Anderson, T. (2010). Learning outcomes and students' perceptions of online writing:
Simultaneous implementation of a forum, blog, and wiki in an EFL blended learning setting. Sys-
tem, 38, 185-199.
Miyazoe, T., & Anderson, T. (2012). Discuss, reflect, and collaborate: A qualitative analysis of forum,
blog, and wiki use in an EFL blended learning course. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,
34, 146-152.
Wu, W.-C. V., Yen, L. L., & Marek, M. (2011). Using Online EFL Interaction to Increase Confidence,
Motivation, and Ability. Educational Technology & Society, 14 (3), 118– 129.
Tools and websites mentioned in the unit:
Adobe Authorware: http://www.adobe.com/products/authorware/

Apereo OAE: http://www.oaeproject.org/
Articulate: https://www.articulate.com/
Blackboard: http://es.blackboard.com
Canvas: https://www.instructure.com/
Desire2Learn: http://www.d2l.com/
Echo 360: http://echo360.com/
Frog: http://www.frogeducation.com/
Gibbon: http://gibbonedu.org/
HotPotatoes: https://hotpot.uvic.ca/
Moodle: https://moodle.org/
Qwizdom: http://qwizdom.com/
Sakai CLE: https://www.sakaiproject.org/sakai-cle
StudyWiz: http://www.apac.studywiz.com/
Xerte: http://www.xerte.org.uk/
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8
UNIT
TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
1. Introduction
2. Informal professional development activities

2.1. Teaching journals
2.2. Peer coaching
2.2.1. Peer mentoring
2.3. Study groups
2.3.1. Teachers' associations
3. Academic professional development: teachers as researchers

3.1. Master's degree in various didactic approaches
3.2. PhDs
4. Professional development: school management

4.1. Head of department
4.2. Director of studies
4.3. Headmaster
4.4. Inspector
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5. Teachers as social agents

5.1. Teachers as leaders
5.2. Teachers as social mediators
6. Conclusion
Basic concepts
References
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N. de Mingo Izquierdo Teachers' professional development

• Be aware of the future implications the performance of the teaching profes-
sion implies.
• Know diverse tools for informal, professional self-projection.
• Know the different practical possibilities teachers have to enhance their
career in the academic world.
• Be aware of the multifaceted role played by teachers in nowadays society.
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1. INTRODUCTION
One of the most important elements to reinforce the effectiveness of the teaching
process is the professional development of the teachers who need a constant update of
their professional knowledge and specialized skills to face the new challenges that take
place in the world of education.
This professional development may encompass simple activities which can be very
effective when dealing with the daily tasks implied in the fact of teaching, or very intense
due to their length and requirements. For this reason, in this unit we will deal with both
types, starting with the most personal and individual resources to initiate the process of
self-reflection and proceeding to those fields of professional development which are more
time consuming and require an external environment to happen.
2. INFORMAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES
Within the world of education, a great variety of teachers and teaching styles can
be found and this is something we must realise when facing the need of start our pro-
cess of individual professional development. Not all the possible activities are the same
as not all the teachers are the same. What is necessary is to have a knowledge of all the
possibilities and combine them in the most effective way but adapted to every single
personality. In addition, the passing time adds an experience component to the equa-
tion; things that a teacher considered absolutely indispensable when he/she started he
career are totally assimilated and overcome some years later with a longer teaching
experience.
Whatever the activities that teachers accomplish to improve in their career are,
what seems necessary is to initiate a process of reflective teaching, that is, a process
in which they:
• Reorganize their objectives.

• Assess their performance taking into account the different variables that
any period of their working life may require.
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• Review their methods.

• Analyse critically the results obtained from their students and the suitability
of these results to the requirements of the society in which the educational
system they represent is inserted.
Murray (2010), citing Zeichner and Liston (1996) describes teachers who engage
in effective reflecting teaching practices as professional who:
• Are able to identify, analyze, and attempt to solve problems that occur in
the classroom.
• Are conscious of and questions their beliefs about language teaching.
• Are fully aware of the institutional and cultural contexts in which they
teach.
• Are responsible for their own professional development.
On the other hand, teachers should share their own personal reflection with the edu-
cational community as team-work is a very valuable tool for them to be more assertive
and confident and, at the same time, maybe more realistic and effective. Some ways of
sharing teachers' experiences are more informal, others are inserted within institutional
or organizational referential frameworks. Both are useful and should be complementary
as an effective combination may result in being in the right track for excellence.
2.1. TEACHING JOURNALS
Documenting what has been done in the class, the process of doing it and the results
obtained, can be an excellent individual way to have an insight of our performance as
teachers. The teaching experience (and even our experience as students) advises us that
some lessons did not result in the way we had planned, despite the possible wonder-
ful display of teaching techniques, materials and tools, and others are totally successful
even without having required great effort to be prepared. The documentation of what
went wrong or right is paramount, and in so doing, teachers must take into account dif-
ferent variables:
• Correct identification of particular goals.

• Accurate description of the classroom activity.
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• Success/Failure of the activity. Possible reasons.

• Students' reactions.
• Follow-up: will the activity be done again? will it be modified?
Writing the journal on a regular basis will allow teachers to identify patterns in the
teaching methods employed and will help design changes or reorientations according to
that. In addition, sharing these journal entries with colleagues helps teachers to compare
experiences and comment on possible difficulties which, in turn, will boost cooperation
and encourage less experienced teachers. A good idea would be to write a collaborative
journal or exchange individual cooperative journals either among teachers of the same
discipline or of different areas1.
2.2. PEER COACHING
According to Diaz-Maggioli, (2003, referring to Cogan, 1973), peer coaching is

based on the three-phase model of clinical supervision consisting of:
• Planning.
• Observation.
• Feedback known as clinical supervision.
Diaz Maggioli describes the process taking into account the participation of pairs
of teachers, who have been trained to do so and visit each other's classes, providing their
workmates with insights and advice on their teaching. Teachers themselves decide on
the focus for observation and the observation instrument, and reflect on the results of the
observation based on their development needs. Standardized instruments can be used
to guide observation. Typically, these instruments help teachers look at their use of the
second language, planning, instructional delivery, methods they use for assessment, and
involvement in other professional responsibilities, such as communicating with parents and
keeping records of students' progress. Peer coaching is particularly suitable for teachers
who need to learn new ways to use the target language or to implement new language
1 For further information on teaching journals, see Unit 3.
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and cultural practices in the classroom. The only problem may be the reluctance shown
by of some teachers to be observed and assessed for they consider their methods as the
most adequate. Once overcame this difficulty, peer coaching proves to be a very effec-
tive tool in the process of professional development.
2.2.1. Peer mentoring
Directly related to coaching, peer mentoring implies the pairing of a novice teacher
with an experienced one. This helps newcomers to improve their teaching skills and, at
the same time, the mentors to systematize their knowledge in such a way that is turned
into a positive asset for them as they are not dealing with students but with colleagues
speaking a "common language".
What is the difference between mentoring and coaching?
Mentoring is a way of managing career transition whereas coaching is used when-

ever an individual feels the need to evaluate their professional capabilities, allowing
for genuine continuous professional development (CPD).Mentoring is a supportive,
long-term relationship between an experienced mentor and their less experienced-
mentee. The idea is that the more senior mentor passes on knowledge and guid-
ance as the mentee finds their feet in a new role.In state education, mentoring is
often structured around fulfilling standards, such as performance management tar-
gets, which provides plenty of documentary evidence of the mentoring and its out-
comes. The process ends when the mentee is confident or capable enough to carry
on with their duties without oversight. Mentoring is a supportive, long-term relation-
ship between an experienced mentor and their less experienced mentee. The idea
is that the more senior mentor passes on knowledge and guidance as the mentee
finds their feet in a new role.
Coaching, on the other hand, consists of peer-to-peer discussions that provide the
person being coached with objective feedback on their strengths and weaknesses
in areas chosen by them. While discussion is led by the coach, they ask questions
that allow the professional seeking advice to reflect on their practice and set their
own goals for improvement. This is the opposite of mentoring as the coach does
not evaluate, judge or set targets, and the person being coached is in full control
of the discussion. Unlike mentoring, coaching also gives the recipient more say on
the direction of their professional development and encourages them to take more
ownership of their CPD.
Jones, A. (2014, n/a).
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2.3. STUDY GROUPS
Also dealt with by Diaz-Maggioli (2003), study groups involve teachers in review-
ing professional literature or analyzing samples of student work. Groups structure their
interactions around scripts or agendas called protocols and use lesson plans or sam-
ples of students' work as input for discussion. In the case of foreign language teach-
ers, these meetings provide opportunities for them to interact in the language they
are teaching. Leadership in meetings is shared, with leadership roles rotating among
members.
Study groups are suitable for teachers who need a better understanding of research
and knowledge in the field or of ways to analyze their students' work and for those
who need to develop a more reflective stance toward their teaching or their students'
learning.
2.3.1. Teachers' associations
One step further teachers' study groups may be the teachers' associations which
can be formed at local, national or international level. These associations, based on
teachers' networks usually gather teachers from different schools and disciplines (unlike
the study groups which are mostly formed within the same school and subject of
study).
Very often the most active associations organise conferences and workshops which
is interesting to attend either as a speaker or attendee in order to get in touch with other
members of the profession and be aware of the last developments in teaching methods,
tools and approaches1. It also encourages experimentation with new techniques and
solutions to certain problems in the classroom which may be recurrent. A further benefit
would be the possibility of turning teachers into group leaders after attending a confer-
ence for they show their colleagues what they have learned and lead their study groups
in the adoption of new and helpful teaching practices.
1 As far as English teaching is concerned, TESOL organisation is one of the most active associations in
Spain.
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3. A
CADEMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: TEACHERS AS
RESEARCHERS
Teachers should be dynamic components of the society to which they belong. This
dynamism is clearly double-sided: On the one hand it refers to the projection in every
class, students' group and lesson plan of those active elements which are considered ne-
cessary for the achievement of the educational goals, either at school, local or national
level. On the other hand, it deals with the projection that the teaching activity may have
from a scholar point of view.
Education, teaching, language teaching and the like are areas in which there is way
for new developments to be modeled according to the new realities we have to face. In
order to start their scholar activity, which is perfectly compatible with their teaching
activity even at school level and not necessary at university level, teachers may use dif-
ferent tools which make them start researching:
3.1. MASTER'S DEGREE IN VARIOUS DIDACTIC APPROACHES
The mandatory assignment known in Spain as "Trabajo de Fin de Grado" is just the
first step for students to be introduced into the basic lines of what doing research involves.
However, the completion of a Master's Degree is a more accurate way to start develop-
ing a research practice as it implies to be introduced to the ways, styles and requirements
of academia almost fully.
In many occasions, masters turn into the theoretical framework in which practical
experiences are wrapped but others, they act exactly the other way round by providing
the student with a reference on how to start effectively teaching. Master's can be official,
that is ascribed to a university or equivalent institution and so recognised by the Education
authority, or non-official, lacking this support but equally useful for learning purposes.
3.2. PhDs
A step further for those who wish to continue researching would be the PhD disser-
tation completion, which means longer time and bigger effort but with the final reward
of an effective contribution to the theoretical corpus of the chosen topic. It demonstrates
a very high level of academic scholarship and that a student has the skills to produce an
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important piece of written work by themselves, managing a high level of information

and literacy skills.
The PhD, or "Doctor of Philosophy", is not the highest level of academic achieve-
ment you may reach as there are "higher doctorates" considered "honorary" but these
are usually awarded to famous and widely recognised scholars.
However, completion of a PhD is the ultimate achievement for most students as it

is the almost compulsory requirement to be a member of university staff. Nonetheless,
the PhD completion as part of the university curriculum is complemented with a series
of publications and conferences attendance and participation.
Both, Master's Degrees and PhDs are formal constraints to teachers' participation
in the academic realm and the research resulting from them must accord to specific for-
mal requirements. For a full account on how to develop these practical aspects of your
research, see Unit 9.
However, there are other tools which, despite not taking into account the formality
of the academic structure, may as well contribute to widen the horizons of the different
fields of research, among them attending conferences (as we said before), creating edu-
cational blogs, involving their peers in promoting teaching, etc.
4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
Teachers can develop a managerial activity within the school system which may
depend on the characteristics of the school (public, private), the teaching experience and
the possible previous management experience. Teachers may occupy different positions:
4.1. HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
Usually appointed by the Headmasters, the heads of the departments are the ones
responsible for leading the development of a specific subject area, and managing the teach-
ing staff and financial resources allocated to them under their department. The heads of
a department at a school is given a particular subject as an area of responsibility, and it
is their charge to improve the students' performance within that subject area. They also
coordinate with the teachers of the department to improve the quality and consistency of
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the teaching. They also make sure that teachers are adequately equipped with the tech-
nology and materials they require to deliver the curriculum effectively.
4.2. DIRECTOR OF STUDIES
Normally schools have different Directors of Studies, one for every section of the
school years. The persons occupying the position belong to the School Executive Board
and reports to the headmaster. They occupy an intermediate position in between the Prin-
cipal, the rest of the teaching staff and the students ascribed to his/her section and their
families. In this sense, Directors of Studies must do, among other things:
• Control all the academic aspects of the subjects taught: academic pro-
grammes, external courses, be updated to educational research, etc.
• Lead the different heads of the departments at school and control their rela-
tionship with the Head of the school.
• Advise students on subject choice, study skills, etc. and monitor their
progress.
• Advise parents on their children's performance., etc.
4.3. HEADMASTER
Appointed either by the Inspectorate or the School Owner/s, headmasters are the
top of the pyramid of the managerial positions in a school. Their tasks imply a combi-
nation of teaching, leadership and managerial skills:
• As teachers, they are able to understand the process of the trade, the mecha-
nisms of teaching a subject and the difficulties the rest of the teaching staff
may face.
• As administrators, they must possess excellent organizational skills to con-
trol every part of the school mechanism: from the furniture delivery to the
library provision and the extra curricular activities.
• As supervisors, they must check all the work done by the teachers and the
rest of the staff, identifying weaknesses and space for improvement, with
clear supervision criteria, known by the whole school community.
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• As leaders, they must improve coordinate work coordinately with the rest
of the Educative community and in consonance with the mission, vision
and values of the school.
4.4. INSPECTOR
Inspectors are supervisors who report directly to the authority in charge of design-
ing the education policies that schools must put into practice. They visit schools period-
ically to check students' and teachers' performance, law compliance, class management,
curriculum, etc. In Spain, the Inspection of the education system is the competence and
responsibility of the Autonomous Community authorities that are responsible for struc-
turing, regulating and carrying out education inspection within their corresponding geo-
graphical area.
Inspectors are civil servants who come from public school's teaching staff with high
university qualifications. Generally, the teacher who becomes an inspector has held the
management of a school either primary or secondary.
5. TEACHERS AS SOCIAL AGENTS
So far we have been dealing with part of the diverse possibilities that teachers have
at hand to improve the effective practice of their craft. However, there are other ways to
enhance their professional perspectives that are concerned with the diversity of aspects
the fact of being a teacher implies. Teachers may be extremely active elements of their
communities by means of their role as leaders and the management career they may
develop within the world of Education.
5.1. TEACHERS AS LEADERS
The situation that numerous schools and the educational communities which are
part of them are facing nowadays is quite a complicated one. What seems clear is that
the model which is followed needs to be improved and updated, not only as far as the
legal framework or the curriculum is concerned, but also at staff and mentality level.
One of the most powerful tools to reach this is to change the role of some of the par-
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ticipants in the educative process. In this sense, teachers must be encouraged and sup-
ported in order to turn into leaders, empowered with long overdue abilities such as
emotional learning, responsibility management, collaborative processes, technologi-
cal training, etc.
According to the main lines developed by the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Con-
sortium. Teachers can become leaders in their schools when working in some specific
domains, either within the limits of their schools or outside, in the communities where
these schools are inserted. Part of these specific tasks may be:
• Supporting and enhancing the collaborative culture of the school. By wor-

king together with other teachers, they all will be able to expand this col-
laborative system to the students. The tools to do it may be, among others:
– Design of group processes to help colleagues work collaboratively

to solve problems, make decisions, manage conflict, and promote
meaningful change.
– Creation of models of effective skills in listening, presenting ideas,
leading discussions, clarifying, mediating, and identifying the needs
of self and others in order to advance shared goals and professional
learning;
– Creation of an inclusive culture where diverse perspectives are wel-
comed in addressing challenges.
– Use knowledge and understanding of different backgrounds, ethnici-
ties, cultures, and languages to promote effective interactions among
colleagues.
• Using research to improve students' learning processes, supporting col-

leagues in collaborating with the higher education institutions and other
organizations engaged in researching critical educational issues; and teaches
and supports colleagues to collect, analyze, and communicate data from
their classrooms to improve teaching and learning.
• Improving collaboration with families and communities. Families and com-
munities have a significant impact on educational processes and students
learning. The teacher leader works together with colleagues to integrate all
the participants in the educational system which, in turn, facilitates the stu-
dents' process of learning. To achieve positive outcomes, teachers must be
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aware of the possible multicultural background of their students and their

families developing comprehensive strategies to address the diverse edu-
cational needs of families and the community.
Expectations about the performance of education leaders havechanged and

expanded considerably in the last decade, extendingfar beyond the traditional defi-
nitions of administrative roles.
Responsibilities of education leaders now exceed what individualadministrators in

schools and districts can be expected to carryout alone. State and federal require-
ments to increase studentlearning necessitate a shift in leadership, from managing
orderlyenvironments in which teachers work autonomously in theirlassrooms to one
in which administrators, teachers, and othersshare leadership roles and responsi-
bilities for student learning.
Research and best practices indicate the value of collaborationon shared vision,
goals, and work needed to ensure that everystudent learns at high levels.
(Council of Chief State of School Officers , 2008, n/a).
So nicely described, it would seem that the teacher leader springs spontaneously and
is joyfully greeted by the rest of the educative community. It may be, but in many cases
it is not so. Nevertheless, teachers (particularly the newcomers) must try to enhance their
perspective and encompass these abilities to work in an effective collaborative way with
the rest of the school staff and project themselves out in the areas where the school is
inserted, taking into account that, in many occasions, schools are focal points of a social
reality that could little by little be transformed. If the change does not come from the
top, let us start it from the bottom.
5.2. TEACHERS AS SOCIAL MEDIATORS
The role of teachers tends to be understood in terms of learning outcomes of stu-

dents, generally considered in consonance with local, national or international stand-
ards. However, teachers are also asked to perform other duties that to some extent divert
them from specific teaching activities such as taking responsibilities for social programs
related to drug and violence prevention activities (often involving work with the com-
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munity and parents), sex education, citizenship education, initiatives related to research
and innovation that external agencies perform with teachers.
On the other hand, as the International Labour Organization poses, "In many soci-
eties teachers are looked upon as the individuals who can help to bring about positive
changes in the lives of people. They are seen as natural leaders who can give advice on
various affairs of the communities. Within the context of their direct interaction with
children, parents and communities, teachers and educators could play several major roles
in the prevention and elimination of child labour".
To this respect, teachers can act as:
• Frontline monitors and 'child watchers. Teachers are well positioned to iden-
tify the school-age children in the community, to encourage parents to enrol
them in schools, to provide children with an interesting learning environment
and to assist them with their educational problems and needs. Schools are also
responsible for monitoring non-enrolment and absences, and teachers and other
educational personnel need to be empowered to monitor the school attendance
of children, assess whether they are involved in work and to what extent this
interferes with their schooling and identify children who are at risk of dropping
out. They can then contact the parents and provide help for these children.
• Community resource persons on child labour and advocates for children.
They can act as resource persons who can inform children, parents and
communities of the importance of education. To enable teachers to play
an active role in the campaign against child labour at the community and
national levels, they need to be informed and learn about the complexities
of the different situations in which children may be inserted –the causes and
the solutions. In addition, they need assistance and resources to launch and
implement school and community campaigns against those.
• Catalysts for change in the educational system Through their own organi-
zations and in cooperation with other trade unions, children's and women's
rights networks, community organizations and other NGOs, teachers and
educators can collaborate with each other and with other organizations to
work on curriculum development to strengthen the school management sys-
tem and to advocate for policy reform that addresses the factors contributing
to overcome situations such as children exclusion from school. Teachers
could set up a network among themselves and identify other forums, net-
works or associations which could support them to influence changes in
educational policy and practices.
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6. CONCLUSION
In this unit we have covered some of the possibilities opened for a teacher once his/
her official training period at university is over. However, all teachers, junior and senior,
must be aware of two essential facts: the social importance of their work and the fact
that if they are vocational teachers, their career never ends. There are always new paths
to open, new methods to develop and new ways of doing things. Becoming an active,
transformational member of their communities is a personal 'side-effect' highly valuable.
Maybe not openly rewarded, the personal satisfaction is, in many occasions, the main
leading factor and obtained recognition.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Director of Studies. School manager occupying an intermediate position in
between the Principal, the rest of the teaching staff and the students ascribed
to his/her section and their families.
• Head of Department. Person responsible for leading the development of a
specific subject area, and managing the teaching staff and financial resources
allocated to them under their department.
• Headmaster. Top manager of a school who supervises the rest of the man-
agerial team and all the elements part of the school community.
• Inspectors. Supervisors who report directly to the authority in charge of
designing the education policies that schools must put into practice.
• Peer coaching. Method of teaching improvement by which pairs of teach-
ers, who have been trained to do so, visit each other's classes, providing
their workmates with insights and advice on their teaching.
• Peer mentoring. Method of teaching improvement which implies the pair-
ing of a novice teacher with an experienced one who offers counsel and
supervision.
• Reflective teaching. Deep consideration of the objectives, performance and
methods develop while involved in the teaching practice.
 T
1. Do some online search of peculiar or interesting teaching experiences. Read

about them and reflect on the qualities of the teachers involved, the condi-
tions in which these experiences took place and how they developed their
work.
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2. Have you got the intention to continue you academic career? Try to focus
on some interesting topic you would like to work for a dissertation. Reduce
the scope of the field involved: methodology, class management, content
design. Try to analise these elements in which you would like to focus in
the learning experiences you have had so far and the changes you would
introduce.
3. Look for special social issues programmes developed in schools and think
of one you would like to develop in the future: gender violence, drug abuse,
sexual orientation, etc.
 REFERENCES
Adey, P. et al. (2004). The Professional Development of Teachers: Practice and Theory. New York: Klu-
wer Academy Publishers.
Alvarado, F. and La Voy, D. (2006). Teachers: Powerful Innovators. Generating Classroom-Based Edu-
cation Reform. Washington: AED.
Danielson, Ch. (2007). "Teachers as Leaders". Educational Leadership, 65-1. 14-19.
Dash, M. and Dash, N. (2008). School Management. New Delhi: Atlantic.
Graves, K. (2006). Teachers as Course Developers. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Kochhar, S.K. (2011). School Administration and Management. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Private
Ltd.
Web pages
http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/10-48-1-b.pdf
http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/49111/sample/9780521849111ws.pdf
http://www.cca.org.mx/apoyos/cu095/l_m3.pdf
http://www.preservearticles.com/201105096436/duties-a-functions-of-headmaster.html
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/aug/05/coaching-mentoring-teachers-
professional-development
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9
UNIT
THEMES AND TOPICS FOR

RESEARCH INNOVATION
1. Introduction
2. Innovation at school level
3. Innovation at class management level
3.1. Flipped classrooms
3.2. Threshold concepts
3.3. Bricolage or tinkering with resources
3.4. The dogme approach
4. Innovation in teaching materials

4.1. Teacher-produced materials
4.2. Student-produced materials
5. Conclusion
Basic concepts
References
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• Discover the different areas that are part of the educative process in which
innovation is still possible.
• Analyse the possible implications and further research that new develop-
ments in language teaching provide.
• Be aware of the active role of teachers as innovation and change agents.
• Find about some possible topics for personal research.
• Discover the powerful implications of innovation for the teaching practice
and their projection in and outside school.
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N. de Mingo Izquierdo Themes and topics for research innovation
1. INTRODUCTION
When a teacher reaches a position either in public or private education centres,

the tendency may be to relax and let the courses go once so important a goal has been
attained. However, teaching may be one of the most demanding disciplines, it requires a
great deal of stamina and a constant process of updating in order to know how to intro-
duce new didactic tools, methods and approaches to obtain good results from the students.
This way, teachers should be aware of the importance of this continuous updating
process which nowadays involves all the agents that take part of the educative process: stu-
dents, teachers, parents, school managers, local and national governments, etc. Teachers
are placed in an in-between position among them and, most of the times, must juggle
with a large quantity of elements in order to provide their students with a significant
learning experience.
Therefore, due to all these variables, teachers should be immerse in a constant pro-
cess of reflection and quest in order to improve their practice and obtain the best results
from their students. Innovative practices and new paths of research are opened for teach-
ers' and, by extension, the whole educative communities' improvement. The teaching
profession is a lifelong commitment.
2. INNOVATION AT SCHOOL LEVEL
It seems clear that schools of the 21st century are facing challenges that some thirty
years ago were unimaginable. Schools must operate at different levels, namely interna-
tional, national and local which means there is room enough for innovative visions to be
developed with teachers cooperation, among them:
• Narrow the achievement gap: it is noticeable the different degree of achieve-

ment experienced by students from different schools either in the same area
or comparing centres at wider levels. Narrowing these differences that, in
some cases are quite acute, is an interesting field to be approached when
dealing with innovative proposals.
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On the one hand, teachers can help develop school policies which are part
of local, regional or national developments in education. For instance, those
referred to changes in the assessment and evaluation processes. This, in turn,
implies that teachers must involve in research groups or commissions in
their own schools and they may commit to be part of similar structures at
higher levels. How can teachers make a difference at this level?
– First and foremost, by developing a process of self-reflection and

questioning about their own teaching practice (as already seen in dif-
ferent units of this handbook) and how it may/ may not contribute to
deepen or reduce this achievement gap.
– Detecting the weaknesses of their own teaching practice and those
of their peers' (for example with open sessions).
– Designing a set of proposals and ways to solve the detected weak-
nesses and opening ways for improvement.
– Working proactively by taking these proposals to organised groups
of teachers either in or out their school in order to be discussed and,
if possible, implemented through a process of benchmarking, that
is, by establishing a reference between the school's situation and that
of other schools in which the performance of students is better at cer-
tain levels.
Cooperation among teachers of different schools should be neces-
sary at this stage in order to articulate global scales of performance.
This does not necessarily operate at official levels, usually teachers
have friends who are also teachers at different schools. The devel-
opment of social networks formed by friends working in the same
sector is really useful.
• Create articulated learning communities by involving parents and even

companies and businesses in the educational processes.
– The same structures developed in a single school, apply to connect

it to wider sectors of the society. For instance, by involving parents
in a cooperative and constructive way and 'using' them to help with
the businesses, companies or professional worlds in which they move
or by trying to gather all these elements in an organised manner in
order to impulse the educational level of a single school which can
be linked to others and so forth.
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Nevertheless, teachers, either novice or veteran, may see the possibilities of inno-
vation in this field as something unattainable, almost a sci-fi issue. This negative feeling
must be overcome for, if spread, it leads to immobility. How can a sole teacher, of Eng-
lish for example, be an active agent so as to impulse this movement? Innovative prac-
tices to be carried out may include:
• Build mechanisms for early detection of students' weaknesses which inter-

fere with their performance.
• Design practices to cover those negative areas.
• Establish ways to take these practices to a higher level by connecting with
other teachers from different subjects at school which have experienced
similar situations and establish a set of guidelines in order to improve
them.
• Develop a series of ways to integrate teachers from other schools experi-
encing the same type of problems.
• Develop a series of ways to integrate the students' families within the edu-
cational process of those, even in small areas1.
During the last 20 years, the education community has slowly been shifting its
viewof teachers from one in which teachers are the implementers/recipients of a
reform strategy to one in which teachers assume leadership roles that have previ-
ously been considered the responsibilities of principals and superintendents (Barth
2001). In this teacher leadership model, teachers should take charge of their profes-
sional landscape becoming more active participants in plans for school improvement.
Teacher change agents:
1. Can read their school environment.

2. Enable the participation of their colleagues in generating solutions.
3. Possess the skills to address the problems they identify in their schools.
4. Feel a sense of ownership with regard to those problems.
Luckácks, 2013
1 It would be interesting to design a programme to connect the English students learn at school with that
their parents use at work to see the actual applicability of class practice.
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3. INNOVATION AT CLASS MANAGEMENT LEVEL
Class management has long been considered a decisive site for innovation. We have
analysed the benefits of different classroom practices which could be considered both
cutting-edge and useful for our students through the different units and reference books
used so far. However, there is still room for more innovative ways to approach the fact
of teaching and influence the ways of learning.
3.1. FLIPPED CLASSROOMS
Flipped learning processes combine the best of on line and face-to-face results.
What could be considered as 'direct teaching' is performed out of school and developed
on line. Therefore, time and space constrains are avoided for, by means of a series of
tutorials created or not by the teacher or other materials selected or developed by the
teacher as well, students access the core of the theoretical knowledge of every lesson at
home or wherever by using the different technological devices they may have access to.
This way, the classroom turns into a dynamic space for learning with a teacher guiding
the students in the process of applying the concepts they have previously learnt. Classes
are sites for group work, discussion, collaborative tasks and peer feedback.
The two constitutive elements of the flipped classroom are:
• Direct instructions section to be followed at home. This 'home element' does

not necessarily need to be made out of videos only, it may include books or
writing materials. However, video tends to be the prevalent tool.
Due to the expansion of ICTs in the past few years, it has become very easy
to create video contents through different approaches:
– Using a camera in a traditional way, recording the explanation in

person.
– Using screen captures to record what is shown on the screen together
with sound files commenting it.
– Using presentation software: PowerPoint, Prezzi, Keynote, etc. to
create a presentation including teacher's comments.
When recording the videos, teachers must make sure the sound is also being
recorded. The idea of reproducing the conditions of an actual classroom will
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be stressed with the use of white boards, or the use of diagrams or other
materials which usually would help students understand the concepts when
in a traditional classroom. The attention span of students when watching a
video may be short , therefore the length of the video recorded explanation
must be taken into account. The quality of the videos should be enough to
make them comprehensible although some technical improvement might
be necessary in case the results were not as desired. One of the advantages
of this system is that it retains the best elements of face-to-face classroom
interaction so, stiff positioning and acting in front of the video camera will
result in a failure as the students realise their teachers do not feel comfort-
able and this may provoke rejection in them.
On the other hand, learning outside the class implies that student must reg-
ulate their own learning processes. To help them, teachers should:
– Specify how much time is expected to use for each learning activity.
– Give the students a rubric to articulate what is expected from the stu-
dents and the ways in which they will be assessed.
– Encourage students to create a learning plan.
– Divide bigger on line assignments up into smaller ones and set stag-
gered deadlines along the way.
– Include peer feedback.
– Include incentives for completing on line or out of class assignments,
such s bonus points or te like.
– Give the students a clear reference of the expectations you have for
every lesson/activity/topic.
• Interactive face-to-face element in the classroom. The actual success of the

flipped learning style is lies in the effectiveness of the face-to-face section
of the lesson and how it is constructed. The Centre for Teaching Excellence
of Waterloo University in Canada has developed a complete series of in-
class activities involving students at all levels.
According to these research, a first stage of checking the understanding of
the previously provided material is paramount in order to proceed to the
face-to-face section in a correct and productive way which, in turn, helps
teachers to approach the in-class activities in the correct way. These activi-
ties may be either individual or group-based.
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– Individual: they can be more beneficial for students who showed

difficulties with understanding the contents or materials worked out
of class. Individual exercises can give students some more time nec-
essary to engage with the material and enhance their understanding.
– Group: these activities are usually the aim of the in-class section of
the flipped classroom. Each student will bring his or her own individ-
ual understanding of the content to the lesson, and together, in small
groups, they will be able to get a better understanding of the material
through brainstorming, short presentations or class discussion.
Innovation as far as this type of classroom practice is concerned may include:
– Design of materials to be worked out of the class.

– Design of sets of activities for checking understanding.
– Creation of specific class dynamics to develop the topics in the face-
to-face section.
3.2. THRESHOLD CONCEPTS
Threshold concepts are key concepts around which s structure for teaching invol-
ving different areas may be designed. This is a relatively new idea that was born in
science practice and was seen as useful for other disciplines as it involves teaching and
learning processes. Meyer and Land (2003) describe these concepts and define them as
having five characteristics.
• Transformative: once acquired they should shift perception of the subject.

• Irreversible: once an individual has begun to perceive the world in terms
of a threshold concept it should be inconceivable that they would return to
viewing it in a more primitive way.
• Integrative: meyer and Land describe this as the capacity of a concept to
expose the previously hidden interrelatedness of something.
• Bounded: it helps to define the boundaries of a subject area.
• Counter-intuitive: it leads to knowledge that is inherently counter-intuitive.
In grasping a threshold concept a student moves from common sense under-
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standing to an understanding which may conflict with perceptions that have

previously seemed self-evidently true.
In practice, education is designed to transform students so that they gain a deep

knowledge of the concepts needed to understand a topic, and can fit these topics together
appropriately and accurately. According to Sharples et al. (2014, p. 34), the effective
design of a curriculum around these key concepts has a number of benefits:
• It can provide a structure for teaching.

• It promotes dialogue among students.
• It helps in introducing complex topics
• It prompts inquiry into the nature of student and teacher understanding.
Thethreshold conceptsmay act as a means for teachers to reflecton important points

in learning from the students’ perspective, indicating areas of misunderstandingand
barriers to deeper learning of a subject. Threshold concepts can also guide assess-
ment practices. By breaking a concept into relatedelements, a teacher can guide
and assess knowledge of each part, then fit them together intoa composite whole.
Just as with a jigsaw puzzle,there is also value in showing the ‘big picture’ of athres
hold concept –why it is important and how itcan be applied in practice– before put-
ting togetherthecomponent parts.
These formative assessments and quizzes not only review students’ deep learning
ofthreshold concepts but also show where they areencountering barriers to under-
standing. The truevalue of threshold concepts is that they provide anapproach to
teaching across different disciplinesthat is based on fostering deepunderstanding
ofdifficult concepts rather than measuring outcomes.
Sharples et al. (2014, p. 34)
Threshold concepts are hard to define and have provoked debate about their use as
an educational theory. There is a growing movement to exploit them in designing cur-
ricula and in helping teachers with their lesson planning. Therefore, this is an open field
for further innovation and research either theoretically or practically.
Examples of threshold concepts in EFL may be: writing in English as a social prac-
tise, making meaning, communication, analysis of an extended text, etc.
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3.3. BRICOLAGE OR TINKERING WITH RESOURCES
"Bricolage" is the French word for "tinkering" and it applies to the idea or wor-
king in a creative way with the materials and resources available. Although usually
related to practical and manual activities, it has also been used in different fields, tea-
ching included.
There are different uses of bricolage as far as teaching is concerned:
• The first one is related to the diversity or learning styles that turn around
materials and improvisation with them. Children use different elements of
the class (or brought from home) or even their own bodies, to learn differ-
ent things like how to interact with others, how to solve conflicts, etc. The
teacher may use the creativity implied in this technique because both the
learner and the materials used are transformed through imagination. When
learning languages, the possibilities of "bricolage" are endless. Teachers can
design different class dynamics within the limited space of the classroom
which, for instance, can make students move around it pretending they are
travelling, or using sheets of paper to create group stories with the "exqui-
site corpse" technique, etc.
• The second use implies a more abstract view, based on engaging in cre-
ative exploration of the practices and technologies needed to achieve an
educational goal. When in classroom, a teacher designs a lesson by using
information from different sources, classroom practice, students' abili-
ties, materials at hand, etc. When using "bricolage", education researchers
develop innovations from resources that are available locally, for exam-
ple, some projects connecting the improvement of reading, mobile phones,
local narratives and social networks have been carried out with extraordi-
nary results1.
3.4. THE DOGME APPROACH
The Dogme approach to language teaching and learning was developed by Scott
Thornbury stemming from a serious critique on those procedures for teaching languages
1 See, for example, the Yoza Project in South Africa.
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which focus only on materials. His famous article "A Dogma for EFL" took the Dogma
film style practiced by film makers such as Lars Von Trier whose films turned around
the story and discarded effective technological displays.
While EFL may seem to have little in common with Hollywood, it is certainly true
that EFL teaching has never been so copiously resourced. Along with the quantity
(I hesitate to use the word variety) of course booksin print, there is an embarrassment
of complementary riches in the form of videos, CD-Roms, photocopiable resource
packs, pull-out word lists, and even web-sites, not to mention the standard workbook,
teacher's book, and classroom and home study recordings. Then there is the vast
battery of supplementary materialsavailable, as well as the authentic material eas-
ily downloadable from the Internet or illegallyphotocopied from more conventional
sources (...) But where is the story? Where is the inner life of the student in all this?
Where is real communication?
Thornbury (2000, p. 2)
The foundations of the the Dogme approach are:
• Teaching should be done only with the resources (whether scarce or not)
that students bring to the classroom without being especially prompted to
do so, and the elements in the classroom. If some specific material is needed
for any lesson, it must be selected from the one to be found at the school
library, students' club, classroom, etc.
• Learning takes place in specific time and space, that is, the classroom and
the moment the class is done. Teaching should turn around the actual stu-
dents and their concerns, not around the fake characters of course books
nor the artificial world of grammar books.
• Photocopies, projectors and handout materials should be forbidden and
grammar presentations should not last more than 5 minutes. No listening
materials should be introduced. Listening should be practiced through the
exchanges between students and teacher. However, recorded materials could
be made in the classroom.
• Real talk is the core of the lesson.
• Teachers talk with students not at them or to them. Therefore, teachers are
facilitators of the process learning.
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The aim is to practice a teaching method similar to the one performed in older times,
with very few things and turning around the figures of teacher and learner. This requires
a special type of teacher, one that feels a strong connection between what he/she is and
what he/she does (Dolloff, 2007).
Once examined the basic tenets of Dogme, a question may arise: could this system
be compatible with the strict official frameworks that teachers are forced to respect when
teaching at schools or universities? The possible answers to this issue open a wide field
for research and innovation in our EFL classrooms.
4. INNOVATION IN TEACHING MATERIALS
Innovation in the field of teaching materials is one of the most challenging and, at
the same time, developed area in EFL. Although some of the innovative trends we have
previously analysed do not count on specific materials to deal with the language lesson,
others favour them and welcome all possible new trends and designs.
McDonough et al. (2013), establish the usual framework of language teaching, indi-
cating specifically the position of materials within the global paradigm.
Figure 1. The framework of language teaching
Learners
CONTEXT Implementation of goals
Educational setting
Syllabus construction
Materials, classroom methods

(lessons, tests...)
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This is the referential (and ideal) set of elements that intervene in the teaching pro-
cess. According to McDonough, teachers develop their work in specific situations with
specific groups of students and objectives. Contextual and personal situations may define
the diversity of teaching and learning styles but what matters is the importance that teach-
ers give to these situations and the decisions they take according to them.
The development of materials is directly link to all of them as it could be consider

like the last link of the classroom planning chain as far as EFL lesson is concerned. How-
ever, for a number of teachers it is their preferred area of research as it implies the use or
the redefinition of different types of resources always having in mind both the specific
aims of a concrete practice and the global ones of the course. However, one of the most
interesting areas related to material development and management may be the effective
implication of students in the design of these materials.
4.1. TEACHER-PRODUCED MATERIALS
In some occasions, course books do not dive into a topic as much as teachers would like
or, if so, they do it in a way that teachers may consider inadequate for their students' needs.
Trying to cope with this difficulty, some teachers choose to design their own materials.
The advantages of teacher-produced materials have been highlighted by different authors
(Thornbury and Meddings, 2002; Kelly and Miller, 1993, etc.). Among these advantages:
• Contextualization. Which contravenes the usual generic character of course

books. the design of specific materials enables the teacher to take into account
the specific learning environment in which his/her students are inserted. In
addition, this stresses resourcefulness as an essential characteristic of teach-
ers who are forced to use the contextual resources at hand thus proving their
ability to cope with different teaching situations, from the best equipped class-
rooms and schools to the most impoverished situations. Innovation may result
from the integration of these contextual elements in the designed materials.
• Materials designed by teachers usually meet students' individual needs, for
instance, using L1 (which is not common in course books) or incorporating
activities that are exactly adapted for specific groups of students. Innova-
tive uses of L1 in material design could be an interesting field of research,
aligned with the correspondent methodological trend.
• Timeliness. Materials created by teachers can respond to local, national or
international events, being up-to-date and therefore provoking interest on a
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given topic (international sports competitions or cultural events, for example).

New developments in materials may cover topics that are also cross curric-
ular therefore turning into interesting ways to integrate the different areas
of the curriculum.
Howard and Major (2005, pp. 101-107) present the guidelines for designing mate-
rials for EFL teaching in an effective way, taking into account that not all of them will
be relevant for all types of materials or teaching environmentalists. According to these
authors, these materials should:
• Be contextualized to the following elements:
– The curriculum materials are intended to address.

– The experiences, realities and first languages of the learners. It is
important that the teacher who wishes to design materials is aware
of the culture-specific learning processes of the students.
– Topics and themes that provide meaningful and purposeful uses for
the target language.
• Stimulate interaction and be generative in terms of language. Ideally, mate-

rials should reflect situations in which learners need to interact with each
other like they would do outside the classroom in real situations. When
designing materials teachers should ensure these allow sufficient scope for
the students to build on from what is provided to generate new language
output and to progress with confidence. Innovation in this specific topic
would lead to very interesting practices at class and school level.
• Encourage students to develop learning skills and strategies. Materials
should teach the learners how to learn and how to take advantage of the
learning opportunities outside the classroom. They can also provide oppor-
tunities for self-evaluation. New ways of developing evaluation and assess-
ment are more and more in need, particularly when there is a disconnection
between what we should be taught to students and what is evaluated.
• Focus on form and function. Initially, teachers may want to design materials
in order to make activities more communicative to overcome the instruc-
tional bias of a number of course books. In some cases, teachers may run
the risk of not considering language form at all. According to Howard and
Major: 'Well-designed materials can help considerably with this by alerting
learners to underlying forms and by providing opportunities for regulated
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practice in addition to independent and creative expression' (2005, p. 106).

Challenging the traditional course books could be an interesting field for
research and new proposals.
• Be authentic in terms of the tasks which students are asked to perform with
them. both the texts and the things that students are required to do with them
reflect the language and behaviour they must use in the world outside the
classroom.
• Link to each other to develop a progression of skills, understandings and
language items. There exist the danger that the materials both designed and
adapted are a confuse set of different unconnected activities. To solve this,
objectives for every activity should be set at the beginning of the design
process in order to develop the coherence of the whole set of material and
render them useful to cover the specific learning goals. The design of inte-
grative blocks of new materials could be an interesting path to explore when
trying to explore new ways in the classroom.
• Be attractive. Physical appearance of materials is important as students need
to get a positive first impression. In addition, they must be user-friendly,
for instance thinking of the necessary space to complete the activities. If
materials are going to be used by different groups, their durability should
be taken into account (designing paper flashcards may not be very as effec-
tive as laminated cardboard ones).
• Have appropriate instructions for both the students or other teachers who
might use the materials. Instructions should be, obviously, clear, appropri-
ate for the target students and use the correct metalanguage
• Be flexible. This applies preferably to long series of materials. Flexibility
implies the content provides a range of different inputs not necessarily organ-
ised into lesson units and, therefore, teachers and students may choose which
ones to use and the ways to proceed with them. Ways to organise this flexibil-
ity and rearrange programmes represent and interesting new field for research.
4.2. STUDENT-PRODUCED MATERIALS
One of the most interesting benefits of engaging students in the production of their
own materials is the high degree of responsibility and personal implication that results
from the process. The fact that students are designing their own materials does not imply,
of course, the teacher has not an active role in the whole set of activities. This method
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may be difficult to implement for a whole school year (although there already exist
schools which use it as the core of their educational project) but it may be an interesting
approach in some occasions if a whole programme is not possible.
When establishing the references for the students to work on their own materials,
teachers must:
• Set the learning objectives.

• Define the topic and the resources to be used.
• Establish the set of instructions to be followed by students, focusing on how
to do the activities and not on what to do.
• Solve the possible doubts that may arise.
• Receive the final product.
• Assess the final product according to the evaluation previously established. This
evaluation could have also been developed together by students and teachers.
The benefits of this practice are numerous. To start, the students create the materials
with a complete personal approach to language. They produce real content about their
personal and surrounding circumstances and therefore, the class turns into a site of perso-
nal involvement with students actually meeting and dealing with topics of their interest:
Every teacher who is told what material to cover, when to cover it, and how to eval-
uate children’s performance is a teacher who knows that enthusiasm for one’s work
quickly evaporates in the face of being controlled. Not every teacher, however, real-
izes that exactly the same thing holds true for students: deprive them of self-deter-
mination and you have likely deprived them of motivation. If learning is a matter of
following orders, students simply will not take to it in the way they would if they had
some say about what they were doing.
The evidence goes on and on. At least one recent study has found that children
given more "opportunity to participate in decisions about schoolwork" score higher
on standardized tests; other research shows that they are more likely than those
deprived of autonomy to continue working even on relatively uninteresting tasks.
There is no question about it: even if our only criterion is academic performance,
choice works.
Kohn (1993) in Robertson and Timperley (2011, p. 16)
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The learning process that results from this approach is both double-sided as teachers
also become learners and feel more able to communicate with their students in a way that
is not usual when following the traditional course book, which favours a teacher-centered
class, and inductive, as students are first confronted to language input holistically and
contextually conceived and they later elicit the knowledge on the topic in question. Inno-
vative views on how students can create and use their own materials in order to obtain
the desired learning objectives do represent an open field for research.
5. CONCLUSION
In this Unit we have considered different areas within the scope of EFL teaching
and learning where further research and innovation are both possible and desirable.
We have highlighted some specific approaches who might be of interest for they open
a wide range of new paths to be followed in our everyday teaching practice. As teach-
ers we should be willing to take a step further and go beyond the possible limitations of
school systems, mainstream trends or our own mindsets. We have a special responsibil-
ity towards our students, society as a whole and ourselves, and continuous improvement
and research on how to do our work better should be guiding our professional perfor-
mance, even more, our lives.
Innovation per se or responding to fashionable practices will be short-lived. Innova-

tion as an attempt to give an answer to the challenges of our professional world is desir-
able and will result in us becoming better professionals of the teaching practice. Better
teachers make better worlds.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Achievement gap. Different degree of achievement experienced by students
from different schools either in the same area or comparing centres at wider
levels.
• Benchmarking. Approach based on referential comparison between one's
performance and the one of those who do it better in order to improve.
• Dogme approach. Approach based on teaching without published text-
books, just using the materials at hand in the moment and focuses commu-
nication between learners and teachers.
• Flipped classroom. That class in which the theoretical content is presented
by the teacher in different supports (mostly recorded sessions) and the class
time is devoted to practice.
• Learning community. Group of people who share common academic goals
and attitudes to topics related to education and work proactively in order to
reach them.
• Threshold concepts. Key concepts around which s structure for teaching
involving different areas may be designed.
• Tinkering. in class management it applies to the idea or working in a crea-
tive way with the materials and resources available
 T
1. Consider the ways in which you were taught English and try to discover
whether they were innovative or not and if so, the degree of effectiveness
as far as your learning process is concerned.
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2. If you have already taught either on a regular basis or not, write down the
weaknesses or difficulties you might have detected on your teaching practice.
Try to establish a process of benchmarking in case some of your colleague
teachers have faced the same issues and solve them in a successful way.
What have you learn from the process?
3. Design a set of lesson plans which introduce any of the developments we
have dealt with at classroom management level. Focus on the actual appli-
cability in a specific class according to the curriculum requirements.
4. Think about the possibility of start a teachers' cooperative network either in
your school or with your friends who are also teachers, designing the scope
and objectives of the community, establishing the communication channels
and trying to devise the possibility to put the results in practice.
 REFERENCES
Barkley, E. F. et al. (2005). Collaborative Learning Techniques. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Davies, P. and Brant, J. (2006). Teaching School Subjects: Business and Enterprise. London: Routledge.
Dolloff, L. (2007). "All the Things We Are: Balancing our Multiple Identities in Music Teaching". Action,
Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. 6, 2-21.
Luckácks, K. (2013). "Beyond Teacher Leadership: Teachers as the Agents of Change in Schools". Teacher
Development. n/a.
McDonough, J. et al. (2013). Materials and Methods in ELT. A Teacher's Guide. Third Edition. Malden,
Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.
McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching Materials and the Roles of EFL/ESL Teachers. Practice and Theory. Lon-
don: Bloomsbury.
Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2006). Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thin-
king and Practising within the Disciplines. Economic, Social and Research Council. Occasional Report.
Mishan, F. and Timmin, I.
Robertson, J. and Timperley, H. (Eds.) (2011). Leadership and Learning. Los Angeles: Sage.
Thornbuty, S. (2000). "A Dogma for EFL". IATEFL Issues. 153, p. 2.
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Web pages
http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/designing-your-course/flipping-the-classroom.html
http://flippedinstitute.org/files/practical-guide.pdf
ttps://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/lecturing-and-presenting/
delivery/class-activities-and-assessment-flipped-classroom
http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk//docs/ETLreport4.pdf
http://lessonplanspage.com/student-designed-curriculum-helping-students-create-their-own-lesson-plans/
http://teaching.polyu.edu.hk/datafiles/R34.pdf
http://www.camtesol.org/Download/LEiA_Vol3_Iss2_2012/LEiA_V3_I2_11_Mennim_Peer_Teaching_
and_Learner-Generated_Materials_Introducing_Students_to_New_Roles.pdf
http://www.alfiekohn.org/article/choices-children/
https://www.academia.edu/3473560/Beyond_teacher_leadership_Teachers_as_the_agents_of_change_in_
schools
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10
UNIT
INTERCULTURAL
COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCE
1. Introduction
2. Describing ICC and the intercultural speaker
2.1. Skills
2.2. Knowledge
2.3. Attitudes
2.4. Critical cultural awareness
3. Acquiring ICC in an educational setting

3.1. The classroom
3.2. Fieldwork
3.3. Independent learning
4. Understanding oneself, understanding the others

4.1. Socialisation
4.2. Stereotypes and prejudices
5.
Planning a curriculum for intercultural communicative competence
6. Assessing level of intercultural communicative competence
7. Conclusion
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Basic concepts
References
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E. Bonal Martínez Intercultural communicative competence

• Be aware of the importance of Intercultural Communication as the compo-
nent of one of the basic competences when learning a language.
• Discover ways to work how to link the different cultural manifestations of the
L2 culture with those of the own culture to improve the learning processes.
• Obtain both significant and useful connections between cultural theory and
classroom practice to teach Intercultural Communicative Competence.
• Learn the main guidelines to integrate Intercultural Communicative Com-
petence within the framework of a curriculum design, with special attention
to assessment.
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1. INTRODUCTION
As acknowledged by the CEFRL, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC)

is a basic component of the long-life process or learning a language. This theoretical
statement has got, however, practical implications for all the participants in the teaching/
learning process: teachers, learners, policy makers, etc.
On the part of the learners, it means the actual realisation that languages are just one
piece of the global puzzle of a cultural reality other than the own. For teachers, dealing
with Intercultural Communicative Competence may entail a whole reconsideration of
their teaching styles. Policy makers should also be concerned with ICC so as to include
its main lines in the design of their educational regulations.
From a more practical point of view, ICC, as part of the teaching process, may lead
to consider the different elements that interact when putting it into practice. These ele-
ments are of a diverse nature and have been approached by a number of authors. In this
unit we will follow the guidelines provided by Byram who has devoted a great deal of
his academic work to ICC.
On the other hand, we will describe the dimensions of ICC paying special attention
to its acquisition and the different tools to be used when trying to assess the effective-
ness of its learning process, providing a set of practical and effective tools to be used in
the classroom.
2. DESCRIBING ICC AND THE INTERCULTURAL SPEAKER
To understand what intercultural competence is and why it is an important factor when

studying foreign languages, we should have a look at its origins. Noam Chomsky (1957) was
the first to introduce the term "linguistic competence" as the principal aim to be achieved
by a speaker. Later, Dell Hymes (1966) modified that term and suggested the concept of
"communicative competence", as the speaker is expected to use language accurately, but
also appropriately depending on the context. This new idea was accepted and developed
by Canale and Swain in the early 1980s, but they divided communicative competence into
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categories: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence.

At the same time, Van Ek (1986) emphasized this idea, as he believed the conception that
a foreign language learner should not be only trained in communication skills but also in
personal and social skills that promote autonomy and the development of social respon-
sibility. He also split communicative competence into six competences or "dimensions":
• Linguistic competence. The ability to produce and interpret meaningful utter-

ances which are formed according to the rules of the language concerned and
bear their conventional meaning.
• Sociolinguist competence. The awareness of ways in which the choice of lan-
guage forms is determined by such conditions as settings, relationships between
communication partners, communicative intentions, etc.
• Discourse competence. The ability to use appropriate strategies in the con-
struction and interpretation of texts.
• Strategic competence. When communication is difficult, we have to find ways
of "getting our meaning across" or "finding out what somebody means". These
are communication strategies, such as rephrasing or asking for clarification.
• Sociocultural competence. Every language is situated in a sociocultural context
and implies the use of a particular reference frame which is partly different from
that of the foreign language learner; socio-cultural competence presupposes a
certain degree of familiarity with that context. (Values and beliefs)
• Social competence. Involves both the will and the skill to interact with others,
involving motivation, attitude, self confidence, empathy and the ability to handle
social situations. (Attitudes and behaviour)
Byram (1997, p. 10)
Communicative competence idea endured for more than three decades in foreign lan-
guage teaching, until the mid 1990s when some cultural aspects started to be included in
language lessons. According to Kramsch, "after years of communicative euphoria, some
language teachers are becoming dissatisfied with purely functional uses of language and
some are pleading to supplement the traditional acquisition of "communication skills" with
some intellectually legitimate, humanistically oriented, cultural "content" (1993, p. 83).
As we could appreciate, the evolution from Communicative Competence and Inter-

cultural Communicative Competence run smoothly and in a natural evolution. It was
Herbert Baxter who first introduced the concept of Intercultural Communicative Lan-
guage in 1983, but it is Michael who Byram has most extensively developed the concept
and applications of this term.
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Whatever a person's linguistic competence in foreign language, when they inter-

act socially with someone from a different country, they bring to the situation their
knowledge of the world which includes in some cases a substantial knowledge of the
country in question and in others a minimal knowledge, of its geographical position
or its current political climate, for example. It will be evident that we cannot describe
such an interaction as if there were two native speakers of the language involved.
[…]. The success of such an interaction can be judged in terms of the effectiveness
exchange of information, as has been the tendency in much communicative lan-
guage teaching, but also in terms of the establishing and maintenance of human
relationships. The latter in particular depends on attitudinal factors, for example the
willingness of the interlocutors to expect problems of communication caused by
lack of overlap in their respective knowledge of the world and of each other's coun-
try. It may depend on the ability of the interlocutors to accept criticism of the val-
ues they share with people in their usual social groups, and of which they may not
have been consciously aware. It may also depend on their willingness to accept at
least initially that they will be perceived by their interlocutor as a representative of
a particular country, its values and its political actions, whatever their own views
of these.
(Byram, 1997: pp. 32-33)
Based on these reflections, Byram (1997, p. 34) proposes a schema of the facts
involved and the relationships among them:
SKILLS
interpret and relate

(savoir comprendre)
KNOWLEDGE EDUCATION ATTITUDES
of self and other; political education relativising self

of interaction: critical cultural awareness valuing other
individual and societal (savoir s'engager) (savoir être)
(savoirs)
SKILLS
discover and/or interact

(savoir apprendre / faire)
Factors in Intercultural Communication
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These savoirs concerning the development of Intercultural Communicate Compe-

tence were incorporated in the Common European Framework of Reference for Lan-
guages in 2001, and considered Intercultural Competence one of the competences to be
developed by foreign language learners.
2.1. SKILLS
Byram distinguishes two different skills in intercultural communication. First, savoir

comprendre, that is, the ability to interpret a text or a cultural event from the target cul-
ture and to relate it to texts or events from own culture.
In the classroom, we can develop creative tasks with literary texts by reading, ana-
lysing and interpreting these texts from a different point of view. For example, students
can create projects and new texts from the point of view of minor characters, or create a
daily routine for one of the main characters based on their characteristics. The main point
to develop this skill is to make students meditate and stimulate their learning experience
from a different cultural point of view.
Secondly, savoir faire can be defined as the ability to achieve new knowledge of
cultural practices and promote new knowledge, attitudes and skills in real-time com-
munication and interaction. Role-plays, debates about cultural differences and misun-
derstandings and virtual encounter projects are some examples of activities that can be
developed in class to gain this skill and promote students' discovery and interaction in
the new culture.
2.2. KNOWLEDGE
Students can only alter their attitudes and values if they have socio-cultural know-
ledge. English language plays an important role in a global world where the centre of
attention is no longer the Anglo-Saxon countries, and cultural differences might therefore
create rich and powerful cultural communicative challenges. Knowledge is important,
not only in everyday situations, but also –and most importantly– in terms of religious-
ness, values and mental states. It goes far beyond "background studies" ("Landeskunde"
in German) –and it covers literature and culture, but also everyday events in relation to
time, distance and nearness when speaking, for example. It can be developed in class
by analysing facts in films or texts and making students work on how social groups and
identities function.
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2.3. ATTITUDES
Attitudes towards other social groups are most often described in terms of curiosity
and openness, but also in terms of cultural sensitivity, tolerance of ambiguity, respect of
otherness and empathy. This requires certain willingness with students to give relevance
to their own culture by questioning their existing values and beliefs. In the classroom, it
would make sense to start from what cultures have in common and to look for similar-
ities instead of looking for differences, so we do not reinforce existing stereotypes and
prejudices (see section 4).
2.4. CRITICAL CULTURAL AWARENESS
Critical cultural awareness education is the aim of intercultural communicative

competence. Students should be able to perceive and critically evaluate perspectives and
practices in their own and the target cultures. In that process, students should develop
intercultural sensitivity which is acceptance as well as tolerance towards intercultural
phenomena.
It is not the intention of the teacher to try to change learners' values, but to make
them explicit and conscious in any evaluative response to others. However, there is a
fundamental position which all teachers should promote: a position which acknowledges
respect for human dignity and equality as the basis for social interaction.
3. ACQUIRING ICC IN AN EDUCATIONAL SETTING
When dealing with the topic of acquiring Intercultural Communicative Compe-

tence, an essential precondition must be taken into account, as this acquisition is mainly
guided and it happens mostly within an educational framework. This reference takes
into account the different stances that are constitutive of this framework, namely stu-
dents, teachers, institutions and education policy designers. In this sense, Byram (1997)
focuses on political education and its special connection with Intercultural Communica-
tive Competence, specifically referring to the period of general education. During this
period, students should be offered certain orientations which correspond broadly with
the ones presented by foreign language teaching:
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• Cognitive orientation. Based on the acquisition of conceptual models of

analysis developed through sets of concepts that students need to interpret
the different phenomena. In the context of FLT it must be stressed the inter-
national dimension that the fact of acquiring knowledge of cultures and
societies other than one's own possesses.
• Evaluative orientation. Based on the explanation of values and the ways
in which these are used to develop political judgements. In FLT this may
help to make students reflect on social rules delving in the necessary respect
and prejudice-free approach to know other social realities.
• Action orientation. Based on the development of the disposition for politi-
cal engagement. In FTL it refers to engage students in interaction with oth-
ers who, in turn, can be participants of different cultures and societies.
Apart from theoretical considerations, when applying intercultural competence to

the classroom practice, it can be noticed that tit brings about a bigger quantity of work
in order to deal with it in the proper way. Some goals may be developed through the cur-
riculum (i.e. discovery skills) but others may not fit with the usual classroom practices.
In some occasions, even teachers may be reticent to work Intercultural Communicative
Competence in the classroom whereas others feel more comfortable and are more famil-
iar with the topics in question, according to the different approaches they might have fol-
lowed in their education as teachers. Even the spatial dimension of the classroom may
be felt as a limitation.
In trying to overcome these drawbacks (especially the last one), Byram (1997) con-
siders that there are three main coincidental categories of location for acquiring inter-
cultural competence:
3.1. THE CLASSROOM
The classroom: Traditionally, cultural learning about other countries or realities has
been acquired through knowledge within the limits of the classroom. In some cases this
has implied the decontextualisation of all the information and the lack of significant con-
nections with the language learning objectives. It is clear that the classroom presents cer-
tain benefits as it allows the systematic presentation of concepts and imposes the presence
of a teacher to guide the learning process. It is also the space in which the processes of
cultural communication can be known. By introducing the different components of other
countries or societies, we may raise the students' awareness of the diversity of features of
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their own cultural reality or their own country. The classroom also provides the possibil-
ity of teaching, interpreting and establishing connections between documents or events.
On the other hand, it can be considered that classroom learning is the effective prepa-
ration for a deferred experience in "the real world".
The engagement with otherness in the contemporary world is simultaneous -through

the media on a daily basis, through occasional visiting and receiving visitors, or
working and learning together with people of another culture. This means that the
dichotomy of 'classroom' and 'real world' is a false one; the learning process is inte-
grated and can be structured; learners do not metamorphose on the threshold of
the classroom.'
(Byram, 1997, p. 65).
In this sense, one of the main issues to take into account (and susceptible of innova-
tive developments) is the establishment of the terms in which the relationship between
learning inside and outside the classroom takes place.
3.2. FIELDWORK
This element is quite different from the previously considered work "outside the
classroom". When dealing with fieldwork, we refer to the setting of learning objectives
(which can be set by both students and teachers alike) and the inclusion of the work
within a pedagogical framework. Fieldwork can be one section of a global practice which
starts previously and continues after it (e.g. a visit to a factory, a stay abroad). Although
fieldwork can be separated from the classroom, the learning and teaching processes may
take place in the field as teachers and students are physically together, thus insisting on
the plasticity of educational realms.
Fieldwork provides an essential setting for the development of all skills, particularly
those in which interaction is implied but it is of great interest what it represents in the con-
text of attitudes, especially those attitudes that are impossible to display in the classroom
for they might be considered as artificial. At this level, innovation may refer to the design
of practices that integrate fieldwork within the educational sequence in order to solve
the sometimes inevitable gap between classroom activity prior and after the fieldwork.
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The experience of a total environment affecting all five senses challenges learners in
ways in which the classroom can seldom imitate. Experience of fieldwork, particularly
over a longer term where learners are separated from other learners and teachers,
and from their family and friends provides them with the opportunity to develop atti-
tudes which include ability to cope with different stages of adaptation, engagement
with unfamiliar conventions of behaviour and interaction, and an interest in other
cultures which is not that of the tourist or business person.
(Byram, 1997, p. 69).
3.3. INDEPENDENT LEARNING
It is a factor that can be both a consequence of or simultaneous to classroom and

fieldwork. It is activated when the students continue developing their knowledge and skills
as a consequence of what they have previously learned. At this level it is essential stu-
dents become autonomous to improve their knowledge, skills and attitudes. This implies
a classroom methodology that helps learners to acquire the basic principles of those skills
and knowledge that are taught, and how to incorporate them into their new experiences.
4. UNDERSTANDING ONESELF, UNDERSTANDING THE OTHERS
As seen before, our cultural identity embraces both individual features and cultural
characteristics. When we face other groups, either from the same cultural background, we
tend to stereotype and show some prejudices to what we are seen, mostly unconsciously.
For example, if we meet a British person, we immediately tend to think that this person
loves tea, has a sarcastic humour and his polite manners are likeable, which may or may
not to be necessarily true. A new competence is then needed in these situations, defined
by Guilherme (2000, pp. 297-300) as "the ability to interact effectively with people from
cultures that we recognise as different from our own".
Stereotypes and prejudices are closely related to the idea of national identity; when we
are in our country, national identity is not normally a controversial issue. However, when we
travel abroad we tend to see ourselves as representatives of our own cultures and we explain
our cultures and traditions as if every Spanish person does things the same way as we do.
When we think about what makes a nation, we should consider at least these two
elements:
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4.1. SOCIALISATION
According to Berger and Luckmann, socialization is "the process through which a

person, who is born a member of a community, learns the practices, knowledge, beliefs
and values necessary to become a successful citizen of his/her community" (1966, p. 71).
Human beings are born with any cultural competence. In the child's first years of
life, they must be transformed by people that surround him: family, friends and teach-
ers into cultural and socially citizens. After this first socialization step, we first learn the
language of the culture we are born, and also the roles we are about to play in that cul-
ture: we learn to how to be friends, daughters, brothers or parents. Besides, we learn (and
usually adopt) our own culture's rules through this socialization process.
Byram (1990) and Doyé (1992) refer to a tertiary socialization process that refers to
the intercultural encounter: when two citizens from different cultural backgrounds or
languages meet for the first time, both their short and long taken-for-granted system of
values and beliefs may seem to be unable to coexist. Byram insists them on the require-
ment for rebuilding one's positions on the basis of the intercultural competence.
Successful socialization can result in consistency and regularity in a society. If all

citizens received the same type of socialization, they would all share the same convic-
tions and expectations. This fact has been a solid argument for national governments
around the world to try to standardise education at all levels.
Large-scale societies, such as the United States, are usually composed of many eth-
nic groups. As a consequence, early socialization often varies in techniques and goals
depending on their family background. Since these complex societies are not culturally
homogeneous, they do not have universal agreement about what should be the shared.
However, this fact usually results in more tolerance of cultural differences to those who
are different in appearance, personality, and actions in such large-scale societies.
4.2. STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICES
As human beings, it is unavoidable that we create ideas about other people and
other cultures. Americans are seen as very positive and optimistic people. When we
think of the English, we visualise men wearing bowler hats and carrying a long unopened
umbrella. And if you were to ask a foreigner about Spanish culture, they probably
presume that we all know how to dance the flamenco and that we are constantly drinking
sangría and eating paella.
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Stereotypes can be either positive or negative. The negative attributes are often
emphasized, whereas the positives are ignored. Scollon and Scollon (2001, p. 171) make
a difference between what they consider positive and negative stereotyping:
• Negative stereotyping is seen as a method of reiterating a binaristic contrast as

a negative group difference. There are four major steps in negative stereotyping:
– Contrast two cultures or two groups on the basis of a single dimension.

– Focus on this artificial and ideological difference as a problem for
communication.
– Assign a positive value to one strategy or one group and a negative value
to the other strategy or group.
– Regeneralise this process to the entire group.
• Positive stereotyping, in contrast, can be divided into two main strategies:
– Solidarity fallacy:
– Lumping fallacy: This occurs when a person makes a false grouping in
reference to two other groups.
In summary, the major problem of negative stereotyping involves regarding mem-

bers of a group as being polar opposites, whereas with positive stereotyping the members
of different groups are viewed as identical (Scollon & Scollon 2001, p. 173). Stereotypes
whether positive or negative, limit our understanding of human behaviour and can lead
to miscommunication in intercultural discourse because, as Scollon and Scollon con-
clude, "they limit our view of human activity to just one or two salient dimensions and
consider those to be the whole picture" (2001, p. 169).
It is very difficult to modify and change impressions about stereotypes. That is why
teachers should be aware of them, treat them in the classroom and try to reduce students'
viewpoint on the topic. Also, a true representation of a culture in Secondary textbooks
depends on the writers' cultural awareness when creating materials. Writers should have
sufficient information about history and geography, cultural events and stereotypes of
the target culture, because their own educational background may negatively affect the
choice of texts and activities.
The next term is the idea of prejudice, which literally breaks down into "pre" and "judge"
someone. That means holding an opinion of something or someone, before you have any
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│ Sumario
facts in evidence. The difference with stereotypes is that prejudices are thoughts of feelings,
something you hold internally, and they do not always lead to an action. For example, if
you see someone with a leaflet from a political party that you dislike, you might think you
would not like that person but you still are nice and polite as you would be to someone else.
The problem lies when prejudices are accompanied by actions. Allport (1954, p. 14)
establishes the following scale of negative actions:
Stage 1: Antilocution
Antilocution means making jokes about another group and expressing hateful opin-
ions. In the former case it is also called "derogatory speech", and in the latter case
it is called 'hate speech'. Both cases can be examples of prejudice, prejudice in the
sense of an opinion reflecting negative stereotypes and negative images based on
preconceived judgements rather than facts. Antilocution is often believed to be harm-
less, but it can harm the self-esteem of the people of the targeted group, and it can
clear the way for more harmful forms of prejudice. The line between violent words
and violent acts is often very thin. The self-image of a group can be hurt, which can
sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Stage 2: Avoidance
Harm is done through isolation and by preparing the way for more harmful acts.
Xenophobia, or the fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or
strange, results in exclusion.
Stage 3: Discrimination
A group is discriminated against by denying them equal access to opportunities,
goods and services. Discrimination is intended to harm a group by preventing it from
achieving goals, accessing education or jobs, for example.
Stage 4: Physical attack

This has become known as "hate crime". The incidents may involve physical assault,
damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, mate crime or
offensive graffiti or letters.
Stage 5: Extermination
It is the most dangerous element in the scale, and it refers to the extermination of
a group through genocide, ethnic cleansing, etc., (World War II as an example).
Interestingly, prejudices seem to be caused by a variety of sources, individual to

social. They seem to have a great dose of conformity, even though personal rebellion
200 www.udima.es
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may help overcome prejudiced views. Prejudices are essentially attitudinal, but the ste-
reotype seems to be mainly cognitive, because it implies different ways of understan-
ding and categorising reality.
LANNING A CURRICULUM FOR INTERCULTURAL COMMU

5. P
NICATIVE COMPETENCE
The decision to include the concept of Intercultural Communicate Competence in

the curriculum mainly affects the teacher, who has the responsibility to determine the dif-
ferent aspects and the order in which learners acquire them. As we have seen in this unit,
cultural contents are not a linear or cumulative set of contents, as we normally understand
the progression in language learning. Moreover, learning has been always understood in
the curriculum as a step-to-step progression, starting from the simplest concepts of lan-
guage and communication and moving forward to more complex linguistic aspects.
Intercultural competence requires a different perception. According to Gipps (1994),
students' needs would suggest a different order from that usually taken, and their needs
and requirements may change at different points in their learning process.
To help students to become interculturally competent, a threshold should be inte-

grated, which supports the idea that a second language learner should reach full native-like
command of the language the learner is taking (Van Ek, 1980). However, this definition
of Intercultural Communicative Competence threshold appears difficult to be achieved
easily, that is why Van Ek redefined his proposal in order to be more available to students:
one has reached the threshold when the student is able to communicate successfully and
they can easily express their ideas and leaves no burden of misinterpretation due to their
cultural unawareness. Therefore, this modified level in the intercultural communicative
competence threshold is more likely to be accomplished.
In order to enable the learner to communicate successfully without any cultural mis-
conception, Byram (1997) establishes a number of different stages of analysis that may
influence the intercultural communicate competence threshold:
Stage 1: The geopolitical context
An analysis of what might be meant by intercultural communicative competence in

the situation in question. If learners live in a situation where they have no foreseea-
.../...
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│ Sumario
.../...
ble interaction with native speakers of a language, their needs will be different from
those who are in constant contact, as visitors or hosts, or those who mainly use the
language as a lingua franca. This analysis has to draw upon a societal as well as
an individual perspective; individual learners' foreseeable needs may differ from the
general level of intercultural contact in a society as it currently exists and as its body
politic perceives the future.
Stage 2: The Learning context

An analysis of learning locations and other parameters. In some circumstances, the
option of fieldwork may not exist or opportunities for independent learning through
the media may be limited. Since curricula are usually determined to some degree
by bodies rather than the teacher and learners, it is also necessary to analyse the
parameters set by such bodies in order to see whether there are constraints imposed
which contradict the objectives of intercultural communicative competence, for exam-
ple by those responsible for certification.
Stage 3: The Developmental Factor

The analysis of cognitive and affective development of the learners. Although individ-
ual learners develop at different rates and in different ways, consideration must be
given to this element in the teaching and learning. It need not be a constraint in that
teachers may decide that exposure to certain kinds of learning experience in various
locations can be successful despite the apparent lack of readiness of the learners
involved. It may however be the case that the teacher decides that some objectives
are inappropriate for their learners.
Stage 4: Identification of Objectives

The decision about which objectives should be set as the guidelines for the curric-
ulum is made in the light of the preceding stages of analysis. Objectives in foreign
language curriculum design and material development shall not be excluded; rather
they must be interculturally developed so that the real communicative teaching and
learning standards are guaranteed. Whatever purpose the language learner may
foster in his mind, the communicative competence need, where cultural compe-
tence is contained, will never be ignored.
Stage 5: The Intercultural Communicative Competence Threshold

At this point it is useful to specify, as a summary of preceding stages, the threshold
/ goal of Intercultural Communicative Competence involved. The definition should
include reference to the following:
• The geopolitical context: The present and foreseeable needs and uses of
the particular language for learners of the country in question, described in
terms of the country's political, commercial and other relevant relationships
.../...
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.../...
with countries where the language is spoken natively, and / or in terms of

the use of the language as a lingua franca and the advantages which that
might bring;
• The locations and parameters of the teaching and learning situation: the time
available for learning and the methods and material which might be included;
the availability and nature of contact with other speakers of the language,
native or not, and the cultures which they embody;
• The situations in which it is foreseen learners will draw upon their Intercultural
Communicative Competence: specimen examples of intercultural commu-
nication situations and of the competences needed, from a situation where
learners have no personal contact with speakers of the language and do
not need the skills of real time interaction, for example, to a situation where
learner's daily requirements and experience depend on successful interac-
tion with a constantly changing flow of other intercultural speakers of the
language as lingua franca.
Stage 6: Sequence in Curriculum

Ordering and prioritisation of objectives. It is possible to prioritise the 'edges and cor-
ners' of the jigsaw and consider their relationship to the different locations and oppor-
tunities for learning. Since some objectives may have been excluded for a particular
group of learners, each jigsaw will be different. After the frame has been prioritised,
the choice of elements within the jigsaw can be made as a function of the interest
of the learners, and it is at this point that consultation with learners is productive.
The implication of this is of course that not all curriculum planning decisions can be
taken in advance, and that some elements of the jigsaw will be in that part of the cur-
riculum which is future as well as contemporary independent learning.
(Byram, 1997, pp. 79-81)
The relationship between assessment and curriculum will be considered in the next
section.
6. A
SSESSING LEVEL OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE
COMPETENCE
Corbett (2003) suggests different test formats in order to assess intercultural com-
petences, both including summative and formative evaluation:
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│ Sumario
• Objective tests: it consists on checking students' previous knowledge of

English culture. The activities used in these texts are not different from the
ones used in linguistic evaluation: matching exercises (date and historical
events, for example), multiple choice (writers and relevant works) or open-
ended questions. Corbett (2003, p. 196) proposes several problems, such
as evaluating students on memorised facts or general knowledge, which
makes students feel anxious about the target culture and inevitably leads to
stereotyping.
• Subjective tests: Corbett suggests a variety of subjective tests:
– Identifying genres: The student is given an array of texts (political,

scientific...), and has to group them according to the genre.
– Selecting appropriate language: This would be similar to gap fill-
ing activities but, instead of choosing the correct answer, the stu-
dents have to write it himself. This test links reading and writing
skills.
– Transformation and rewriting: Students should be able to recognise
and produce genre-specific tests.
– Reflective essay tasks: This category includes different topics for
essays: Analysing one's personal experience of the target culture,
identifying and categorising cultural misunderstandings and analys-
ing data elicited in small-scale ethnographic research.
– Role plays and simulations: The skills tested include the use of eve-
ryday language and structures to elicit cultural knowledge.
– Projects and portfolios: Byram, together with Gribkova and Starkey
(2002), work on the development of the Council of Europe's "Euro-
pean Language Portfolio", which has three parts: the passport, the
language biography, and the Dossier. Byram, Gribkova and Starkey
(2002) claim that assessing the acquisition of intercultural compe-
tence is not difficult, however, the problem is what to assess, what
is relevant to be assessed and what is not. The problematic areas of
intercultural competence are "the ability to make the strange famil-
iar and the familiar strange" (2002, p. 29) and to act on the basis of
new perspectives. That is why traditional examinations are obsolete,
and the record of the learner's competences in the portfolio is more
advisable.
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7. CONCLUSION
As we have seen, the concept of Intercultural Communicative Competence is gain-

ing importance in the area of learning an L2. In this unit we have briefly developed the
main ideas surrounding it, trying to cope with both theoretical and practical aspects and
taking into account the specific constraints of the classroom practices.
Some scholars have devoted a great deal of their analyses to describe and design
different ways to implement this idea in the everyday lessons at schools but there is
still a lot of interesting research to be done. Intercultural Communicative Competence
implies a shift in the focus of the language lesson which now is placed on the learner
by means of encouraging their learning autonomy and independence. Nowadays, it is
almost inconceivable to learn a language as isolated item of knowledge, this way, the
outline and practice of different and wider ways to include the development of Intercul-
tural Communicative Competence in this learning context is an open path to be trodden.
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 BASIC CONCEPTS
• Cultural awareness. The ability of standing back from ourselves and
becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions. Cultural
awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from
other cultures, as people see, interpret and evaluate things in a different
ways.
• Edges and Corners. It refers to a combination of all components in Inter-
cultural Communicative Competence.
• Hate crime. Also known as a bias-motivated crime, it refers to criminal acts
that occur when the wrongdoer targets a victim because of the membership
in a certain social group. Examples of such groups can include ethnicity,
gender identity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, reli-
gion or sexual orientation.
• Stereotype. A preconceived notion, especially about a group of people or
a certain culture.
• Threshold. The level at which something begins or changes.
 T
1. Write a critical report entitled "Communicative competence as the goal of

language classroom and the role of institution". Your work should range
from 2 - 4 pages.
2. Explore your own prejudices and stereotypes with respect to English-spea-
king countries cultures. If you have spent some time abroad, comment on
which important your stay has had in your view of the world.
206 www.udima.es
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3. In what way is the cultural content incorporated in the current law? What
do you think cannot be taught in the Spanish secondary school classes?
4. Think of the assessment techniques you would use for testing students' inter-
cultural competence. Take into consideration the Spanish education context.
 REFERENCES
Alcón Soler, E. and Safont Jordà, P. (2007). Intercultural language use and language learning. Dordrecht,
the Netherlands: Springer.
Allport, G. (1979). The Nature of Prejudice. Reading M.A: Addison – Wesley.
Becher, U.A.J. (1996). European citizenship and historical learning. Evaluation and Research in Educa-
tion. 10 (2 & 3) 79-87.
Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
Byram, M. (ed) (1994). Culture and language learning in Higher Education. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
Byram, M., Morgan C. et al (1994). Teaching-and-Learning and Language-and-Culture. Clevedon: Mul-
tilingual Matters.
Byram, M., Gribkova, B. an Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the Intercultural Dimension in Language
Teaching. A practical introduction for teachers. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Coperías Aguilar, M. (2009). Intercultural communicative competence in the context of the European
higher education area. Language and Intercultural Communication, 9(4), pp.242-255.
Corbett, J. (2003). An Intercultural Approach to English Language Teaching. Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
Council of Europe (1993). Transparency and coherence in language learning in Europe: Objectives,
assessment and certifications. Report on the Ruschlikon Symposium. CC LANG (19) 22.
Council of Europe (1996). Common European Framework of Reference for language learning and teach-
ing. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Furham, A. and Bochner, S. (1986). Culture shock: psychological reactions in unfamiliar environments.
London: Methuen.
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│ Sumario
Guilherme, M. (2000). Intercultural competence. En M. Byram (ed.): Routledge Encyclopaedia of Lan-

guage Teaching and Learning. London: Routledge.
Gipps, C. (1994). Beyond Testing: Towards a Theory of Educational Assessment. London: Falmer Press.
Jones, B. (1995). Exploring otherness: an approach to cultural awareness. London: CILT.
Müller- Hartmann, A. and Schocker-von Ditfurth, M. (2007). Introduction to English Language Teaching.
Stuttgart: Klett.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London: Longman.
Starkey, H. (1995). Intercultural education through foreign language learning: A Human Rights approach.
In A. Osher et al (eds) Teaching for Citizenship in Europe. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books.
Seelye, H. (1993). Teaching culture. Lincolnwood, Ill.: National Textbook Co.
Van Ek, J.A. (1986). Objectives for foreign Language Learning, Vol. 1: Scope. Strasbourg: Council of
Europe.
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Sumario │

Objectives of the Unit

1. A diagnose of the situation

Topics for reflection

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

 OBJECTIVES OF THE UNIT

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

1. A DIAGNOSE OF THE SITUATION

Teachers' management skills concern:

– Design of the long term and short term programmes.

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

– Review and update the classroom dynamics.

– Collaborate in school's activities and management.

– Train themselves to be updated.

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

2. THE PARALYSING SEARCH FOR CULPRITS

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

3. MODERNISATION AND INNOVATION

In other words, is an up-to-date, modern classroom innovative? Maybe or maybe

This fact shows that technology

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

This is a historical case of disrupting innovation, that is to say, the introduction of a

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

Consequently, having computers in every classroom or connect the students and

Innovation, then, is gradual, as we exemplified with the phonograph. This process

Figure 2. The process of innovation

Individual solution to a particular and

Improvement Better answer to problems

Innovation Stability. Institutionalised change

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

In a second stage, change becomes an improvement. Once some changes have

It is not difficult to find teachers with "innovative" or distinctive approaches. In

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

Figure 3. Tim Brighouse's model of change dynamics

Vision Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan = Change

Source: Robinson 2015, p. 249

Figure 4. Tim Brighouse's model of attempts to change

Skills Incentives Resources Action Plan = Confusion

Source: Robinson 2015, p. 250

4. REFORM AND INNOVATION

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

1. Reluctance of teachers. A way to resist to any reform is by being stuck

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

2. Individualism and corporatism. Individualism is the tendency to believe

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

"The standards movement is rooted in competition between stu-

Innovation, which is a cooperative matter, can hardly survive in this kind

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

5. INNOVATION: FACTORS FOR SUCCESS

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

• Visibility of the results of the innovation for external observers.

Although an innovative practice is highly unpredictable in its first stages of imple-

• Innovation is designed to be implemented as part of the normal routines of

1. Stable and receptive teamwork. When teachers are organised as teams,

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

3. Innovative regions. It is good to have innovative schools but if the schools

6. INNOVATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES

EFL INNOVATION AND CLASSROOM RESEARCH

• Timetables, time devoted to each language and most adequate exploitation

At present, FL teachers need to face a twofold challenge: the integration of contents

C. Segade Alonso What is innovation?

5. EPOSTL: reflection, collaboration and self assessment