TOPIC 21: PROGRAMMING IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE AREA: TEACHING

UNITS. CRITERIA FOR THE OBJECTIVES AND CONTENTS SEQUENCING AND

TIMING. SELECTING METHODOLOGY TO USE IN LEARNING AND EVALUATION
ACTIVITIES.

If we make reference to the Royal Decree, 126 /2014 (passed on 28 th February), in which the
minimum teachings and objectives of Primary Education are established and the Decree 89 /2014,
of 24th July which determines the Official Curriculum of Primary Education in The Community of
Madrid, we can confirm that the main goal of Foreign Language Teaching in Primary Education is
the development of communicative competence in our students. This competence implies the
mastery of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Through this essay, I will explain
why programming in foreign language is important to achieve this competence and I will explain
some aspects of an annual programme, such as contents, objectives and methodology. I will close
this expose with a conclusion and the bibliography that served as its basis.

Now that the outline of this essay has been presented, let’s explain the first part of the topic,
programming in the foreign language area.

Our legal framework develops the idea of communicative competence, which consists, basically, of
five sub-competences that are based on Canale and Swain’s model: linguistic; sociolinguistic;
discursive; strategic; and socio-cultural competence. Linguistic competence is the ability to
recognize and elaborate messages using properly phonetic, semantic, lexical, and morphosyntactical
models of the language system. Sociolinguistic competence is the ability to adjust one's speech to fit
the situation. Discursive competence is the ability to understand, create and develop different forms
of the language with the appropriate cohesion, coherence and rhetorical organization to combine
ideas. Strategic competence is the ability to make use of verbal and non-verbal communicative
strategies for the compensation of errors, gaps or interruptions in the process of communication.
Socio-cultural competence is the familiarity with the social and cultural context in which the foreign
language is spoken.

This way of understanding the process of communication constitutes the basis of what we call the
“Communicative Approach” and the focus of foreign language learning. A foreign language
teacher’s main goal is to develop the communicative competence of every student in realistic
situations in the classroom. The teacher becomes a connector between the curriculum and the
student, the designer who develops his or her student´s communicative skills. For this reason, it is
essential to elaborate the best and most effective way of teaching our students while never losing
sight of the fact that our plan is only a hypothesis, which must change, adapt and improve in order
to achieve the objectives, in accordance with each student’s personal characteristics and individual
needs.

A teaching programme contains units of work, a kind of lesson plan in which the teacher details
and describes each lesson of the course. In order to guide class instructions, the teacher will develop
this didactic unit, regarding skills, competences, time managing (how many time devote do each
activity) and the explanations given to the students. Writing it, the teacher has to take into account
what students have to learn during the course, how classes will be planned, the different needs that
students can present… etc. The usual structure of a didactic unit is the following: first, the
justification of the didactic unit and explanation to who is addressed (grade), in what consists, what
aspects covers, the kind of school in which the class will be given, level of difficulty and
progressivity of activities. Then the explanation of the objectives of the didactic unit: what the
teacher wants to get from the students at the end. Third, Table of contents: speaking, writing,
listening, reading, socio-cultural knowledge… This is followed by the methodology, the resources
and materials that will be used in class. Finally: planning lesson (type of exercise, time managing),
evaluation criteria and the section of attention to students with specific educational needs: in which
have to be taken into account the extra material that students may need, maybe because they need a
reinforcement or maybe because their level is upper than the rest of the classmates. At the end of
these points the teacher has to enclose the exercises that will be done in class.

When planning, teacher must consider the previous knowledge of students and anticipates what
kind of problems the didactic unit can present. Teachers will also have to bear in mind the socio-
cultural context of the school to include the following elements: specification of the general
objectives of the Foreign Language area in Primary Education, adjusting them to the socio-cultural
environment of the learners and their particular features; sequencing the objectives and contents;
methodological principles; student groupings; organisation of activities; materials and didactic
resources; evaluation criteria and the instruments of evaluation.

Let’s continue by explaining the criteria for the sequencing and timing of content and objectives.
The Royal Decree 126/2014 develops a curriculum which establishes the minimum objectives and
contents that have to be taught in every school in Spain. A more specific curriculum then is
established by the decrees of the Autonomous Communities, where the objectives, contents,
methodological orientations, evaluation criteria and learning standards of Primary Education are
specified in each region. Based on these decrees, school departments will have to design their
didactic programmes for every subject and, which are included in the curricular project of the
school. Teachers will use these didactic programmes as the basis for their teaching programme for a
specific grade and group. The objectives must be adapted to the learners' reality and be used for
guiding the teaching-learning process.

In 2006, the European Parliament and the European Union Council defined the eight competences
that form a “framework of European Reference”, those competences necessary for permanent
learning. For that, in the Royal Decree 126/2014, February 28th, seven basic competences are
established to lead the development of any teaching process: linguistic competence; mathematical
competence and basic competences in science and technology; digital competence; learning to
learn; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; and cultural awareness
and expression. The achievement of these should be understood as a priority when designing our
planning.

At this point we will focus on content, which can be defined as an entity of the teaching and
learning process oriented to the acquisition of objectives. Hence, the Didactic programming and
didactic units convert content into the instrument that guides the development of learning and
assessment activities through the objectives. We need to consider the characteristics, needs and
interests of our students before deciding on content. In the foreign language area in primary
education, the selection of contents is based on “Communicative Approach” which I have explained
previously. This approach is based on the idea that language is used for communication and
communication implies the integration of the four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
This concept is also presented in our legislation, which highlights the importance of the
development of both oral and written skills in Primary Education. The Royal Decree, 126 /2014,
passed on the 28th February, establishes the following blocks of content in the foreign language
curriculum: Oral Comprehension (block 1); Oral Expression (block 2); Reading Comprehension
(block 3); and Written Expression (block 4). All of this content aims to help primary students
achieve communicative competence in the foreign language.
In the classroom, teachers will have to make children exercise all four skills, ensuring they are
integrated through situations that allow for and encourage authentic communication. We have to
create real communicative situations in our lessons and we cannot forget how important and useful
the new technologies are nowadays. They bring the real world into the classroom and promote real
communicative situations. It can be a very motivating and useful tool to use in our lessons
whenever possible. WebPages or blogs are some examples.

Now that we have explained some criteria for the sequencing of content and objectives, let’s
continue explaining the selection of the methodology to use in learning and evaluation activities.

A foreign language teacher’s main goal is to develop the communicative competence of every
student in realistic situations in the classroom. For this reason, it is essential to elaborate the best
and most effective plan of teaching for our students. When planning, the teacher must consider,
among other factors, the methodology, activities, resources and materials that will be used in the
class. Before choosing syllabus, methods, or teaching materials, some questions must be answered,
such as: who the learners are, their current level of language proficiency, their communicative
needs, and so on. Such information provides the basis for language curriculum development.

However, when teaching a second language, we should bear in mind those methodological
principles that our legislation proposes: putting students in contact with communicative, meaningful
and comprehensible data; simultaneous presence of linguistic and non-linguistic experiences;
activities as the main point of didactic planning; activities generated from topics of interest;
integration of the four skills from the start; emphasis on the oral and receptive skills in the early
days; the essential role of the teacher, using the foreign language as a vehicle of communication;
and cooperative learning and interactive language use among students, favouring the amplification
of communication situations.

In this essay we have seen what programming consists of and how to do planning in foreign
language class, taking into account that communication is the base and the main element of learning
a foreign language. We have also seen some methodological principles teachers must bear in mind
when teaching a second language.

In order to develop this essay I have made reference to the following bibliography:
- Harmer, Jeremy (1991) “ The practice of English Language Teaching”. Longman.

- Richards & Schmidt “Language and Communication”. Longman.

- Skinner “ Verbal Behaviour”. Prentice Hall 1957.

- Brewster & Ellis and Girard “ The Primary English Teacher’s Guide” 1991. Penguin.