International Congress on the Didactics of the English Language

Action Research and Didactics on Foreign Language Evolution

2020-12-18T22:56:54+00:00

With the objective to find ways to attain the descriptors established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for the standardization of language learning, a group of 12 students from first year of the Foreign Languages Major at Universidad de Oriente was selected to implement an action research project and revise the procedures and techniques used in the teaching –learning process. The group included students from the three existing groups, 6 males and 6 females. The methodology followed in the experiment took into consideration steps offered by Burns, A (1998), Nunan, D. (1990) and Wallace, M.J. (1998) for action research; besides Bausela´s (2004) professional perspectives: a social perspective (professional formation and social participation), and a personal perspective (formative aspects and cognitive aspects). First, an action was planned to address the problem, then the cycle planning, acting, observing and reflecting was followed according to the characteristics of this type of research and some arguments offered in Harmer ´s cycle (2005). Among the limitations detected in the linguistic diagnosis too much hesitation, poor speaking and writing production with short simple sentences, tendency to use Spanish to complete the ideas, and Spanish-like intonation patterns were registered. To solve the problems detected an “English club”, which included different activities, was created, and put into practice. They contributed to improve the students’ performance with the English language.

Epistemological Domain Versus Classroom Practice in the Didactics of English

2020-12-18T23:06:14+00:00

In order to analyze the upgrading needs of English teachers of Esmeraldas, a qualitative-quantitative research was carried out with a sample of 14 English teachers, of different schools in the mentioned city, who attended the course The Didactics of English, designed and taught in the PUCE Esmeraldas for two weeks, in the year 2018. The analytical-synthetical and hermeneutic methods were used with the techniques of survey and observation. The results revealed that the teachers were aware of the importance of English language teaching, but they had limited knowledge about theories, techniques, and methods to carry out this important process. However, the results disclosed that some teachers were able to use some methodologies for English language teaching even though they did not have theoretical instruction about that. This meant that some teachers, who did not receive didactic instruction, had experiential knowledge by daily teaching.

ICT for Language Learning: A modern Strategy in Education

2020-12-18T23:11:30+00:00

The integration of technology in education has spread worldwide and it is one of the best options to improve academic processes day by day. In order to analyze integration of technology and the motivation of English teachers from public schools in Colombia in the improvement of their English level, a quantitative approach was used, having the participation of 10 elementary school teachers who wanted to improve their competence in the English language, to achieve that, the researchers organized a variety of sessions in which participants had the possibility to take part in different activities integrating technology. Data was collected through surveys, observation and a pre-test and a post-test. As a result, the oral production level of the participating teachers was improved.

The Application of ICTs as Pedagogical Tools to Improve the Teaching-Learning Process

2020-12-18T23:17:07+00:00

To analyze the influence of technologies in the teaching-learning process of second-year senior students at Margarita Cortés school in the city of Esmeraldas, a descriptive research was carried out using the methods of deduction and induction. In addition, techniques such as observation and survey were applied to a population of 120 students and 2 teachers in the area. The results revealed that the teachers and students in the English area do not use technological tools or very little to develop topics inside the classroom. Maybe the teacher does not know about the importance and benefits that ICTs can offer to develop a class in a dynamic and interactive way. In fact, “Margarita Cortés” school has few technological tools access in relation to the number of students. Teachers do not share information using technological tools or social networks. This research coincided with a series of investigations related to the application of ICTs in what refers to the modernization and the constant updating of knowledge in the teaching-learning process.

Design and Analysis of an Annotated Gender-Based English Learner Corpus

2020-12-19T14:20:53+00:00

This research focuses on the study of gender as a factor of influence of the performance from a corpus linguistics perspective. We compiled a university level English learner corpus from written sample texts produced in class, a linguistic analysis was carried out by means of the application of quantitative and qualitative methods. As a result, we obtained a systematic summary of errors in the learner corpus while taking several parameters into account, such as age, level and, especially, gender. Results revealed that errors were more prevalent in male students than on female at the time of composing general domain texts in English. In addition, we present a summary of the most frequent errors and a discussion of the factors that may have influenced these results.

Inclusive Education in English Classes for Regular Learners

2020-12-19T14:27:42+00:00

Children´s inclusion in the educative classroom and community activities, under the teachers´ guidance, is an efficient way to provide opportunities to all looking for individual and personal welfare. The following scientific report reveals an experience based on a methodology to develop inclusive education in English classrooms for regular learners. For this, various communicative activities are exemplified to enhance fundamentally, the verbal linguistic, the kinesthetic, the musical, the intrapersonal and the interpersonal intelligences. The research was carried out and applied in English primary classrooms in Santiago de Cuba, where educative programs allow the students to share impartial opportunities to think, do and create learning situations in foreign language. The methodology includes professional orientations in the exploratory, projective, executive and evaluative stages. These stages propitiate the identification of the learners´ intelligences; planning and execution of inclusive activities and assessing of results. The methodological intervention permitted to deepen into the students´ inclusiveness and diversity. Some pedagogical and linguistic tests were applied to verify the students´ linguistic insufficiencies. Data collection instruments show the verbal linguistic intelligence and the other intelligences in 6^th graders. Findings point out the progress made by the slow learners, who became average and by the average learners who became advantageous. The methodological intervention in primary classrooms improved the learners´ abilities and intelligences. Furthermore, the recreation of an inclusive educational environment for the teaching of English as experienced in those classrooms brought about positive changes, not only in the cognitive and linguistic levels of the learners, but in their social recognition at the school and in the community.

Didactic Guide of Curricular Adaptation Aimed to Students with Mild Cognitive Impairments

2020-12-19T14:33:44+00:00

The main objective of the current proposal is the implementation of interactive strategies in the English subject through curricular adaptations in the micro planning aimed to students with mild cognitive disabilities included in the regular education at La Providencia Primary School. A quantitative-qualitative research was carried out with the techniques of observation, interview and survey aimed to a population of 21 students with mild cognitive impairments, the principal of the Institution, the psychologist and 2 English Teachers of fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth grade. The results revealed that the English teachers do not identify learners with cognitive disabilities, they do not know the age difference among a regular student and a student with this type of difficulties; Besides, the teachers do not know what components must be adjusted in the micro-curricular planning. The principal and the psychologist of the Primary school were interviewed, and an observation form was applied for two weeks. After obtaining the results, the researcher proposed to the English teachers two groups of interactive strategies. The first group belongs to twelve general strategies with objectives and specific details through lesson plans with the curricular adaptation in the performance skills criteria and success indicators of evaluation. Furthermore, specific strategies were introduced through worksheets with the purpose of developing some content of the school year. Finally, it can conclude that the impact of the interactive strategies in students with mild cognitive impairments were meaningful in different fields such as Pedagogical, social, psycholinguistics and economic.

The Use of the WordBit Application to Increase English Vocabulary

2020-12-19T14:41:10+00:00

In this era, mobile devices are considered a potential support in education, including language learning. It has been proved that students feel more motivated when their tasks include the use of technological gadgets. Moreover, cellphones have increasingly become an essential every day tool in schools presenting a diversity of options to be applied in the learning process. This paper describes how the WordBit cellphone application was implemented in San Gerardo Town high school, in Riobamba city and explains the results found after the intervention. This pedagogical intervention based on the MALL (Mobile-Assisted Language Learning) approach had the objective to increase the students’ knowledge of words and their meaning. Three experimental groups were involved in this research with 69 students who presented the same academic and socio-cultural characteristics i.e. they used the same textbook, their English level corresponded to A1, their English teacher was the same, they belonged to the same community, and their family income was similar. The data was analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics. The design was quasi-experimental since the groups were already assigned and chosen by availability. This was an explanatory study because the problem was identified by analyzing the effect, which was the dependent variable (Mobile Devices), and the cause, the independent variable (Lexical Improvement). For data collection and results analysis, the researcher used an initial survey to verify the problem and project feasibility; a pre-test to find out the students’ level of English according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; and a post-test to confirm the effectiveness of the intervention. The results demonstrated that students went from level A1 to A1+ and that the use of the WordBit (lockscreen) application promoted student’s self-confidence and self-learning.

How Students Mistake the s-Genitives and the of-Genitives in a Local Ecuadorian Context Learning

2020-12-19T14:47:23+00:00

Considering a local action research in English learning approach may be the right way to help teacher to manage some of the daily issues they face in their classroom since one of its principle is bridging the traditional divide between educational theory and professional practice (McNiff, 2017). This contribution aims to map the different mistakes students may produce in their learning process in a TESOL[1] context regarding the use of the Saxon genitive or the of-genitive form (Lyons, 1986; Tratz & Hovy, 2013) when expressing ownership of something or talking about things that belong to other things. Since the action research approach is a collaborative systematic inquiry done by teachers to gather information about, and subsequently improve, the ways their particular educational setting operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn. The analysed data are collected through a participatory dynamic process in which students fill in a questionnaire. Before answering the questionnaire, Tourism students in the Amazon State University have been put in contact with the common previously identified mistakes usually made using the possessive / genitive case form in order to identify the situated problem and its causes, and suggest the required corrective actions to undertake. Several sociolinguistic factors such as mother tongue, gender, and cultural background have been identified as possible causes reflecting the geographical location and social proximity of the language in contact approach (Muhvić-Dimanovski, 2005; Hickey, 2013). A discussion, dealing with the result interpretation and the suggested corrective actions, will take place in order to improve the learning process.

Learning a Foreign Language in the Formation of Higher Professional Education

2020-12-19T14:51:44+00:00

For some decades now, the English language has begun a process of global evolution, increasing the number of people who learn to speak this language and, more and more, those who depend on it to get a job and succeed. That is why the learning of English as a second language has been prioritized from the primary levels to the university where their knowledge and skills are increased in language skills. The new competitive profile of professionals in Higher Education, scientific development, the free circulation of professionals at an international level and the growing of socio-cultural diversity require that undergraduate students possess specific competences in a foreign language, especially of spoken and written English, so the discipline of English has occupied a prominent place in the curriculum. To analyze the importance of learning English in higher education, through two interrelated lines: the study of English during university and the usefulness in professional training, an investigation was done with the determination of a referential theoretical framework on the subject, as well as the diagnosis made which allowed the design of a methodology that is based on the philosophical, sociological and psychological principles that support the current pedagogy, located in the cultural historical conception and the communicative approach for teaching of a foreign language.

The Necessity of Teaching ESP in the Nursing Career at PUCE Esmeraldas

2020-12-19T15:02:41+00:00

With the objective of assessing the necessity of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the career of Nursing at PUCE Esmeraldas, a pedagogical investigation was carried out in the first semester of 2018, with the qualitative paradigm, the sample was formed by 10 students from the sixth level of Nursing, who were part of a group of 25 of the same level. They were taught ESP during three units of the syllabus, with thirty hours in the whole semester. The descriptive and the inductive method were applied, with an unstructured interview and the technique of observation. The results showed that at the beginning of the semester students were not able to speak in English using the communicative functions and vocabulary related to ESP, but when they were taught each of the units which were connected to English for Specific Purposes, they were able to communicate with some fluency and accuracy, they talked about Emergencies in Pediatrics, such as burns, convulsions, poisoning by any substance, epilepsy, an acute asthma attack, vomiting and diarrhoea, hypothermia and hyperthermia and a forearm fracture, they also talked about the importance of physical exercises to rehabilitate injured patients applying the nursing care plan for each disease, for example an ankle sprains, any kind of fracture, a patient after a myocardial infarction, a cerebro vascular accident, an operation and so one. It can be concluded that in the teaching-learning process of ESP to Nursing students it is very relevant and significant to use some strategies as cooperative learning strategies, discussions, task-based language emphasizing on the necessary abilities and content they need, to have them use the accurate vocabulary and the necessary linguistic- professional abilities in the practice of their future profession.

Rhetorical Organization and Linguistic Realizations of Moves in English Research Article Abstracts

2020-12-19T15:06:19+00:00

Research article abstracts are the most effective means of introducing the scope of the complete article. Taking abstracts as the analytical framework, the study identifies the move structures and their linguistic realizations, including verb tenses, stance markers and lexical richness. The contrastive analysis is based on a corpus of 80 abstracts published in North-American and Ecuadorian journals in the disciplines of education, sociology, electronics and agronomy. The corpora were subjected to move analysis performed manually by the human analyst and to software-driven analysis with the complete lexical tutor (Cobb, 2006). The results show that English-written texts do not follow a hierarchical five-move structure (Hyland 2000) but a three-move conventional schema, whose functions are to present the purpose (M2), describe the methodology (M3) and discuss the research findings (M4). Present and hedges were the most frequent categories across disciplines. It was also found complex lexical variation and high lexical density. It is hoped that these results raise linguistic and pedagogic implications for novice writers, particularly non-native English speakers benefit from writing instructions to construct publishable English abstracts in terms of content and rhetorical structure.

Is Teaching Inside the Youth Mexican Prison System Inclusive?

2020-12-19T15:11:21+00:00

In order to analyze if teaching inside the Youth Mexican Prison System is inclusive, a collaborative project was carried out with the participation of 17 pre-service teachers and 3 lecturers who participated in this study. The pre-service teachers taught English to 24 inmates in a Mexican prison adopting a critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970) using a one to one modality for 16 weeks. The three lectures observed the teaching performance of the pre-service teachers during this time. Using an auto ethnographic methodology, I analyzed my own process of teaching in terms of reading and writing to an incarcerated student and wrote weekly reflections to analyze my own teaching practice and two teachers who acted like mentors also wrote their weekly observations of our teaching process. Preliminary results show that teaching one to one in this context was a challenge for most of the student teachers, and some of them followed a “traditional” approach when teaching inmate students because of their beliefs. In terms of reading and writing, results are like the ones reported by Pérez (2001) who found that that reading is a socio-educational practice that incarcerated teenagers use to get distracted from their immediate reality. In addition, there is a notorious necessity of writing that comes with this reading, which is the opportunity to “show off” the knowledge inmates acquire within every book, magazine, article they read (Pérez, 2001). Inmates find learning English as a rewarding experience because it allows them to express their feelings and emotions as well as to imagine different worlds and escape from their reality. As a general conclusion, teaching incarcerated students allowed to build human relationships because learning English makes them feel included and accepted. And by doing so, their reality changes as they become active members of a learning community.

Questioning as an Effective Tool to Enhance Students´ Interaction in the English Classroom

2020-12-19T15:16:47+00:00

The educational process requires teachers to use a variety of strategies to support students in the process of learning, and one of the most widely used strategies is questioning. Studies carried out by different researchers have demonstrated the positive effects of proper questioning in the learning process; on the other hand, it is worth mentioning that most teachers customarily use questioning in their classes, even though not all of them use it correctly. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to raise teachers´ awareness on the effectiveness of appropriately using questioning in the classroom. The information presented in this paper has been collected through a systematic Literature Review of a variety of sources related to this tool used in education. This Literature Review has been organized chronologically by publication and, in some cases, by themes. In relation to results, most researchers recognize and emphasize the positive effects of adequately applying questioning in the classroom. This tool enhances interaction and, consequently, promotes the development of students’ skills, to make the learning process more effective.