Promoción del aprendizaje de vocabulario a través del entrenamiento en estrategias metacognitivas y diarios de aprendizaje AbstractThis paper reports on a mixed-method action research study carried out with participants from three public high schools in different regions in Colombia: Bogotá, Orito, and Tocaima. The overall aim of this study was to analyze whether training in the use of metacognitive strategies (MS) through learning journals could improve the participants' vocabulary learning. The data, collected mainly through students' learning journals, teachers' field notes, questionnaires and mind maps, was analyzed following the principles of grounded theory. The results suggested that the training helped participants to develop metacognitive awareness of their vocabulary learning process and their lexical competence regarding daily routines. Participants also displayed some improvements in critical thinking and self-directed attitudes that could likewise benefit their vocabulary learning. Finally, the study proposes that training in metacognitive and vocabulary strategies should be implemented in language classrooms to promote a higher degree of student control over learning and to facilitate the transference of these strategies to other areas of knowledge.Keywords: learning journals, metacognitive awareness, metacognitive strategies, self-directed learning, vocabulary learning ResumenEste trabajo da cuenta de un estudio mixto de investigación acción que se llevó a cabo con participantes de tres colegios públicos en diferentes regiones de Colombia: Bogotá, Orito y Tocaima. El propósito de este estudio fue analizar si el entrenamiento en el uso de estrategias metacognitivas a través de diarios de aprendizaje podría mejorar el aprendizaje de vocabulario de los participantes. Los datos fueron recogidos principalmente a través de diarios de aprendizaje de los estudiantes, notas de campo de los profesores y cuestionarios, los cuales fueron analizados siguiendo los principios de muestreo teórico. Los resultados sugieren que el entrenamiento ayudó a los participantes a desarrollar la conciencia metacognitiva de sus procesos de aprendizaje de vocabulario y su competencia léxica sobre sus rutinas diarias. De manera similar, los participantes mostraron actitudes de pensamiento crítico y de auto-dirección que pueden favorecer su aprendizaje de vocabulario. Finalmente, se propone que el entrenamiento en estrategias metacognitivas y vocabulario se implemente en la enseñanza de lenguas para promover un alto grado de control de los estudiantes en su aprendizaje y así facilitar la transferencia de estas estrategias a otras áreas de conocimiento. R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E S Carmen Luz Trujillo BecerraPalabras clave: diarios de aprendizaje, conciencia metacognitiva, estrategias metacognitivas, aprendizaje autodirigido, aprendizaje de vocabulario

This study reports on a mixed-methods research project into self- and peer-formative assessment of student-generated podcasts in a group of 18 undergraduate students. The aim was to determine whether there were any gains in the spoken comprehensibility of the participants while having them reflect on and adjust their use of suprasegmentals (thought groups, sentence stress, and intonation). Data were gathered from student logs, student-generated podcasts, and a questionnaire. Results unveiled the exhibition of self-regulated behaviours and gains in comprehensibility. This study highlights the importance of helping learners look critically and reflectively at their own oral production and of incorporating training on suprasegmentals within English as a foreign language courses to help learners communicate more effectively within a globalised context.

The world continues to evolve, where globalization has been the driving factor behind changes in society, thereby creating challenges that could be seen as opportunities in education. Areas such as collaboration, teamwork along with intercultural awareness and communication are just a few of the areas that are being addressed in the educational arena amongst practitioners. Approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Content Based Instruction (CBI) and English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) have proven to be viable options for bi/multilingual educational environments across the globe. This editorial discusses research from four continents – the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East (The United States of America, Taiwan, Iran, Mexico, Turkey, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Italy) – reporting on the diversity in integrating content and language in bi/multilingual teaching environments. Key issues such as children’s literature and CLIL, reading comprehension in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), language objectives in lesson plans and assessment in content-based instruction. Furthermore, EMI and the internationalization of higher education, teachers’, and students’ beliefs on the use of Spanish in an advanced English classroom and the implementation of CLIL in the field of pharmacology will also be discussed, where insights into how content and language are integrated at the different educational levels.

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This paper reports on the first phase of an exploratory qualitative study carried out with in-service language teachers pursuing a graduate degree in Colombia. It aims at analyzing their practices, needs, and challenges, examined under two perspectives—the teacher as a learner and the teacher as a teacher. The study made use of interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires as the primary sources of data. Data analysis included a grounded theory approach and the use of coding, triangulation, and validation procedures. Results unveiled the difficulties that current in-service teachers have in different domains (cognitive, metacognitive, and linguistic), and also inform how the teaching challenges within their specific contexts influence their beliefs, practices, learning and teaching outcomes, and their professional growth. The study presents both theoretical and applied considerations to tackle the needs and challenges reported, aiming at offering a systematic analysis and approach for the endorsement of reflection, and thus, setting milestones for the enhancement of effective professional development for language teachers in educational communities such as in Colombia as well as overseas.