This article reports on a study carried out in a foreign language school at a Colombian public university.Its main purpose was to analyze the extent to which the use of authentic materials and tasks contributes to the enhancement of the communicative competence on an a2 level English course. A mixed study composed of a quasi-experimental and a descriptive-qualitative research design was implemented by means of a pre-test, a post-test, observations, semi-structured interviews, surveys, and diaries. The findings showed that the use of authentic materials and tasks, within the framework of a pedagogical project, had an impact on students' communicative competence progress and on the teaching practices of the experimental group teacher.Key words: Authenticity, authentic materials, authentic tasks, communicative competence, pedagogical project.Este artículo da cuenta de un estudio llevado a cabo en un instituto de lengua extranjera de una universidad pública en Colombia. Su propósito principal fue analizar el impacto del uso de materiales y tareas auténticas en el desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa de los estudiantes de un curso de inglés con nivel a2. Se implementó un estudio mixto compuesto de un diseño investigativo cuasi-experimental y descriptivo-cualitativo mediante pre y pos test, observaciones, entrevistas semiestructuradas, encuestas y diarios. Se encontró que la implementación de materiales auténticos y tareas auténticas, en el contexto de un proyecto pedagógico, incidió en el mejoramiento de la competencia comunicativa de los estudiantes y de la práctica pedagógica del docente encargado del grupo experimental. Palabras

This research report is an account of a study carried out at the Foreign Language Institute of a Colombian public university. Its main purposes were to analyze the teaching practices the participating teachers used in their English lessons, and to assess the effects of these practices on the development of students' communicative competence. A qualitative-descriptive methodology was followed by means of lesson observations and semi-structured interviews. A quantitative data analysis of test results was also undertaken to measure the development of students' communicative competence. Pre-communicative teaching practices were found to be more frequent than communicative ones. Likewise, certain aspects of the students' organizational and pragmatic competences were also enhanced.

The crisis in the education system generated by the appearance of covid-19 revealed the multiple gaps that exist due to the diversity of contexts to which students and teachers belong. This article reports on a case study which explored the challenges English teacher educators (tes) at a public university in Neiva, Colombia faced during the pandemic due to the imposition of emergency remote teaching (ert), the pedagogical strategies they used to respond to these challenges, and the ones that remain. To do this, data were collected from a questionnaire and a focus group with tes and pre-service teachers (psts) from the language teacher education program. The main findings show that the transition from classroom teaching to ert brought some challenges for tes and their trainees related to the social realities existing in the context of the latter. To respond to these challenges, tes had to adjust their teaching strategies and learn to use some technologies such as videoconferencing software and educational apps. Still some challenges remain for the future, such as enhancing pst’s motivation, autonomy and classroom interaction. The study suggests the need to continue training language tes on the use of ert technologies and to find more and better ways to promote autonomous learning processes to adapt teaching practices to current times.

This article presents an analysis of the narratives written by four pre-service English language teachers (PELTs) during the last semester of their undergraduate program. The study aims to understand the constructions related to being and becoming PELTs and the possible contributions that the English language teacher (ELT) education program provided to shape those identities. The narratives were reconstructed from two narrative frames written by the PELTs and their responses to a narrative interview. The results reveal how participants (re)signify their profession from their experiences in the program, the teaching practicum, and other settings. PELTs construct and consolidate their professional identity initially from a technical perspective. However, their experiences and the guidance of some teacher educators transformed their view of education into a more critical and informed perspective. In conclusion, professional identity could potentially be formed and changed based on the experiences provided throughout the PELTs’ education. Considering this, initial English teacher education programs should establish strategies that contribute to this end from the beginning of undergraduate studies.

This article reports on the first three phases (exploration, identification, and planning) of a collaborative action research study whose main objective was to transform the pedagogical practices of teachers of a Colombian school of foreign languages. A methodology of collaborative action research and techniques, such as direct observation, completion of a reflection journal, and surveys and interviews with teachers and students was employed. Findings showed that the participants managed to identify some of the major problems they faced within their pedagogical practices and to design and implement courses of action to overcome them. Upon completion, favorable perceptions about the impact of collaborative action research on the transformation of the participating English language teachers’ pedagogical practices could be evidenced.