Form-focused instruction (FFI) and language features attended to during content-based instruction (CBI) lessons at a southeastern Mexican university

Abstract

Una de las limitantes comúnmente reportada, en estudios de la Enseñanza basada en contenidos, es la poca atención que las personas docentes prestan a los aspectos lingüísticos. En México existen 33 universidades que ofrecen licenciaturas en la enseñanza del inglés, en ellas se imparten materias de contenido; no obstante, se sabe poco sobre cómo se dan estas materias y acerca de si los profesores ponen atención a aspectos lingüísticos. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un estudio llevado a cabo con el objetivo de determinar si se implementa la instrucción basada en la forma, en cursos de contenido, en una universidad sureña en México. Asimismo, se muestra el tipo de instrucción basada en la forma, que implementan las personas docentes. Mediante un abordaje cualitativo y a través de un estudio de casos, con un alcance de tipo descriptivo, se observó a dos docentes que enseñaban materias de contenido a dos grupos de estudiantes (n=55) de una licenciatura en lenguas modernas. Después de 15 horas de observación, las clases fueron analizadas utilizando el Esquema de Orientación Comunicativa de la Enseñanza de Idiomas o “COLT Scheme” (siglas por su significado en el idioma inglés). Los resultados muestran que el cuerpo docente implementó, solamente, una instrucción basada en la forma de manera reactiva, no hubo evidencia de una instrucción basada en la forma de manera proactiva. Los aspectos lingüísticos atendidos se limitaron a vocabulario y pronunciación, y muy escasamente a la gramática. Por lo tanto, no hay una verdadera integración del contenido y el idioma. Las personas docentes de materias de contenido necesitan implementar la instrucción basada en la forma de manera proactiva, esto para dirigir la atención del estudiantado hacia los aspectos lingüísticos menos comunes del idioma que se estudia

Framing English as a Medium of Instruction Within the Iberian-American Spanish-Speaking Education Contexts

“…First of all, the Spanish and Latin-American literature mainly addresses emi in contexts where Spanish is spoken as a first language. The literature from both contexts assigns the popularity that emi has been gaining as to the desire that institutions and countries have to internationalize education and instill competences in students that would equip them to become competitive professionals globally (Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019;Crawford et al, 2013;de la Barra et al, 2018;Despagne, 2019;Lara-Herrera et al, 2016;López & Puebla, 2014;Navas-Brenes, 2010;Rivera & Mazak, 2017;Vargas-Vásquez et al, 2016). Additionally, the literature from Latin America reiterates the dearth of research on emi and the need for specialized professional development addressed in the Spanish literature discussed above (Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019;Crawford et al, 2013;de la Barra et al, 2018;Despagne, 2019;Lara-Herrera et al, 2016;López & Puebla, 2014;Navas-Brenes, 2010;Rivera & Mazak, 2017;Vargas-Vásquez et al, 2016).…”

“…The literature from both contexts assigns the popularity that emi has been gaining as to the desire that institutions and countries have to internationalize education and instill competences in students that would equip them to become competitive professionals globally (Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019;Crawford et al, 2013;de la Barra et al, 2018;Despagne, 2019;Lara-Herrera et al, 2016;López & Puebla, 2014;Navas-Brenes, 2010;Rivera & Mazak, 2017;Vargas-Vásquez et al, 2016). Additionally, the literature from Latin America reiterates the dearth of research on emi and the need for specialized professional development addressed in the Spanish literature discussed above (Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019;Crawford et al, 2013;de la Barra et al, 2018;Despagne, 2019;Lara-Herrera et al, 2016;López & Puebla, 2014;Navas-Brenes, 2010;Rivera & Mazak, 2017;Vargas-Vásquez et al, 2016). It also exhibited the tendency of researchers to inquire into the perceptions of stakeholders about the implementation of emi (Despagne, 2019;Lara-Herrera et al, 2016;Rivera & Mazak, 2017;Vargas-Vásquez et al, 2016) rather than conducting empirical studies directly focused on instruction and learning.…”

“…Additionally, this piece highlights the researchers' tendency to focus on the teacher's actions evidenced in the literature thus far. That is, emi-related research focuses mainly on what the teacher does, what he or she is expected to do, the way he or she does things, or what they could potentially do-instructional procedures (see Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019;de la Barra et al, 2018;López & Puebla, 2014;Navas-Brenes, 2010). However, research aimed at explaining learning as an effect of communication as it pertains to interaction in emi has been conducted to a much lesser extent.…”

Systematic Approach to Teaching English Nouns in The Context of Private English Course Classroom Instruction

“…The way the instructors accelerate English Nouns acquisition is by focusing on one word and then build up a brainstorming cloud of ideas from that word. This trial results a better comprehension by fixing errors that were rooted in semantic rather than paying more attention to phonological aspects of English Nouns instructions (Arias de la Cruz et al, 2019). This English Nouns instruction may sometimes need reinforcement through multimedia aid such as storybooks in which it was claimed to help students assess the meaning of words within the context.…”